Campaign Cash Lands in Some Unlikely Pockets : Money donated for Assembly races can end up as gifts to aides or out-of-state charities--legally.

Veteran Assemblyman Tom Bane raises so many campaign dollars, and is then generally reelected so easily, that he literally gives some of the money away.

The Tarzana Democrat contributed hundreds of his campaign dollars to charities and nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Denver and New York during the past six months. His list included a $250 gift to a New York synagogue, $100 for the AMC Cancer Research Center in Denver, Colo., and $140 for the Back Alley Theater in Van Nuys.

“It’s all legal,” said Bane, who represents the 40th Assembly District.

State legislators don’t earn enough to make such donations out of their own money, he said. Assembly members are paid $37,105 a year and receive a tax-free living allowance of $75 a day when the Legislature is in session.

Bane is not unique among his Assembly colleagues who represent the San Fernando Valley. A review by The Times of their campaign-spending reports for the first six months of 1987 found a broad range of uses for campaign money, many not directly related to running for office.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), for instance, used $1,500 to increase the state salary of his legislative chief of staff, Katherine Fletcher; $243 for his car phone, and $1,789 for expensive meals with contributors, colleagues and staff members. Said Katz: “Those expenditures all related directly to my career.”

Law Limits Raises

Fletcher, whose state salary is in the neighborhood of $48,000 annually, does not earn enough because the raises Katz has been able to give her have been limited by law, he said. He said the car phone is used for legislative and political duties in his 39th Assembly District.

Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) gave $100 in campaign funds to a Northridge hospital, another $100 to the Christa McAuliffe Scholarship in honor of the late astronaut, and $1,202 to Barbara Romey’s unsuccessful Los Angeles school board campaign.

Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles) spent $860 at restaurants throughout California for dinners with his wife, contributors and constituents. He also used $288 for 12 to 15 Christmas and Hanukkah gifts for campaign workers and legislative aides.

“The taking out of a potential or actual contributor to thank them or solicit them to help in giving me money is a legitimate expenditure of political funds,” said Friedman, who represents the 43rd District. He called the gifts for employees “an act of appreciation” and said they were “customary and legitimate.”

Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) gave $1,000 to the Political and Economic Exchange Foundation. The Sacramento organization pays the expenses of elected officials from other countries to visit the United States, said Wright, who represents the 37th Assembly District.

The use of campaign funds for purposes other than campaign costs is common among California lawmakers. A 1981 state law requires that such expenditures have “more than a negligible political, legislative or governmental purpose.” The law also prohibits personal use of the money.

Since the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 1982, no elected official has been prosecuted for a violation, according to the state attorney general’s office.

Asked whether contributors might expect the money to be used for campaigns rather than for supporting charities, Bane replied: “I don’t think they have any concern. They make contributions to support my political activities.”

But not everyone thinks giving campaign dollars to charity is a good idea.

Walter Zelman, executive director of California Common Cause, which has called for reforms in the campaign fund-raising laws, said using campaign dollars as charitable contributions “is not a healthy practice.”

‘It’s Difficult Enough’

“It’s difficult enough for the candidates to raise large sums of money and painful for the public interest when candidates have to raise that money,” Zelman said. “The more they use their campaign money in non-campaign ways, however noble, the more campaign money they have to raise.”

Special-interest political action committees were heavy contributors to all the Assembly members.

Use of the money other than for campaigns--such as contributions to other candidates’ campaigns, gifts to charities, travel to and from Sacramento, plaques for constituents--is particularly widespread among legislators who do not face serious reelection challenges.

This appears to be the case among the six Assembly members from the Valley, although Katz has faced well-financed Republican opponents in the past and Wright is contemplating a challenge in the Republican primary to state Sen. Ed Davis of Valencia.

Six months into their two-year terms, the war chests of the six incumbents range from Bane’s prodigious $477,409 to Katz’s $34,797. Katz, however, who has previously raised large sums, said he netted more than $95,000 at an Aug. 30 fund-raiser, which was after the period covered by the report.

La Follette reported $115,894 on hand; Friedman, $108,791, and Wright, $102,225. Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), representing the 36th District, reported $76,024.

Katz actually had raised more money--$113,550--by June 30 than had either La Follette, Friedman, Wright or McClintock. However, he also spent $95,532, considerably more than his colleagues, and paid off ’86 campaign debts.

Katz, whose district was targeted by the GOP last year for an intense challenge, said his spending total was so high because he ended the 1986 campaign with a $40,000 to $50,000 deficit. He paid off the debt this year, he said, driving up the amount of spending he reported.

Other outlets for lawmakers’ unused campaign dollars are the campaigns of other candidates or political committees.

Bane, who is part of the Assembly leadership as chairman of the influential Rules Committee, gave $12,000 to the campaign committee of Senate President David Roberti (D-Los Angeles). Roberti uses his committee, in turn, to finance campaigns of Democratic Senate candidates in highly competitive districts.

Katz contributed $3,000 to the successful campaign of Cecil Green for the state Senate, $500 to Ruth Galanter’s Los Angeles City Council bid and $3,712 to David Lopez-Lee, who ran successfully for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees. He also gave $500 to unsuccessful City Council candidate Myrlie Evers.

Nonprofit Causes

Friedman gave to causes other than those of political candidates. The attorney contributed $200 to the nonprofit Center for Law in the Public Interest, which promotes the interests of the indigent and environmental causes. He also contributed $100 to the California Coalition for Rural Housing, which seeks affordable housing for the poor.

“My purpose for being in office is to try to help advance my values and achieve a more just society,” Friedman said. “I also feel that goal can be achieved by helping organizations that share my values.”

Among the more unusual expenditures was $151 that Bane spent for medication. He said the money was for a volunteer in his 90s who has a heart problem. Bane also spent $427 to take his legislative staff to dinner at a Los Angeles restaurant to celebrate the birthday and anniversaries of two staff members.

La Follette, meanwhile, used $193 for the travel expenses of Sacramento columnist Dan Walters. Walters, a highly critical observer of the Legislature, was flown from the capital to Los Angeles to address La Follette’s 38th District Club of supporters, said legislative assistant Jennifer McDonald.