Wining, Dining of County Aides Decried by Some : Government: Any suggestion that the gifts are improper raises the hackles of corporate representatives as well as county officials, who see free lunches, dinners or rounds of golf as routine and benign.

Last December, the Irvine Co. and four other corporations chipped in $2,420 to treat a group of county officials to an evening yacht cruise on Newport Harbor.

Supervisor Don R. Roth attended the affair, replete with hot hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine and dancing. But most of the invitations set aside for county officials were directed to--and accepted by--14 of the supervisors’ 35 appointed aides.

In fact, the cruise during Newport Beach’s Parade of Lights was among $9,650 in gifts--from ballet tickets to rounds of golf--that were accepted by aides to the five supervisors last year from lobbyists and others doing business with the county.

According to reports filed with the county registrar of voters, the aides received more in gifts than the five elected supervisors themselves.

“The Irvine Co. has a tradition of inviting employees, their spouses and guests from business and government to attend the Parade of Lights and share in this holiday celebration,” read a brief statement issued recently by Larry Thomas, a vice president of the firm that is Orange County’s largest developer. “We do it because it’s fun.”

UC Irvine political science professor Mark P. Petracca, however, believes that corporate gift-givers commonly seek out the supervisors’ aides because of the power they wield in providing advice and access to their bosses.

“Lots of things are nice to have from people who can afford to give them (but) why were they given? What was the purpose?” Petracca poses. “It’s access--how quickly I let you in to see the supervisor.”

Petracca notes that such gift-giving in county government is most often practiced by major developers and businesses that hold or seek county contracts and can afford to entertain.

“The Orange County Homeless Task Force isn’t handing out any free basketball tickets or dinner chits to aides of supervisors,” Petracca said.

Any suggestion of impropriety, however, raises the hackles of corporate representatives as well as county officials, who see an occasional free lunch, dinner or round of golf as far more routine and benign. Even journalists occasionally pick up a tab for lunch, one aide noted. (No aides reported receiving gifts from journalists last year; gifts must be declared only if they total $50 or more from a single source over a one year period.)

Some aides also argue that gift-taking nowadays is a far cry from the days of Peter Herman, a former aide to 5th District Supervisor Thomas F. Riley who reported $5,853 in gifts in 1985 alone. Herman left under fire in 1987 after it was revealed that he had accepted a free four-day stay in Hawaii from a developer. Herman now works for Hon Development Co., which last year gave one of Riley’s aides a lunch, a birthday gift and a ham worth a total of $100, records show.

Riley, who was disturbed by some of Herman’s gift-taking, defended the practices of his current staff, who reported a total of $3,075 in gifts last year--the highest among the five supervisory offices.

“If I didn’t like it I’d stop it,” Riley said. “As far as I know they’re not doing anything that’s going to bring discredit to themselves or to Tom Riley or to the county. If they do I’ll ask them to leave.”

Riley aide Mark J. Goodman reported 30 lunches and dinners and one breakfast with county developers or their consultants last year, as well as a free concert. The meals ranged from $6 to $25, according to his statement.

Goodman, who briefly worked for a developer before joining Riley’s staff as a transportation specialist, said he has close friends in the building industry and, in an abundance of caution, reports any meals they pick up--even when no county business is discussed.

Goodman, who recently ran unsuccessfully for Laguna Niguel City Council, said that despite free meals or campaign contributions he is always ready to tell developers “to go to hell when they come in with a bad project. . . .”

“If a lunch can buy a favor you certainly have no business serving the public,” Goodman said.

But Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said he believes gift-taking by county officials looks bad regardless of the intent. Vasquez reported no gifts during the three years he served as an aide to former Supervisor Bruce Nestande in the early 1980s.

This year Vasquez reported accepting $746.85 in gifts, mostly in the form of formal dinners and receptions he attended. His staff was the only office to report less than $1,000 in gifts. The total for the office--$330--was for three invitations accepted to the Christmas cruise. (The Newport Harbor cruise was financed by the Irvine Co. and three county contractors: Ernst & Young, an accounting firm; LSA Associates Inc., an environmental consultant, and Van Dell & Associates, an engineering firm working on the John Wayne Airport expansion. Also contributing was the Bechtel Corp., which is bidding to build the Las Vegas-to-Anaheim bullet train through a bistate transportation authority on which Supervisor Roth serves.)

“I’ve always discouraged my staff from accepting any kind of gift as a matter of office policy,” Vasquez said, “so that there’s no real or perceived sense of conflict.”

The most generous gift-giver last year was the Philip Morris Cos. Inc. Along with its wholly owned subsidiary, the Mission Viejo Co., the corporate entity paid out $2,152 in lunches, ballet tickets and golf outings. As one of the largest developers in Orange County, the Mission Viejo Co. has frequent dealings with county officials, and its development agreements with the Board of Supervisors have sometimes been controversial.

