D.A. Asks State to Take Over 2 Campaign Investigations : Padberg Jokes of Using Atty. Gen.’s Involvement ‘as a Marketing Tool’

“Maybe I should advertise that candidates who hire me will never be investigated by the Orange County D.A. or the sheriff,” political consultant Eileen Padberg joked Thursday. “I should use that as a marketing tool.”

Padberg was reacting to news that Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks has transferred two investigations involving political candidates to the state attorney general’s office to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Both investigations involve candidates whose campaigns Padberg has managed--Irvine Councilwoman Sally Anne Miller and Sheriff Brad Gates.

Coincidentally, Padberg’s firm is managing Hicks’ and Gates’ reelection bids.

“I think the county is getting too small for me,” said Padberg, who may be a witness in the Miller investigation.

Padberg is co-owner of Costa Mesa-based Nelson-Padberg Communications, fast becoming one of the top political consulting firms in the state. Only three weeks ago, for example, she savored success in the Carmel mayor’s race, where she managed actor Clint Eastwood’s landslide victory. Her partner, Robert Nelson, is a former aide to county Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, who is also a client of the firm.

If Padberg is troubled by Hicks’ decision this week to withdraw from two cases because of her campaign role, she’s not showing it.

“I’ll have to include a disclaimer in my contracts that warns clients they may be investigated by the state A.G. instead of the D.A.,” Padberg quipped.

“This is hilarious. . . . I saw Cecil (Hicks) just last night, and he never said anything to me about this. I haven’t been interviewed as a witness. I don’t think we’ve done anything wrong.”

Padberg said she “never gave any thought” that there was an official investigation in progress when Miller called her about a month ago to say she had been questioned by a district attorney’s investigator.

“I wasn’t even sure a month ago that she was correct about who the person was. She said he was from the D.A.’s office, but you know, some people get confused. . . .”

Asked if this week’s unusual turn of events might hurt her business, Padberg said: “I definitely don’t think so. But it will certainly lighten the load of cases for the D.A.’s office.”

Padberg said she lists all of her clients for each prospective client, so that they can decide whether her associations pose any problem to them politically or personally.

Sometimes, however, clients wait until after Nelson-Padberg has managed them for a while before deciding that one of the firm’s associations is troublesome.

For example, Irvine council candidate and Chamber of Commerce President Tom Jones hired Nelson-Padberg to run his June 3 race, saying, “they are the best around.”

On Thursday, however, Jones said he had changed his mind about using the firm because the Irvine Co. is also one of Nelson-Padberg’s clients. Jones said he wants to be seen as “independent” of the company.

Another Firm Retained

“Since Nelson-Padberg has done consulting for the Irvine Co., I chose to end that relationship and retain another firm,” Jones said. “Even an appearence of impropriety was unacceptable.”

Jones has hired Winner, Taylor & Associates, a Los Angeles-based political firm.

“I think there is going to be some accusations (from other candidates) in the next few weeks and I didn’t want any reflection on the Irvine Co. or me,” Jones said.

Padberg said she referred Jones to Winner, Taylor & Associates because she knows Leslie Winner, who lives in Irvine. Winner “wanted to get a foothold in the Orange County market,” she said.

Padberg said she has never talked to the Irvine Co. about Jones’ race.

In another instance, Ken Carpenter, son of Dennis Carpenter, the county’s Sacramento lobbyist, decided to drop Nelson-Padberg late in his unsuccessful 1984 Assembly race because, he said, the firm was managing the campaign for a sales tax measure he opposed.

Again, Padberg’s ties to the Irvine Co. were involved because the Irvine Co. was heavily supporting the tax measure and Carpenter was accused of being the Irvine Co.’s handpicked candidate in the race.

Moriarty Probe

As recently as mid-March, state legislators who have done business with Padberg were being questioned by Hicks’ investigators in the ongoing political corruption inquiry into fireworks manufacturer W. Patrick Moriarty and some of his associates.

But authorities said Thursday that there is no conflict involved in the Moriarty investigation--as there might be in the other cases Hicks has withdrawn from because of Padberg--since the D.A.’s investigators are on loan to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which is directing the investigation.

Potential conflicts can also color a political consultant’s life away from the job. In a previous interview, for example, Padberg acknowledged that she had a personal relationship with former Democratic Assemblyman Bruce Young four years ago, at a time when Young was helping to manage the Assembly campaigns of several fellow Democrats. Coincidentally, Padberg was providing campaign services to the Assembly’s Republican caucus.

Padberg once said she and Young had an agreement not to discuss confidential matters affecting the races involved. Moreover, her relationship with Young was not an issue with Padberg’s Republican clients, according to GOP officials.

Other Campaigns

Besides managing Hicks’ and Gates’ reelection efforts, Nelson-Padberg has been retained by state Sen. John Seymour (R--Anaheim), Riley and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R--Newport Beach).

Padberg ran former Nevada Gov. Robert List’s 1978 campaign, as well as the successful 1982 campaign to defeat a California bottle-deposit initiative. The firm helped persuade voters to turn aside a 1984 effort in Santa Barbara County to block a new offshore oil pipeline, defeat a 1980 statewide anti-smoking initiative and, in 1984 in Arizona, adopt an initiative on controlling costs of health care.

But the firm has also experienced defeat, including the unsuccessful campaign two years ago to block San Francisco’s anti-smoking initiative and the 1984 effort on behalf of Orange County’s proposed 1% sales tax increase for transit and highway projects.

Riley said Thursday that he rates the firm highly, “or else I would not have hired them to do my campaign.”

Meanwhile, Padberg’s impact on Hicks’ decisions to transfer two political investigations probably won’t bother anyone, said Riley. Politicians acquainted with the district attorney may prefer to be investigated by the state attorney general’s office, he explained.

“I think that Cecil Hicks would go out of his way to prove that friendship has not influenced him, so he would come down even harder on someone he knows,” Riley said.