Cost for Reagan’s Dinner in County: $100,000 a Couple

It was supposed to be hush-hush, but President Reagan will be the special guest at a $100,000-per-couple private fund-raiser Monday in Coto de Caza to benefit his planned $60-million presidential library in Ventura County.

The luncheon event, at the new home of developer William Lyon, is expected to attract 50 people, not all of whom are paying guests. Although the fund-raiser is on the White House schedule of coming events, other details have been kept quiet by Lyon and others involved.

“Evidently it’s a very private thing,” said one of those who knew of the fund-raiser but was reluctant to provide other information.

According to the White House, press coverage of the event will be limited to pool reporters observing the President’s arrival by helicopter. He will be spending the weekend at his Santa Barbara ranch.

Developer Kathryn Thompson said that she will attend the luncheon but that she knew little else about it. “I’m as much in the dark as you are,” Thompson said.

Several county businessmen reported being invited.

An aide to one prominent developer said his boss had not yet decided whether to attend.

“It’s a pretty heavy hit,” the aide said of the $100,000-per-couple price tag, which is a tax-deductible contribution to the library. Another developer, Donald L. Bren of the Irvine Co., declined an invitation, according to an Irvine Co.executive.

So did businessman John Cronin, who is active in local Republican politics. “I was called and asked if I wanted to attend, and I declined,” Cronin said.

Gus A. Owen, president of the prestigious Lincoln Club of Orange County, a Republican support group, said he would be attending as the guest of someone.

“I don’t play in that league,” Owen said, referring to the cost. “I understand it’s an effort to raise funds for the presidential library, and I think it’s a worthwhile cause.”

The Ventura County site for the library and a proposed Reagan Center for Public Affairs was selected after plans to house the facilities at Stanford University were protested by Stanford faculty members and nearby property owners.

The present site on unincorporated land between Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley will house the 153,000-square-foot library, making it the largest of eight presidential libraries.

It will also include an exhibit area, a 120-seat theater, an auditorium, seminar rooms and overnight accommodations for the President and Mrs. Reagan.

Planners expect the facility to attract 100,000 to 300,000 visitors per year.