Brown to Add Campaign Funds Contributor--FBI

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s campaign fund-raising reports will soon list a prestigious new contributor--the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Fair Political Practices Commission advised the San Francisco Democrat in a letter released Thursday to amend his campaign reports to show that the FBI was the “true source” of $11,500 in contributions he received in 1986 and 1988.

Brown received the payments from bogus companies seeking passage of special-interest billsas part of a federal sting operation. However, Brown has not been identified as a subject of the investigation into political corruption in the Capitol.

Brown asked for the advice following press accounts of the sting that named the phony companies: Gulf Shrimp Fisheries Inc. of Mobile, Ala., and Peachstate Capital West Ltd. His campaign also received money from Gulf Shrimp funneled through Northern California Research Associates, a registered lobbying firm.

When he first learned that his campaign committee had received money from the phony companies, Brown said, “I’d be proud to list the FBI as one of my contributors.”

Brown will amend his returns after the election and seek further advice on whether he must return the money, said the Speaker’s press secretary, Susan Jetton.

A commission spokesman said the advice to Brown, while not legally binding, shouldbe a guide for other legislators who received campaign funds from the FBI. So far, three have been identified: Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, $10,000; Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), $3,500, and former state Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Norwalk), now a state Board of Equalization member, $20,000. Moore also received $5,000 from Gulf Shrimp in 1986, which she returned.

Tyrone Netters, an aide to Moore, reported receiving a total of $11,147 from the phony companies in loans and contributions to his unsuccessful 1986 campaign for a seat on a local utility district board.

In addition, Peachstate gave a $3,000 honorarium to Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) this year and paid a $2,500 fee to Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier). But the two need not report the source of these payments on their annual economic disclosure statements until next March.