Campbell Outstrips County’s Legislators in Speaking Fees

Private groups paid Sen. William Campbell $46,900 to speak to them in 1988, more than his taxpayer-paid salary and five times the amount received by any other lawmaker representing Orange County, according to his annual statement of economic interests.

Campbell, a Republican who represents a stretch of the county from Brea to Laguna Niguel, ranked behind only Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) among lawmakers whose annual financial disclosures were filed Wednesday with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Campbell, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, also reported receiving gifts valued at $5,534 and more than $10,000 in income to his spouse from a consulting firm that has produced Campbell’s annual conference on women.

State legislators are paid $40,816 a year, plus $88 per day in living expenses while the Legislature is in session. In 1988, lawmakers could receive unlimited gifts and speech-making fees but starting Jan. 1 were limited to $1,000 a year from each source.

Spoke to 30 Groups

Campbell spoke for money to 30 groups in 1988, receiving amounts as low as $150, from the United Domestic Workers of America, and as high as $5,000, from Friends of Lubavitch Inc. of New Orleans. His largest gift was a $3,140 trip in April funded by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) finished a distant second to Campbell among Orange County lawmakers, collecting $8,400 for nine speeches. Among others, Seymour received money from the California Assn. of Hospitals and Health Systems, the California Medical Assn. and Johnson & Johnson. His largest fee was $2,500 from the California Assn. of Realtors, a group for which Seymour once served as president.

But Seymour’s fees in 1988 were less than what he earned in 1987 and not even half of the amount he received in 1986. He attributed the drop to his lower profile since losing his post as chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus in May, 1987.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with John Seymour,” he said. “If you can get the leader or a leader of any organization to speak, somehow that carries greater credibility than a member of the rank and file.”

Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) led the delegation in the value of gifts received with $18,017. More than $15,000 of that amount came in legal and accounting services from Santa Ana lawyer Lisa K. Hughes and from accountant Bruce Hughes.

Allen Wednesday said the fees were in connection with her divorce last year after 21 years of marriage.

“I paid some of it, and we negotiated the last part of it,” Allen said. “She (Lisa Hughes) is a good Republican and wanted to do it for me. Part of it she just wrote off.”

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) received gifts valued at $14,954 in 1988. Much of her total came in two privately funded trips to New Zealand and Egypt.

Trip to Egypt

Bergeson’s $4,041 trip to New Zealand was financed by a consortium of industrial companies, including Atlantic Richfield, Chevron and Dow Chemical Co. While she was abroad, officials from Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas paid for some of Bergeson’s meals.

Bergeson said the South Pacific trip focused on alternative energy sources, particularly geothermal energy and liquid natural gas, which she said is used extensively in the country’s automobiles.

The Egyptian trip, on which Bergeson was accompanied by her husband, Garth, was sponsored by the government of Egypt at a cost of $3,000. In addition, the California Optometric Assn. and the California Retailers Assn. picked up the tab for a $66 dinner the couple had in Egypt.

Bergeson said the trip to Africa was part of Egypt’s effort to increase foreign investment in that country.

Bergeson was also paid $200 for a speech she never gave. The meeting she was scheduled to address was canceled, but the engineering company that sponsored the meeting, Guyer Santin Inc., paid her anyway for her “consideration in agreeing to speak.”

“I had a speech all prepared and then they called and canceled the meeting,” Bergeson said. “They said they would have it later, but it never came about.”

At the low end of the scale, Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), who took office Dec. 5, reported receiving no gifts or speech-making fees. Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange), the only member of the delegation who has a personal policy against speaking for money, also reported no fees.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), who usually does not accept honorariums for speeches, said he decided to take a $1,000 payment from Farmers’ Insurance Co. in 1988 and then use the money to reimburse his district office staff for the cost of their parking at luncheons and other local functions they attend.

“I don’t want to get into that thing where I’m selling myself as a politician to speak places,” he said.

GIFTS AND FEES REPORTED BY ORANGE COUNTY LAWMAKERS

Here are the gifts and fees for speeches collected by Orange County’s delegation in the state Legislature during 1988.

Gifts Speeches SENATE Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) $14,954 $7,500 William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) 5,534 46,900 Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk) 752 1,150 Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) 2,063 700 John Seymour (R-Anaheim) 3,184 8,400 ASSEMBLY Doris Allen (R-Cypress) $18,107 $3,200 Dennis Brown (R-Los Alamitos) 4,903 1,000 Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) 3,315 1,000 Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad) 8,981 500 Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach) $110 $850 Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) $2,884 $5,250 John R. Lewis (R-Orange) 2,671 0 Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) 0 0

Source: Legislators’ statements of economic interests filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission.