Gifts to County’s 13 Legislators

In regard to The Times’ article “Gifts to 13 County Legislators Totaled $116,339 in 1987 and ‘88,” I find it hard to take the interviewed legislators seriously.

Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad), for example, who enjoyed two free nights in a Palm Desert condominium owned by a developer who was sponsoring legislation last year (legislation that Frazee supported but claimed he was for “all along” anyway), says he holds to the philosophy of the late Jesse Unruh: “You should be able to take these kinds of things and not let it affect you. That’s the measure of a good legislator.”

It may well have been that Unruh was above corruption by enticements, but few people, certainly not most politicians, can claim such sterling integrity.

It’s simply human nature, like it or not, to be affected favorably by people who treat us with favor. Obvious as that truth is, politicians like Frazee persist in pretending it’s just not so. Gifts of all kinds are rationalized in as many ways almost as there are politicians themselves, the most popular rationale being “fact finding” or “information gathering.

That’s how one lumber company wrapped its gift to Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) and others, of a relaxing fishing expedition in Humboldt County in December--a trip that included a company-owned bed-and-breakfast inn, among other benefits.

But Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), a little more concerned with appearances than Johnson, takes care to stress “a lot of time” was spent finding out about issues relevant to California regarding her trip to New Zealand, courtesy of oil and chemical companies. Yet surprisingly (or maybe not, considering the presumption of many politicians), she later expresses bewilderment about why the press and public pay so much attention to annual reports.

In any event, I can already hear Bergeson and countless other politicians who read The Times, muttering in disgust about the “nit-picking of the press” and the naivete of the public who just “doesn’t understand how government works.” Well, we’re learning, and the most important thing we’re learning is that whether we’re talking about churches, schools or the Legislature, the name of the game these days is accountability.

If it takes the bill of Assemblyman Ted Lempert (D-San Mateo), which would, among other things, ban gifts and honorariums valued at more than $50, to keep legislators more accountable to their constituency, so be it. No, it won’t prove to be a panacea, but it could well be a step in the right direction.

ELIZABETH WATSON

Fullerton