Mojonnier Assailed for $10,000 Gift Tied to Her Vote on Prison

Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier should reduce the appearance that she accepted a “political payoff,” a political reform group said Thursday.

The group, Common Cause, said Mojonnier should return the $10,000 she received from a state prison guards’ association last year after casting a key vote for legislation the association was backing.

Common Cause, a private organization that monitors political activity and campaign financing, also asked the state attorney general and Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate the gift to the Encinitas Republican from the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.

Walter Zelman, executive director of Common Cause, was joined in his criticism of the gift by a coalition of groups that have fought to stop construction of a planned state prison in East Los Angeles. Mojonnier’s vote last July helped assure construction of the prison.

The Public’s Confidence

“The issue for Common Cause is not whether there should or should not be a prison built in East Los Angeles,” Zelman said at a news conference. “It is whether or not the public can have confidence in a governmental process in which $10,000 awards are given for casting the right vote.”

Zelman urged Mojonnier to “demonstrate her good faith” with her constituents and East Los Angeles residents by returning the money.

“Such an action would help reduce the appearance that the $10,000 award might have been a political payoff,” he said.

Mojonnier, reached separately Thursday, said she does not intend to give the money back.

“When I cast that vote, I had no way of knowing that a couple of months later I was going to be receiving any kind of reward at all,” Mojonnier said. “There was nothing illegal done. I’ve already deposited the money and paid taxes on it as income. I’m not planning on returning it.”

The prison guards organization gave Mojonnier the money in November, and the lawmaker reported it in March, as required, on her annual disclosure of financial interests.

But while Mojonnier classified the $10,000 as payment for a speech she gave, a leader of the prison guards’ group said in an interview that the money was actually an award for Mojonnier’s action “above and beyond the call of duty” on behalf of the correctional officers.

Don Novey, the group’s president, said the guards wanted to reward Mojonnier for leaving her sickbed five weeks after major surgery to vote in favor of a bill to allow construction of the Los Angeles prison. Several hundred prison guards assigned to work at new prisons in San Diego and Stockton were in limbo at the time because the lock-ups could not open until the Legislature and the governor settled on a site for the prison in Los Angeles County.

‘Broke Sound Barrier’

Novey has since acknowledged that the group’s award to Mojonnier, which was several times larger than most legislators receive as gifts or speaking fees, “broke the sound barrier” of Sacramento politics. And Novey said the correctional officers association will soon consider reducing the amount of its awards and changing the way recipients are selected.

The attorney general’s office, however, has said that state law permits such payments to legislators as long as a lawmaker has not agreed in advance to vote for or against a bill in exchange for the money. No one has alleged that Mojonnier had such an agreement with the prison guards.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Scott Thorpe repeated Thursday that the payment did not appear to violate any state laws. But he said the office would probably refer Common Cause’s complaint to the Sacramento County district attorney, which would have jurisdiction over the matter.

Zelman urged that the award be investigated further because the law prohibits the giving of money or gifts in an attempt to influence a vote. He said lawmakers might be influenced in the future by the knowledge that a vote for the prison guards might bring them an “award” of $10,000.

“If people are getting $10,000 for casting a vote, what signal does that send when it comes to future decisions on prison issues,” Zelman asked. “Will legislators start thinking, ‘Will someone give me $10,000 if I vote the right way?’ That’s a glaring flaw in the political process.”

Zelman also urged passage of Proposition 68 on the June 7 ballot, which would limit campaign contributions, provide partial taxpayer financing of legislative campaigns, and limit gifts and speaking fees for state lawmakers to $2,000 from any one source during a two-year period. A rival ballot measure, Proposition 73, would also limit campaign contributions, gifts and speaking fees but would prohibit public financing of campaigns.