‘Roasters’ List for Stein Fund-Raiser Lights Match Under GOP

To local Democrats, it sounded like a great idea--an April Fool’s Day dinner at which community leaders would pay $1,000 each for the privilege of “roasting” Democratic financier and developer David Stein.

It was supposed to be fun, said organizer Howard Adler, and money raised at this “black-tie optional dinner” at the Ritz-Carlton hotel would go toward the Orange County Democratic Party’s voter-registration drive.

But when the invitations went out this week, the fund-raiser hit a snag.

Inside the limousine-shaped card was a long list of “Invited Guest Roasters.” And late Thursday, many of those “Roasters” said they had never planned to attend.

Further, most of the Republicans listed as invited roasters said they were surprised and angry to find their names connected with a fund-raiser for the Democrats.

“If it sounds like I’m angry, I am,” county Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, a Republican, said Thursday afternoon.

“I consider being listed among roasters like Tom Hayden bordering on slander,” he added.

Stanton said he could not understand why his name was on the list since he had declined an initial invitation in early March, about three days days after he received it.

“My staff pulled the file on that and I wrote across the invitation, ‘No.’ ”

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) was also listed as a roaster, but Scott Hart, Wilson’s Orange County director, said Wilson would not be going. “In no way do we condone a political fund-raiser of this sort,” Hart said.

Hart added that he had spent the better part of Thursday unsuccessfully trying to track down the person who authorized the use of Wilson’s name.

Also unhappy at being named a roaster was state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim). Seymour, a friend of Stein, said he had called Stein Thursday to complain. “I said, ‘David, that doesn’t sound like you. There was no authorization whatsoever.’ ”

Seymour said he had received a letter in late February mentioning the roast and noting at the bottom that proceeds would be used for a registration drive.

“It didn’t say Democratic,” Seymour said. Still, knowing Stein’s politics, Seymour said he figured that the drive would be a Democratic one and so had said “no.” Now he was “very upset” that his name was on the list, Seymour said.

Among those listed as invited roasters but who had no plans to attend were former President Gerald Ford, Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach).

Republican politicians weren’t the only displeased “roasters.” Editors of two Orange County newspapers also said they would not be attending.

N. Christian Anderson, editor of the Orange County Register, said he had not responded to the original invitation nor had anyone from the roast followed up with a phone call.

Anderson said he is not going. “I don’t necessarily think it’s appropriate for me to do that. I don’t think it’s appropriate for a newspaper editor to get involved in that activity.”

Narda Zacchino, editor of the Orange County edition of The Times, said: “I was never asked about participating before the invitations were mailed and was quite surprised to see my name on the list. I think it would be highly inappropriate for any journalist to participate in such a partisan activity as this.”

Late Thursday, roast chairman Adler issued a formal statement to clarify the intent of the roast. “We regret if in any way we caused any problems for any of the ‘Invited Guest Roasters,’ ” he said.

He said a list of all those invited to roast Stein had been printed on the invitation “to express the depth and quality of potential roasters.

“The ‘Invited Guest Roasters’ received their invitations in a letter that stated that funds would be used for voter registration. This letter was sent while the formal invitations were being printed,” Adler continued. “Therefore the invited guest roasters could not be asked for permission for their names to be included on the invitation, hence we listed all the names under the phrase ‘Invited Guest Roasters.’ ‘

Late Thursday, Adler said he believed that the fund-raiser would go on as scheduled. Several thousand people have been invited and “the phone’s been ringing off the hook” with acceptances.

“Everyone’s receiving this well--with the exception of some Republicans,” Adler said.

One prominent Republican, not on the “Invited Guest Roasters” list but who had been concerned about the Republicans who were on it, had a couple of suggestions for the Democrats.

“We in the Republican Party do not use people’s names without a signed 3-by-5 card saying we have permission to use people’s names. I thought that was the law,” said Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County.

He called the use of the names for the roast “a very inappropriate use of Republican names in an attempt to de-partisanize an extremely partisan activity--the raising of money for their failed registration drive.”

In his statement, Adler suggested that the problems with the names meant something else. “I regret that, inadvertently, the committee has commenced the roast early and directed it toward the wrong target”--not toward Stein but to committee members like himself, Adler said.