Hayden Denies Role in Controversy Over Fees

Dodging accusations that he conspired to funnel contributions to pro-growth Costa Mesa City Council candidates, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson tried on Monday to lay the controversy over his personal finances at the feet of his favorite foe: Assemblyman Tom Hayden.

But Hayden, whom Ferguson has attacked in the past for his efforts against the Vietnam War, said he has had nothing to do with allegations against Ferguson by Newport Beach slow-growth activists John and Margaret Gardner. And Margaret Gardner described herself and her husband as conservative Republicans who have contributed to a group working with Ferguson to oust Hayden from the Assembly.

In a statement released by his office, Ferguson, a Newport Beach Republican, said Hayden’s liberal organization Campaign California was “the source of much of this confusion over my business interests.”

He charged that Hayden, Irvine Mayor Larry Agran and the Gardners were scheming to smear him by planting allegations with state and local investigators and with Southern California newspapers.

“What we are witnessing are a series of planned cheap shots by minor community politicians,” Ferguson said in his statement. “Hayden and his local followers won’t quit their attacks, but I don’t intend to be bullied.”

The Gardners contended in a complaint filed in March with the Orange County district attorney that Ferguson conspired with local developers to hide contributions to candidates running for the Costa Mesa City Council in 1986. After being questioned about the allegations by The Times, Ferguson has acknowledged that he failed to properly disclose at least $30,000 that was paid his private consulting firm by two Orange County developers, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons and Arnel Development Co.

The clerk of the Assembly on Monday released Ferguson’s amended statement of economic interests, dated May 29, on which the two developers were listed as sources of income to Corporate Communications, an unincorporated consulting firm wholly owned by Ferguson.

‘Stirring the Pot’

Ferguson has said the payments from Segerstrom and Arnel were for public relations work that was in no way related to the Costa Mesa council race or any other political campaign. He said he did not realize that state law required him to report income to his firm on his personal statement of economic interests until a reporter questioned him about the omission.

In his prepared statement Monday, Ferguson said Campaign California “has been very active, circulating rumors and news stories and stirring the pot.” Ferguson implied in the statement that Hayden, a Santa Monica Democrat, was seeking revenge for Ferguson’s 1985 attempt to oust him from the Assembly on the grounds that Hayden was a traitor to the United States during the Vietnam War, in which Ferguson fought.

“If the Assembly followed its own rules, Tom Hayden wouldn’t be here,” Ferguson said. “He knows I do not believe he is fit to hold an Assembly office, given our Constitution and his activities during the Vietnam War. Hayden and Campaign California won’t miss an opportunity to take a shot at me.

“The kind of allegations being made against me, and the newspaper inquiries and headlines that result, will not stop so long as I continue to oppose the likes of Hayden and Agran and Campaign California.”

Bob Mulholland, political director for Campaign California, said the group, which he describes as representing the “progressive part of the Democratic Party,” has had nothing to do with the allegations against Ferguson.

Mulholland said Campaign California distributed copies of a Times article about Ferguson’s failure to include the Segerstrom development firm on his statement of economic interests to every member of the Legislature and to the Capitol press corps. Mulholland said Ferguson or his supporters circulated negative articles about Hayden when the Orange County lawmaker was trying to remove Hayden from the Assembly.

Hayden said he was not involved with the allegations against Ferguson in Costa Mesa but added that he looks forward “to further investigations of Mr. Ferguson’s finances.”

“From press accounts, it appears that Mr. Ferguson has to explain to the (Fair Political Practices Commission) whether he is illegally channeling private corporate contributions into political campaigns,” Hayden said. “I certainly have nothing to do with his troubles. The newspaper stories about Mr. Ferguson’s reporting irregularities stand on their own.” Agran and the Gardners also denied that the allegations against Ferguson had anything to do with his feud with Hayden.

‘Facts Speak for Themselves’

“I would only say with regard to all of this that the record speaks for itself,” Agran said. “The omissions, the so-called mistakes that run into the tens of thousands of dollars--these facts speak for themselves.”

Hayden and Agran said they know each other but haven’t spoken in more than a year.

Margaret Gardner denied that the couple had any connection with Hayden or his political organization.

“We are conservative Republicans,” Margaret Gardner said. “We are contributors to California War Veterans for Justice, which is currently seeking to oust Hayden from the Assembly. I have been a member of Eagle Forum (a national conservative group) for many years.

“Our conservative credentials are as good or better than Mr. Ferguson’s. Our complaints about the omissions and falsehoods in Mr. Ferguson’s campaign disclosures have nothing to do with partisan politics.”