GOP’s Request to Probe Computer System Denied

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has rejected a request by the California Republican Party to investigate the Assembly’s planned “purchase and intended uses” of a controversial multimillion dollar computer system.

GOP officials have charged that the system may be intended for political campaign purposes, but commission Executive Director Gregory W. Baugher said in a letter to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) that it is not the agency’s role to investigate “motives and intentions.”

Baugher said the commission has not been provided with “evidence or allegations” of violations of the Political Reform Act, a 1974 voter-approved reform initiative spawned in the Watergate era.

“While we will not base an investigation upon speculation about a person’s intent,” the letter added, “we stand ready and willing to answer any questions you or others may have about the requirements of the Political Reform Act.”

State GOP Chairman Clair Burgener and other party officials have asserted that the computer system is being chosen for its potential to compile mailing lists and electronic dossiers on voters. Brown has denied such charges and asserted the system would better link the Capitol with district offices of Assembly members and provide expanded constituent information and services.

Nevertheless, Brown has ordered postponement of a decision on the purchase of the system until issues in the controversy have been given a thorough airing.

Burgener also has asked the state attorney general’s office and the federal Department of Justice to probe the planned purchase.

Besides questioning the potential uses of the system, Republican officials have also charged that a contract related to the purchase apparently was being steered to a company partially owned by the wife of Assemblyman Tom Bane (D-Tarzana), a Brown legislative ally and chairman of the Assembly committee that will approve purchase of a computer system.