Brown’s $161,000 in Speaking Fees, Gifts Sets Record

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) set a legislative record by collecting more than $161,000 in gifts and speaking fees last year, including expense-paid trips to Austria, London, Dublin and Japan, according to a state report filed Tuesday.

In addition, the Speaker valued his San Francisco law firm at more than $100,000. His annual salary as a lawmaker is $37,105.

Brown was one of a number of state lawmakers and constitutional officers who filed reports with the Fair Political Practices Commission prior to a Tuesday midnight deadline. Brown’s take from gifts and speeches outstripped his 1986 total by nearly $35,000.

An official familiar with the FPPC reports said Brown’s 1987 total for speeches and gifts was the largest amount reported by any official since the commission began keeping records.

In all, the Speaker’s disclosure form showed that Brown had collected nearly $124,000 for 63 speeches. His gifts, including a $950 suit, and expenses totaled $37,960.

He got $10,000 for a speech to the Rancho Santa Margarita Development Co. in San Juan Capistrano, and $5,000 each for two speeches to the California Beer & Wine Wholesalers Assn., and $5,000 for talks to the California Retailers Assn. and Arco management.

Brown also received $8,480 in travel expenses for speeches he delivered in London and Dublin last April from Atlantic Encounter, an international organization based in Paris.

He received $6,641 worth of air fare, meals and gifts for a trip to Japan last fall sponsored by the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs. Another $5,700 for a trip to Austria was furnished by California Co-Composting Systems Inc. and First Voest Alpine, an Austrian waste management firm.

Governor’s Report

Meanwhile, Gov. George Deukmejian reported receiving $12,712 in gifts last year, including a $1,068 crystal ball, a $1,000 replica of Paul Revere’s lantern and a $500 mountain bike.

The governor also reported receiving $7,500 in speaking fees during 1987 for three speeches at Claremont College.

Deukmejian, who makes $85,000 a year as the state’s chief executive, reported no other income or interest in real property.

He and his wife, Gloria, own stock in the Grand Prix Assn. of Long Beach, General Electric Co., Texaco Inc. and Unocal Corp. It is worth between $31,000 and $310,000.

State law requires elected officials to report the value of their stock holdings, but only in broad ranges. The last three stocks are the separate property of the governor’s wife and were inherited.

Deukmejian lives in a Sacramento home purchased for him by a nonprofit foundation with proceeds from the sale of tickets to his 1983 inaugural ceremonies. The house cost an estimated $400,000.

The crystal ball was given by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, the lantern replica was from the Armenian Assembly of America and the $500 mountain bike was presented by the Raleigh Cycle Co. of America.

For comparison purposes, Deukmejian last year reported receiving almost $12,000 in gifts and one $5,000 speech honorarium.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) reported receiving $33,300 in speaking fees and $14,226 in gifts last year, but no other outside income.

Roberti received $2,500 each for speeches to the California Assn. of Collectors Inc., the California Applicants’ Attorneys Assn. and National Medical Enterprises Inc.

He got $2,000 each for speeches to the California Trucking Assn., Philip Morris Inc., the California Professional Firefighters, and the California Trial Lawyers Assn.

Roberti also took a $7,199 trip to Japan with expenses paid by the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs, and received a $1,000 bronze mural from a professor at an Italian university.

Senate Majority Leader Barry Keene (D-Benecia) reported receiving $6,450 in speaking fees and $3,204 in gifts in 1987.

Keene collected $1,000 each for speeches to the California Medical Assn. Political Action Committee, the California Assn. of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Assn., and the Northern Chapter of the California Coin and Precious Metal Assn.

Academy Awards Show

He also got $1,840 worth of transportation, hotel accommodations, food and drink and show tickets from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to attend the Academy Awards ceremony.

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, considered a potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 1990, received no speaker fees in 1987, but he did accept more than $2,000 in gifts, including $445 in tickets and parking for four Los Angeles Lakers games last spring.

Other gifts received by Van de Kamp included $160 worth of seats at the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl, and $700 worth of tickets from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to attend the Academy Awards.