Davis Returns $10,000 Amid Inquiry on Use of State Staff

State Controller Gray Davis, under investigation because of allegations that his campaign improperly used state staff, phones and equipment in his successful 1986 election, has returned $10,000 to the Assembly Rules Committee, according to a campaign spending report filed earlier this month.

The check dated June 16 from Friends for Gray Davis was the third payment of its kind from the former assemblyman’s campaign committee, bringing the total returned to $18,000.

The three payments came during an investigation into Davis’ campaign activities launched early last year by state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp. The investigation is expected to end next month.

Neither Davis nor officials of his campaign committee offered any explanation for the return of the money at the time the checks were sent to the legislative committee office. Davis did not respond to calls from The Times.

No Comment

“We have a policy of not commenting on ongoing investigations,” said Davis’ press aide, Karin Caves.

Several former Davis aides have said they told investigators that the Davis campaign frequently used legislative staff, office space, phones and equipment to help the Democratic assemblyman from Los Angeles in his successful campaign to win the state controller’s office.

By the time of his election victory, after spending $5 million on the election, Davis’ campaign was $700,000 in debt. Since winning the statewide office, Davis has managed to erase the deficit and has more than $1.5 million in his campaign coffers.

California courts have held that the deliberate use of state-paid staff on state time for campaign purposes is a misappropriation of state funds.

‘Stickler for Rules’

In past interviews, Davis insisted that he explicitly told his legislative staff to avoid doing campaign work while on state time. As a precaution he deposited two checks--one for $1,100 in April, 1986, and one for $1,026 in October, 1985--to cover non-state expenditures paid with public funds “if, despite all these precautions, any individual failed to observe the rules,” he said.

Davis’ current campaign treasurer, Los Angeles attorney Barry C. Groveman, described Davis as a “stickler for observing the rules.” He said he did not know the details of what the payments have covered.

A number of Assembly members have sent checks to the Rules Committee for the “inadvertent” use of state funds for non-legislative purposes, said the Assembly’s chief administrative officer, Bob Connelly.