Silberman Arrest Hurts Wife’s Political Hopes

Millionaire businessman Richard T. Silberman’s arrest for allegedly trying to launder drug money could scuttle his wife’s chances for statewide office next year, but may not prove to be what one consultant termed “a terminal political disease” for San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding, political observers said Saturday.

With Silberman, a successful entrepreneur who held several top posts under former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., facing arraignment on the laundering charges early this week, attention in political circles temporarily shifted Saturday from shock over his arrest to questions over its implications for Golding’s career. Silberman, who was taken into custody by federal agents Friday, posted bail Saturday evening.

Major State Figure

The arrest of Silberman, a co-founder of the Jack in the Box fast-food chain who has been a major figure in state and local politics for 15 years, probably ends Golding’s flirtation with a possible 1990 campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, many political observers argued. Most added, however, that they doubt that the lasting damage to Golding’s career will be so severe as to permanently block her path to higher office.

“In the short term, she probably can stop worrying about packing for Sacramento,” said Democratic consultant Nick Johnson. “But in a few years, who knows?”

“Regardless of what eventually happens, I don’t think this means Susan Golding has gone as far as she ever will in politics,” said Dan McAllister, who was Golding’s administrative assistant when she served on the San Diego City Council in the early 1980s.

Since returning to San Diego five years ago after serving briefly in Sacramento as deputy secretary of business, housing and transportation under Gov. George Deukmejian, the 43-year-old Golding has rivaled Mayor Maureen O’Connor for preeminence in San Diego politics. Last year, Golding won uncontested reelection to a second four-year supervisorial term.

Race Considered

For months, Golding has pondered a possible bid for the state’s No. 2 post, perhaps on the same ticket with Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who is seeking the 1990 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was San Diego mayor while Golding was a councilwoman. Chances of that now seem remote.

“Running for office while your spouse is on trial on criminal charges would be inopportune timing, to say the least,” political consultant David Lewis said. Golding also relied heavily on her husband’s wealth in her 1984 race. He loaned her campaign $243,000, nearly half of her total contributions.

In announcing Silberman’s arrest Friday, federal law enforcement officials said that Golding apparently had no knowledge of the alleged laundering scheme, which involved money that undercover FBI agents told Silberman came from Colombian drug traffickers.

Golding, who received the news of her husband’s arrest while in New Jersey for her mother’s funeral, was reported to be still on the East Coast Saturday and unavailable for comment.

Silberman, 59, was arrested Friday in a San Diego hotel while negotiating to launder $1.1 million from an undercover federal agent posing as a representative of Colombian cocaine dealers, according to Thomas Hughes, head of the FBI’s local office. Over the last five months, the same agent arranged two “test run” money-laundering operations--one for $100,000 in November and a second deal for $200,000 in February--with Silberman, Hughes said.