Reagan Shows He Knows How to Raise Funds--for Others and Himself : Stumping: The former President lent a hand to Sen. Pete Wilson’s gubernatorial campaign before addressing a roofing-industry convention.

Combining politics with private enterprise, former President Ronald Reagan appeared at a fund-raiser for Sen. Pete Wilson’s gubernatorial campaign in San Diego on Wednesday, then earned a five-figure speaking fee by addressing a roofing-industry convention.

During his roughly four hours in San Diego, Reagan helped raise about $200,000 for Wilson’s campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, then picked up an estimated $50,000 for appearing at the National Roofing Contractors Assn. annual convention.

At both appearances, the former President blended his self-effacing charm and sense of humor with reiteration of his conservative tenets and rosy reminiscences of his Administration in a way that can only be described as, well , Reaganesque. Reagan misstated at least one fact at Wilson’s fund-raiser, forgot one question and rambled in response to others at the roofers’ meeting, used his well-known “Shining City on the Hill” theme to describe his vision of America--and left both audiences delighted.

At the $250- to $500-per-person Wilson luncheon at the bayfront San Diego Marriott Hotel, Reagan delivered a low-key speech filled with predictable praise for Wilson and equally predictable ridicule and one-liner dismissals of his potential Democratic opponents.

Describing Wilson as a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican,” Reagan told about 550 at the luncheon that the former San Diego mayor is a fiscal conservative who, if elected, will keep California “beautiful, safe and prosperous.” In contrast, the Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Reagan quipped, “look at your paycheck the way Colonel Sanders looks at chicken.”

In recounting some of Wilson’s accomplishments, Reagan misstated one of the more photogenic moments in Wilson’s career, reminding the fund-raiser audience of the time that Wilson, while recovering from an appendectomy, was wheeled into a legislative chamber on a gurney to “cast a tie-breaking vote so we could get a balanced budget in Sacramento.” In fact, the incident occurred in Washington, in the U.S. Senate.

Later, Reagan spoke for about an hour at the roofing industry conference at the new San Diego Convention Center, with two-thirds of that time spent answering questions from the audience. Conference officials did not specify how much Reagan was paid, but said he received his “standard fee,” which is about $50,000.

Reagan also reiterated common themes before the roofers, calling for, among other things, repeal of the 22nd Amendment’s two-term limit for presidents, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and establishment of presidential line-item veto power. The former President also restated his belief that “a great many” homeless people “have selected that way of life.”

“We used to call them hobos,” Reagan said, drawing applause from many of the roofing contractors. Government bureaucracy exacerbates the problem and creates a self-perpetuating cycle, Reagan continued, arguing that welfare officials “don’t like their clients to leave welfare (because) this is what keeps them in jobs.”

He also said that the United States must “move carefully” in Nicaragua after this week’s stunning election, in which opposition leader Violeta Chamorro overwhelmingly defeated Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. U.S. actions, Reagan said, must be tempered by recognition that the United States is viewed as being “the Colossus of the North” in much of Latin America.

Reagan ended both appearances with jokes about the Soviet Union, ones that he claimed to have shared with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during their summit meetings. At the Wilson fund-raiser, for example, Reagan told a story about an American and Russian debating the differences between their countries.

Boasting of his country’s democracy, the American says: “I can walk into the Oval Office, pound my fist on the desk and say, ‘I don’t like the way you’re running the country!’ ” The equally proud Soviet replied: “I can do that, too. I can walk into the secretary general’s office, pound my fist on his desk and say, ‘I don’t like the way President Reagan’s running his country!’ ”

The crowd roared its approval--and Reagan, who knows how to time an exit, waved and was gone.