Donations Coming Up Short for State Pavilion at Expo 86

California may not have a pavilion at Expo 86, next year’s world exposition in Vancouver, Canada, unless $700,000 in private contributions is raised in a matter of days.

The specter of falling short is upsetting to Democratic Assemblywoman Lucy Killea of San Diego.

“I did my part. Now, I can’t be the administrator too,” said Killea, who authored legislation that required the Cabinet-level Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing to collect $1.5 million in private industry contributions to match an appropriation of the same amount.

Without naming Gov. George Deukmejian or anyone on his staff, Killea charged that there had been “a lack of leadership at the top.”

Under Killea’s bill, all of the money appropriated by the Legislature, except for $200,000 spent on planning, will go back into the state treasury unless the matching private contributions are raised.

In a meeting this week with administrative officials and representatives of the Canadian Consulate, legislative staffers were told that only $800,000 had been raised so far. Unless the rest is raised by Wednesday, construction workers will not be able to get the pavilion ready for the exposition’s May opening.

“That would mean no pavilion at all,” Killea said.

The administration, strong advocates of the types of public-private partnerships frequently espoused by Republican leaders here and in Washington, came up with the idea of letting private contributions help finance the state’s exhibit.

But Democratic leaders toughened the provisions, calling for the one-to-one public-private match and for the public appropriation to revert to the state treasury if the private contributions are not raised.

The California Pavilion, which is intended to showcase the state’s aerospace and communications industries, is planned to be next to the U.S. exhibit and near others by Washington and Oregon.

McDonnell Douglas Corp. is to be the corporate co-sponsor of the pavilion.

The exposition, which will feature displays and exhibits from 40 nations, is expected to attract 15 million visitors to British Columbia during its 5 1/2-month run.

Officials of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency were unavailable for comment on the fund-raising problem. Kirk West, who left the governor’s Cabinet earlier this year to become president of the California Chamber of Commerce, declined comment.