Gifts, Free Trips Lure Lawmakers : Legislators Reap Special Benefits

One week after she was elected to the state Assembly in November, El Cajon Republican Carol Bentley enjoyed two expense-paid nights at the Meridien Hotel in Coronado, where she was given $401 worth of food, drinks, lodging and lobbying, all courtesy of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Assn.

Welcome to the California Legislature.

Bentley took her first spree with unusual speed, even before she was sworn into office. But it was typical of scores of gratuities offered up by institutions and special-interest groups and accepted by members of San Diego County’s delegation in the Legislature during the past two years.

The gifts ranged in value from a $3.65 batch of cinnamon rolls to trips overseas worth several thousand dollars. If they wished, members of the Legislature could park their cars at Lindbergh Field while they were away, attend Padres, Chargers and Aztec games, watch the thoroughbred horse races at Del Mar, go to the movies, visit Disneyland, Sea World and the Zoo, and even get new eyeglasses--all without paying a cent.

San Diego lawmakers also collect thousands of dollars in honorariums--fees for making speeches--most of which are paid by companies and trade associations seeking to influence the Legislature. Unlike campaign funds, which cannot be spent for personal purposes, speaking fees go directly into a legislator’s pocket.

For the Legislature, 1988 was the final year that members could accept unlimited gifts and fees for making speeches. Proposition 73, approved by the voters in June, now limits gifts and speech fees to $1,000 from each source each year.

But it is by no means clear that the new law will stem the flow of personal gifts to lawmakers. Most of the gifts members receive are valued below the $1,000 threshold. The biggest gratuities are usually associated with travel, and those are still permitted without limit if a legislator maintains that the travel was a necessary part of a speaking engagement. Further efforts are under way in the Legislature to clamp down even more on gifts and honorariums.

During 1987 and 1988, the 11 members of the San Diego County legislative delegation collected personal gifts worth a total of $112,396, according to their annual statements of economic interest filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Sen. Wadie Deddeh (D-Bonita) received the most--$22,193. Assemblyman Peter Chacon (D-San Diego) accepted the least, a total of $782 during the two-year period. Chacon, however, received more in honorariums than any of the other San Diego County legislators.

Here are some examples of gifts received by San Diego lawmakers:

* Super Bowl tickets. Deddeh, Sen. Marian Bergeson, a Republican who represents rural North County, and former Sen. Jim Ellis (R-San Diego) all attended the Super Bowl Jan. 31, 1988 courtesy of San Diego Gas & Electric. Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad) attended as a guest of Pacific Rim Development, which is building a resort community on the shores of Carlsbad’s Batiquitos Lagoon.

Bergeson, who said the game was the only Super Bowl she has attended, said her husband enjoyed the event more than she did.

“Garth said this was the only time he really appreciated the fact that I was a senator,” Bergeson said.

* Parking. Seven of the 11 San Diego County lawmakers reported using a free, VIP parking lot between the east and west terminals at Lindbergh Field during 1988. Several legislators interviewed said the parking lot was a convenient time-saver because, as they shuttle between San Diego and the state Capital, they often leave their cars at the airport. Assemblywoman Lucy Killea called the special parking area a “godsend.”

* Eyeglasses. Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-La Mesa) reported receiving free eyeglasses valued at $187 from the California Optometric Assn.

Peace said he didn’t realize that he received the glasses as a gift until his staff presented him his completed economic disclosure form to sign last week. He said he had given his optometrist his insurance forms and the optometrist, without telling Peace, billed the California Optometric Assn. for the part not covered by insurance.

“I didn’t even know they had paid for it,” an agitated Peace said on the Assembly floor Thursday. “I sent them a check for it yesterday.”

* Movie tickets. Assemblyman Chacon received passes from the Theatre Assn. of California and Mann Theatres in 1987, and from Mann Theatres in 1988. Chacon, who listed the value of each pass as $80, could not be reached for comment.

* Trips. During 1987 and 1988, every member of the San Diego delegation except Assemblyman Frazee accepted at least one expense-paid trip. Deddeh took five trips--to Iraq, Korea and Taiwan in 1987 and Egypt and New Zealand in 1988. The five excursions, parts of which Deddeh paid for with campaign funds, cost his private and foreign government benefactors a total of $17,063.

“I’m an internationalist,” Deddeh said, explaining his many voyages. “I was born and raised in a different country. I am interested in international relations. A few years ago, I was under serious consideration to be appointed a U. S. ambassador (to his native Iraq). This is my interest. I like to promote America. I like to establish good will.”

