Fawn Hall Helps Shelter Raise Funds

Secretaries are rarely considered big draws for fund-raisers. But state Republican Chairman Frank Visco knows that Fawn Hall is no ordinary secretary.

That’s why he invited the former secretary to Lt. Col. Oliver L. North to a fund-raiser Saturday for a homeless shelter at the edge of the Mojave Desert.

“Most people have the wrong impression of her. She is a caring person . . . the type of person who will be of benefit to this country in the long run,” said Visco, a Lancaster businessman.

Visco said he saw Hall at a state political function and invited her to participate in the gathering to raise money for completion of the Lancaster Community Shelter.

The shelter, under construction on land donated by the Lancaster Redevelopment Agency, is to provide 40 beds within walking distance of several local social service agencies. Visco said more than 100 people paid $100 to attend the two-hour reception, which was also attended by U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.). The total cost of construction of the shelter will be about $700,000, Visco said.

Hall, who said she relates to the movie “Working Girl,” the story of a low-level employee who reaches an unexpected position of influence, said she was happy to use her name recognition for a good cause.

“When you are given a name with the press, like most people you want use it to the best advantage to help people. I like to do things that help,” she said as she toured the shelter, scheduled to open in the fall.

Catapulted to Fame

Hall was catapulted to national fame because of her role in the shredding of documents related to North’s diversion of funds from Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras.

To North supporters, she was something of a heroine; those who opposed his actions ridiculed her for failing to question her boss’s orders.

Hall flew into Lancaster from Los Angeles on a helicopter piloted by County Supervisor Mike Antonovich. She said she is living in West Los Angeles while writing a book and speaking at universities and political meetings across the country. Eventually, she said, she hopes to pursue a career in television and have her own program focusing on culture and the arts.

Not everyone who attended the fund-raiser was there for a glimpse of the celebrity secretary.

Santi Tagarell, 24, said he attended the event because he wanted to give Wilson a book about environmental problems. Of Hall, he said: “She should be behind bars. What is she doing helping the homeless when she was making homeless people in Nicaragua?”

And Girl Scout leader Bev Mewborne admitted that most of the girls in her troop, which has adopted the shelter as its project for the year, did not know who Hall was until they were briefed before the event.

“It was hard to explain,” Mewborne said. “The girls were going, ‘Where’s Nicaragua?’ ”