Deddeh Not Shy About Dipping Into Campaign War Chest

When the mother of a Senate colleague died recently, Sen. Wadie Deddeh expressed his condolences by sending a check for $100 to one of the woman’s favorite charities. The money came from Deddeh’s campaign war chest.

Deddeh, a Chula Vista Democrat, also used his campaign fund to defray part of the cost of a trip to Hawaii and the Far East. And he frequently hosts expensive meals at restaurants in San Diego and Sacramento, again paying for them with his campaign money.

Deddeh is not alone in using his campaign fund to pay for such personal gestures or for items only marginally connected with his quest for reelection to the state Legislature, where he has served for 22 years. Such expenses are legal, as long as they can be shown to have more than a negligible political, legislative or governmental purpose.

Upping Campaign Costs

Nonetheless, a detailed examination of Deddeh’s spending during 1987 provides a clear illustration of this often overlooked factor that is helping to drive the cost of California political campaigns ever upward.

Even though he will not run for reelection again until 1990, Deddeh last year spent more than $128,000 from his campaign fund. Of that amount, only about $30,000, or less than one-fourth, went for campaign office expenses or direct efforts to reach voters in his district, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Secretary of State.

Another $37,000 was contributed to Deddeh’s political colleagues, most of it for Sen. Cecil Green’s successful special election bid for a Senate seat representing parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Deddeh spent the rest--more than $60,000--on travel, meals, charitable donations, memberships in civic and business groups, tickets to civic events and a variety of other items.

Deddeh’s campaign finance reports show he spent $15,208 on travel in 1987, including $1,807 for part of a trip to Hawaii, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong and $219 for a stopover at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport en route to Iraq. The rest of the Iraq trip was funded by that country’s government, while portions of the Pacific trip were paid for by business groups trying to promote trade between the United States and those nations.

Reimburses Fund

Although Deddeh uses his campaign credit card for personal purchases while traveling--such as $1,581 he spent at a clothing store in Taipei, Taiwan--he later repays his campaign for any items he decides are not connected to his position in the Legislature.

Deddeh said he charges his campaign only for travel that is “related to my job. For anything related to Wadie Deddeh, I reimburse the campaign.” Deddeh’s campaign treasurer, Barbara Hunsaker, said future filings will show that Deddeh recently repaid the campaign another $1,449. Most of that money will be used to pay for expenses on Deddeh’s Far East trip.

A soft touch for charities, Deddeh last year donated $11,552 from his campaign fund to 53 civic and charitable organizations.

He contributed to the Boy Scouts, the Special Olympics, the Salvation Army, the YMCA, the Bonita Vista Performing Arts Boosters, and the Boys Club of Chula Vista. Deddeh also contributed to the Chicano Federation, the California Performing Arts Center, the Rangers Soccer Team of Chula Vista, Students Against Drugs and the Southeastern Little League.

Deddeh said he sends a contribution to virtually every group that requests one.

“I’ve never turned down anybody that was legitimate,” he said. “I feel this is our way of sharing with them.”

Other Expenses

Deddeh also spent:

- $4,950 for photo Christmas cards of himself, his wife and son that he sent to more than 5,000 friends and constituents.

- $3,164 for unspecified entertainment expenses charged to his campaign credit card. Most of those expenses consisted of meals costing less than $100 each.

- $1,526 on meals at such places as the Star of the Sea Room and the Reuben E. Lee in San Diego, and Frank Fats, a popular gathering place near the state Capitol. At one dinner alone, he spent more than $700 entertaining about a dozen supporters at Anthony’s in San Diego.

- $4,298 for an open-house party at Christmas.

- $722 for 75 copies of “A Disorderly House,” a legislative memoir written by James Mills, Deddeh’s predecessor in the Senate.

- $606 for a contribution and season tickets to the Lamb’s Players Theatre in National City.

Deddeh said such expenditures help him to maintain good will with his constituents and political supporters.

“A lot of people appreciate having a Christmas card from their senator even though it’s kind of impersonal,” he said. “People appreciate the state senator breaking bread with them. That is part of the overall political campaign.”

Yet Deddeh, who said he finds “nothing more humiliating” than asking people for campaign money, said he would not be troubled by passage of an initiative on the June ballot that would limit campaign fund-raising and spending.

He said he would expect to have little trouble winning reelection even without many of the expenditures he now charges to his campaign fund.

“It wouldn’t have any effect on my ability to get reelected,” Deddeh said of the efforts to limit campaign spending. “After 22 years, if people don’t know me as well as I think they should, I’ve been doing something wrong.”