Ex-FPPC Chief Stanford Jumps Into GOP Contest for Controller

Dan Stanford, who just resigned as California’s top political watchdog, on Monday jumped into the 1986 Republican primary for state controller.

Stanford, striking the same election reform theme that marked his leadership of the state Fair Political Practices Commission for nearly three years, accused three-term Democratic incumbent Ken Cory of making risky investments with public pension funds, accepting “tainted” campaign contributions and exhibiting “cronyism” in appointing inheritance tax referees.

“What the controller’s office needs most now is not a politician but sound management and leadership,” Stanford told reporters as he kicked off his campaign at a Capitol news conference.

Reading from a prepared text, the 35-year-old San Diego attorney looked past what is expected to be a contested Republican primary election next June and zeroed in on Cory.

“I will be the kind of controller who views the public treasury as a trust, not a gift shop,” he said. “I will be the kind of controller who understands the responsibility to preserve capital, not gamble it.”

A spokesman for Cory said the controller was not going to reply to Stanford’s charges. Tom Moore, a special consultant to Cory, characterized the statements as “a pretty low-level personal attack.” Cory “doesn’t think they’re worth responding to,” Moore said.

Before he can meet Cory in the 1986 November general election, Stanford will have to survive what could be a tough Republican primary against Assemblyman Phillip D. Wyman of Tehachapi. Wyman began campaigning for controller three months ago.

The assemblyman, serving his fourth term, criticized Stanford Monday for jumping directly from his job as chairman of the FPPC, which regulates and polices lobbying activity and political campaigns, into politics.

“What I want to know is whether he has been serving as a referee or a player?” Wyman said during an interview from his Lancaster office.

Stanford, appointed by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian in February, 1983, is the first FPPC chairman to run for political office. The job was created by the Political Reform Act of 1974 to enforce conflict-of-interest, lobbying and political corruption statutes contained in the voter-approved initiative. His predecessor, Tom Houston, is now a top deputy to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. The FPPC’s first and only other chairman, Dan Lowenstein, is a law professor at UCLA.

Lowenstein, officials of the attorney general’s office and others have expressed concern about actions Stanford took preparing for the campaign, saying if the FPPC chairman solicited campaign contributions before resigning, he may have violated the law.

Stanford, during his press conference, again denied any impropriety.

“I scrupulously avoided accepting contributions, soliciting contributions or setting up” campaign committees, Stanford told reporters.

Attacks Incumbent

During the news conference, Stanford attacked Cory for a series of already well-publicized controversies that have plagued the controller over the years.

In particular, Stanford cited Cory’s support of a controversial $50-million investment of teachers’ pension funds in a West Texas oil-drilling scheme that brought the state into partnership with a convicted swindler.

The state official Cory worked with on the oil drilling scheme, Gilbert W. Chilton, former chairman of the State Teachers Retirment System, is accused of taking a kickback of up to a $1 million in the drilling deal and has been sought by the FBI since 1983.

Cory has denied any impropriety and says he was responsible for calling in law enforcement authorities.

Special Committee

The Republican attorney said he intended to set up a special committee to help develop standards for accepting campaign contributions. He said he would “not accept gifts, honoraria or travel junkets paid for by special interests seeking to influence my decisions.”

Stanford said there was “a cloud” hanging over Cory’s office because of more than $250,000 in campaign contributions the controller received during his first campaign in 1974 from just two supporters, one of whom, Dr. Louis Cella, was later convicted of theft in a Medi-Cal fraud case.