Even while they are thousands of miles away, lawmakers can be wined and dined by interest groups that are trying to influence the Legislature. While touring Egypt in 1988 courtesy of the Egyptian government, Deddeh, Bergeson and Sen. Newton Russell (R-Glendale) hosted a dinner for the officials who were hosting them. The dinner was arranged by the state Senate’s office of protocol, which solicited the California Optometric Assn. and the California Retailers Assn. to pay for the meal. The two groups, which were not represented at the dinner, split the $67-a-plate expense.

On the same trip, Deddeh visited the Oriental Weavers Carpet Co. in Cairo. He picked out three rugs, he said, and asked the factory owner to ship them to him in California, c.o.d. The owner insisted on giving him the rugs, valued at $580, without charge, Deddeh said.

“It’s hard for a Westerner to understand that,” he said. “I did not want to offend our host. So I accepted it and reported it. Can I do anything for the guy? No. Is there any legislation that affects the guy? No.”

* Lodging. Frazee, the only San Diego lawmaker not to take a full, privately sponsored trip during the session, did accept two free nights in a Palm Desert condominium from the Sunrise Co, a developer that was sponsoring legislation last year.

Frazee was in the area for a meeting of the Assembly Republican Caucus agriculture task force.

“That was Easter week and there weren’t any reservations anywhere,” Frazee said. “I don’t recall how it all came about.”

Frazee said he supported the Sunrise Co. bill “all along, from the very beginning.” The bill, which was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian, would have allowed the city of Indian Wells to build most of its state-required low-income housing outside its borders.

“The condominium had no effect on me,” Frazee said. “I had my mind made up long before that.”

Assemblywoman Bentley, who accepted the Coronado lodging from the pharmaceutical industry shortly after she was elected, said she decided to attend the conference because she thought it would be a valuable education as she prepared to begin her legislative career.

“I was making a big effort to be on the Health Committee and I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to learn a lot about the pharmaceuticals and what their problems are,” Bentley said. “Health is not something I’ve worked a lot on.”

* Tourist attractions. Several lawmakers reported making free visits to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, and Disneyland.

Sen. Bergeson said she took her family to the zoo and Disneyland over the July 4, 1988, holiday and received free admission to both parks. She said she took advantage of the free admission because it was offered.

“Nearly all the functions I attend with my family, a night at the music center, for instance, we pay for ourselves,” she said. “But, if there are invitations, and they’d like to extend it to you, it’s something that I think is acceptable under the circumstances.”

San Diego Zoo spokesman Jeff Jouett said the park extends free admission to lawmakers to help educate them about the zoo. The park receives state funds for its condor breeding program.

“We think they (legislators) might want to see what kind of facility their money is going for,” Jouett said. “This helps make them aware of the endangered species issue. They have a lot of issues before them. We think endangered species deserve their attention as well.”

Most of these gifts, even many of the smaller ones, could be eliminated under a bill proposed by freshman Assemblyman Ted Lempert (D-San Mateo), who won an upset victory in November after basing his campaign on a theme of cleaning up corruption in the Legislature.

Since taking office, Lempert has introduced a package of legislation supported by the Fair Political Practices Commission that would, among other things, ban all gifts and honorariums of more than $50. Although the bills, similar to others introduced often over the years, are thought to have little chance of passage in their current form, Lempert insists that his crusade is a worthy one.

“The public is frustrated with a lot of what goes on in Sacramento and the way the system is abused,” Lempert said in an interview. “It’s the abuses that need to be eliminated. But the only way we can deal with that now is a complete ban on gifts and honorariums.”

Yet lawmakers say almost without exception that the gifts, even those from private interests affected by bills in the Legislature, do not influence their decisions.

For example, Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego), who has authored bills to require wider use of methanol as an alternative fuel in automobiles, traveled to New Zealand courtesy of several oil and chemical companies last year. Although some of the companies that paid her way are in the methanol business or considering entering that field, Killea said she saw no conflict of interest in her trip.

“I did not make any commitment to them,” she said. “That simplistic tie-in is the kind of conclusion that a lot of people make now automatically. It’s fallacious. I think I got some very good information, some good ideas, had some good conversations.”

Assemblyman Frazee said he subscribes to a philosophy first detailed by the late Jesse Unruh, one-time Assembly Speaker and later state treasurer.

“You should be able to take these kinds of things and not let it affect you,” Frazee said. “That’s the measure of a good legislator.”

Bergeson said she has never completely understood the press and public’s interest in the annual reports on which lawmakers disclose the gifts they receive. Most of the gratuities she receives, Bergeson noted, are trivial.

“I guess there’s just an insatiable interest in our private lives,” she said. “It’s so boring.”