3 Area Legislators Garner Bulk of Gifts, Fees

The eight state legislators from the Glendale-Northeast Los Angeles area received a total of $225,045 last year in speech fees and gifts, with the presents ranging from trips to Europe to premiums paid on legislators’ home insurance.

However, the distribution was far from equal. Three legislative leaders from the area--Senate President Pro Tempore David A. Roberti, Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Roos and Assembly Minority Leader Patrick J. Nolan--received more than 70% of the total, each earning more than their state salaries.

Roberti (D-Los Angeles) led with $62,748 in 1986, including $45,850 for speeches and $16,898 in gifts, according to statements filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Roos (D-Los Angeles) received $53,079, including $39,079 in gifts and $14,000 in honorariums. Nolan (R-Glendale) pushed his total last year to $44,645, including gifts worth $25,645 and $19,000 for speeches.

Legislators receive $37,105 in annual salary and a tax-free allowance of $75 a day when in session. But, aside from annual reporting requirements, there are no restrictions on how much outside income the lawmakers may earn in gifts or speech fees, nor on how much a single person or group may give.

Such income is separate from contributions to legislators’ election campaigns, which also must be reported periodically but are not limited in amount.

Some lawmakers say they cannot maintain homes in Sacramento and their districts and pay other expenses without accepting outside income. But others warn that gifts and speech fees increase the influence of special-interest groups.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who reported more than $126,000 in gifts and speech fees last year, called in March for an increase in legislative salaries in return for banning outside income. Brown (D-San Francisco) suggested a salary of $75,000. But his press secretary, Susan Jetton, said Monday that the speaker has shelved his proposal in favor of a similar bill being drafted by Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights).

Meanwhile, Sen. H. L. Richardson (R-Glendora) has proposed returning to a part-time Legislature, leaving lawmakers more time to hold other jobs. But the idea stands little chance of becoming law, conceded Richardson’s press secretary, Marsha Williams.

“There is such a thing as proposing the possible and proposing the impossible,” she said. “There is no way you could get 119 other legislators to accept a cut in income.”

Roberti’s income from 29 speeches last year was more than double the $21,300 he received at 17 gatherings in 1985. He proved popular in 1986 with the San Diego Community College District, which paid a total of $6,000 for three speaking engagements, according to his Statement of Economic Interests filed with the FPPC.

Proposition 51 Gifts

A single address to the California Trucking Assn. earned Roberti $5,000. Two speeches to the California Applicant Attorneys Assn., a group of workers’ compensation lawyers, also paid a total of $5,000 to the senator, whose 23rd District includes Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Glassell Park and Echo Park.

The Democratic leader also addressed both sides of Proposition 51, the June, 1986, ballot initiative to limit accident defendants’ liability for pain-and-suffering damages. Roberti received $1,900 from the Assn. for California Tort Reform, whose campaign helped win the measure’s passage, and $2,000 from the California Trial Lawyers Assn., which opposed it.

The bulk of Roberti’s $16,898 in gifts came from a $10,018 trip to Spain and Italy paid for by the Assn. for Italian-American InterExchange, an Italian business group.

The 19-day trip included a stop in New Orleans on Roberti’s return to attend a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Guest of Thailand

Travel also more than doubled Roos’ gift income from $16,251 in 1985. The assemblyman, who sits on the International Trade Committee, was the guest of the government of Thailand, which paid $12,168 for a weeklong trip for four, a leather briefcase and a silver box.

Back at home, the insurance industry paid some of Roos’ travel and personal expenses. The Assn. of California Insurance Cos. picked up the $5,603 tab for a five-day trip to London in March, 1986, and LFC Insurance Co. of Los Angeles paid Roos’ $690 homeowner’s insurance premium. An individual associated with LFC paid $500 for Roos’ golf-course fees.

Beneficial Management Corp., a consumer-loan company, paid $2,794 for two trips and $178 for golf fees and food for Roos.

Lynn Montgomery, Roos’ press secretary, said the Asian trip was arranged by constituents and Thai officials seeking ways to increase import-export business in Southern California.

The trip to England enabled Roos and other legislators to speak with Lloyd’s of London representatives about problems in the insurance industry, Montgomery said. LFC annually pays the insurance premium on the assemblyman’s home, she added.

Roos’ 1986 disclosure statement shows he also received a videocassette recorder, television and other electronic equipment worth $1,400 from Music Distributors Inc. of Long Beach, and the use of a condominium for seven days--worth $1,050--from Sunrise Co., a Palm Desert builder.

$14,000 for 12 Speeches

The assemblyman also earned $14,000 for 12 speeches to groups including the California Financial Services Assn., the Construction Industry Advancement Fund, the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, the California Retailers Assn. and a USC political science class.

Roos, whose 46th District includes Silver Lake, Echo Park and Griffith Park, has received no constituent complaints about accepting gifts and speech fees, Montgomery said.

“He feels the travel is a fairly important part of a legislator’s job to find out what is going on out there in the world, to learn ideas and information that will benefit California,” she said.

Montgomery added that Roos would support legislation to ban gifts and other outside income if legislators’ salaries are increased. “It’s tough to keep up with expenses in Sacramento and Los Angeles,” she said.

Assemblyman Nolan, who has supported Richardson’s call for a part-time Legislature, received almost 80% of the gifts listed on his disclosure statement at his March, 1986, wedding.

‘It’s a Little Embarrassing’

Ralphs Grocery Co. and a San Diego seafood wholesaler contributed about $6,600 in food for the event, and the rest came from individuals. The assemblyman’s 41st District includes Glendale, La Canada Flintridge and Eagle Rock.

To comply with disclosure laws, Nolan had to ask friends to assign dollar values to their wedding gifts, press secretary Anne Richards said. “It’s a little embarrassing,” she said.

Nolan’s statement reveals that he and his wife received thousands of dollars worth of china and crystal, including a $125 pitcher from Speaker Brown and a $240 candy jar from Maureen Reagan, President Reagan’s daughter.

Friends also paid $1,100 for flowers and wedding invitations, and supplied free use of a condominium in Hawaii for a week at a cost of $900.

The Assembly Republican leader received $19,000 in speech income from 20 businesses and organizations, including Dow Chemical, General Electric Co., the San Diego Community College District, Security Pacific Corp. and the California Retailers Assn.

In contrast, other area legislators reported much less in gifts and honorariums. Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge), whose 49th Assembly District includes parts of La Crescenta and Montrose, accepted only $1,092 in gifts and gave no paid speeches.

Assemblyman Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) also listed no speech income. Polanco--whose 55th District includes Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Atwater and Glassell Park--reported $1,647 in gifts, including a Sacramento athletic club membership worth $1,070.

Wedding Presents

Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), like Nolan, received almost all of his gifts last year as wedding presents. The largest were $10,000 from his wife’s uncle toward the down payment on a house and $4,040 in legal services from his wife’s cousin in arranging the purchase.

The assemblyman’s disclosure statement lists only half the value of his wedding gifts. Sandra Michioku, media director for the Fair Political Practices Commission, said state law requires officials to report only their community property interest in gifts given jointly to them and their spouses.

“The guiding principle behind the law is not total disclosure of income, but disclosure of potential conflicts of interests,” Michioku said. “If something won’t crop up in a conflict of interest, then there really is no need to disclose it.”

Margolin, whose 45th District includes Los Feliz, reported only two gifts unrelated to his wedding: parking and shuttle service at Los Angeles International Airport, valued at $354, and UCLA season football tickets worth $198.

Health-Related Speeches

The assemblyman, who sits on the Health Committee, received $1,250 for speeches to the California Dialysis Council and Midway Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles. He also accepted $250 for a class lecture at USC.

More than 80% of $18,378 in gifts reported by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Toxics and Public Safety Management Committee, was for travel to Europe paid by toxic-waste and water groups.

Torres echoed Roos’ approval of expense-paid trips as a way to learn how other governments handle problems facing California. The senator, whose 24th District includes Eagle Rock and Highland Park, said his trips served legislative purposes but could not have been made without private support.

California Co-Composting Systems Inc., a trade group based in Marina del Rey, spent $6,200 for Torres to tour German and Austrian plants that turn waste into building materials and other products. Euro-Mark, a British foundation, paid $5,647 to send the senator to London to speak with members of Parliament about toxic-waste and water contamination.

A university foundation paid $3,245 for Torres to visit Israel to talk with experts about desert farming and water management. The Jewish Federation Council of Los Angeles spent $1,745 for him to travel to the Soviet Union to meet with dIssidents.

Torres received $8,450 in speech income, including $1,500 from Euro-Mark during his trip to London and $500 from the California Waste Assn. The senator, who sits on the Education Committee, also spoke to the San Diego Community College District, California State University in Bakersfield, UC Santa Cruz and Associated Students Inc. in Sacramento.

Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale), vice chairman of the Banking and Commerce Committee, traveled to England last year with Roos and other legislators to meet with Lloyd’s of London representatives. His trip expenses, totaling $4,286, also were paid by the Assn. of California Insurance Cos.

In July, the senator and his wife accepted $3,000 worth of lodging, meals and services at Cal-A-Vie health resort in Vista. The visit was made at the invitation of one of the resort owners, a childhood friend, Russell said.

The senator, who represents the 21st District, also reported complimentary memberships worth a total of $4,220 from Altadena Town & Country Club, Lakeside Golf Club, Oakmont Country Club and Verdugo Club.

Russell earned $500 each for speeches to the Assn. of California Life Insurance Cos. and to the Gray Iron Institute of Southern California, a metals industry group.

GIFTS AND HONORARIUMS Made to Legislators in the Glendale/Northeast Los Angeles Area

STATE SENATORS GIFTS HONORARIUMS David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) $16,898 $45,850 Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) 13,432 1,000 Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) 18,378 8,450 ASSEMBLY MEMBERS Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) $1,092 $0 Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) 19,074 1,500 Patrick J. Nolan (R-Glendale) 25,645 19,000 Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) 1,647 0 Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) 39,079 14,000

Source: Fair Political Practices Commission