Lobbyist to Pay $10,000 Fine for Sending Contributions to Capitol

A veteran lobbyist has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine for having a state messenger deliver $17,750 in campaign contributions to 10 legislators inside the Capitol during the closing days of the 1986 session, the Fair Political Practices Commission announced Tuesday.

Grant Kenyon, who has been lobbying for more than 20 years, contended that he was the victim of a “new interpretation” of the law and said he is unwilling to pay the $50,000 in legal fees he estimated it would take to fight the FPPC’s “unfair and unwarranted accusations.”

A 1982 state law prohibits the personal delivery of campaign contributions inside the Capitol or arranging for such delivery by an intermediary.

The commission said Kenyon admitted arranging to have the checks, ranging from $500 to $5,000, delivered because he wanted to make sure that the legislators received them before they left town at the end of the session. This was a period when legislators were acting on hundreds of important bills that were being heavily lobbied by special interests. All 10 lawmakers later returned the checks.

The FPPC emphasized that the law was written “to avoid the awkward appearance of legislators personally receiving contributions in the Capitol from those with interests in pending legislation.”

The checks that Kenyon sent to the Capitol were from political action committees of the California Restaurant Assn., California Contract Security Guard Assn., California Assn. of Licensed Repossessors, and Ensearch Corp.

They went to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) ($6,500), and Assemblymen Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill) ($500), Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk) ($500), Pat Johnston (D-Stockton) ($1,000), Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield) ($2,500), now a state senator, and Byron Sher (D-Palo Alto) ($750).

Senators receiving the checks were Al Alquist (D-San Jose) ($1,000), William Craven (R-Oceanside) ($1,000), Joseph Montoya (D-Whittier) ($1,000), and John Seymour (R-Anaheim) ($3,000).

“I merely followed a widely accepted tradition of having contributions messengered to legislators,” Kenyon said. “I regret the state agency’s new interpretation, one that is contrary to standard practice and to legislative intent.”

But another veteran lobbyist, who declined to be identified, said, “That is not a widely accepted practice and most people are smart enough to know that.”