2nd Highest in Assembly : Katz’s Newsletters Cost $37,000

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) spent $37,054 on constituent newsletters, second only to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), during the first year of the 1987-88 legislative session, according to figures released Thursday.

Brown, the lower chamber’s leader, reported spending $38,798 on printing and postage for newsletters.

In the past, Katz’s opponents have criticized him for using state-paid newsletters for political purposes.

Katz said Thursday that while his newsletter budget may have been higher than average, his overall spending was “in the middle of the pack” of the Assembly’s 80 members.

Overall, Katz, chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, was reimbursed for $277,048 in expenses for the 12 months that ended Nov. 30, 1987, the most recent reporting period available. In contrast, the average Assembly member spent $251,366.

“My constituents like knowing what I’m doing. They like knowing what my activities are,” Katz said.

He noted that one reason his newsletter expenses for 1987 were higher was that he needed to publicize his fight to win passage of the so-called “stop the rocks” bill to require sand, rock and gravel trucks to be covered.

Besides newsletters, the totals include staff salaries, travel, cars, district office expenses, postage, telephones, furniture, equipment, supplies, subscriptions and photocopying. The numbers do not include staff salaries and other costs associated with committee assignments.

The figures are compiled annually and released by the Assembly Rules Committee.

Voters in June adopted Proposition 73, which included a provision that prohibits elected officials from making mass mailings at public expense. But a Los Angeles Superior Court judge struck down the provision last week.