For example, slow-growth advocates and city officials in the South County have objected to an agreement in which the board guaranteed the company the right to complete its planned construction of 20,000 housing units in Aliso Viejo in exchange for millions of dollars in roads and other public facilities. The agreement effectively shields the developer from any efforts by local government to limit the development.

“We have many projects before the the county and the supervisors’ aides often give us insight into what the supervisors want to see in those projects,” said Wendy Wetzel, a spokeswoman for the Mission Viejo Co.

Wetzel also said Philip Morris sponsors several national ballets and gives free tickets to many business associates, including county staff.

“It’s nice to meet with people socially and get to know them when you don’t have to discuss business.”

The second most generous company last year was Shapell Industries Inc. of Beverly Hills, which gave aides $848 worth of gourmet food baskets, concert and fashion show tickets and meals, according to disclosure reports. In 1989 Shapell was awaiting the supervisors’ final ruling on Country Village, proposed to be the largest housing development in Laguna Niguel--more than 4,000 homes--by the time it is complete.

The project was once a subject of grand jury investigation and the target of a lawsuit brought by slow-growth advocates. Eventually a compromise was worked out with all parties and the supervisors gave final approval to a slightly scaled-back version of the project last December.

Company officials did not return several calls for comment.

Shirley Grindle, author of the county’s Tin Cup campaign reform law and a self-proclaimed political watchdog, is a leading critic of gift-giving by corporate interests. Grindle said curbs on the practice were inadvertently left out of the reform law she authored, which was approved by the supervisors in December, 1978.

Grindle said that gift-givers “want to be considered as part of the ‘in-group’ so they can get in to see the supervisors or the aides whenever they want to, which, by the way, a lot of citizens are unable to do. . . .”

“You can’t really avoid the appearance that those gifts are getting you votes or favorable treatment,” Grindle said. “At the very least, it makes it uncomfortable to go against those who have been wining and dining you.”

Building industry executives dismiss such criticism, contending that to have a productive discussion with the aides it is sometimes necessary to get them away from the phone and other distractions in their county offices. It is often the aide who monitors the complex nuts and bolts of a project for the busy supervisor, they say.

“Communications can take place at a $10 or $15 lunch,” said Tom Daly, director of governmental affairs for Orange County’s Building Industry Assn. “There is certainly nothing wrong with that and we believe it is healthy for democracy to communicate from top to bottom.”

The supervisory aide declaring the most in gifts last year was Barbara Ann Brown, an aide to Supervisor Roger R. Stanton. Most of the $1,206 she reported in gifts was not received from corporate interests: She declared $900 in free dinners or receptions for various political campaigns.

In second and third place were supervisory aides Dan L. Wooldridge, who declared $895--mostly in lunches and golf--and Christine M. Smith, who declared $707 in lunches, fashion shows, ballet tickets and the December Christmas cruise. Both are aides to Supervisor Roth.

Wooldridge says his office is scrupulous in reporting anything that might be considered a gift. Working lunches for a busy public official are a fact of life, he says.

Wooldridge also dismisses the notion that aides wield great power in a supervisory office.

“Any aide who thinks he makes the decisions is an aide who is not long for the world,” Wooldridge said.

GIFTS TO SUPERVISORS AND THEIR AIDES

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton $1,606 Robert L. Richardson 330 Barbara Ann Brown 1,206 Kathleen B. Freed 487 Debbie L. Cavers 370 Dana Ohanesian 0 TOTAL $3,999 Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder $370 Sandra Ward 126.20 Barbara Foster 346.20 Peggy Ducey 276 Gary B. Carlisle 0 Diane M. Edwards 0 Colleen M. Bergh 70.20 Cheryl A. Russell 346.20 TOTAL $1,534.80 Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez $746.85 Jeanne S. Reinhardt 110 Martha Ann Zajic 110 Ravinder Mehta 0 Sara Schantz * Laura McDaniel 110 Lisa Jeanne Burke 0 TOTAL $1,076.85 Supervisor Don R. Roth $2,979 Steven E. Malone 385 Dean Olsen 165 Christine M. Smith 707 Judi Ortega 385 Dan Wooldridge 895 Russell Barrios 0 Bunnie Davis 150 TOTAL $5,666 Supervisor Thomas F. Riley $2,777 Christie McDaniel 538 Susan W. Hinman 503 Thomas B. Mathews 0 Courtney C. Wiercioch 180 Stephen Blanchard 0 Fay F. Rodriguez 468 Marilyn C. Brewer 335 Mark J. Goodman 459 Kenneth H. Bruner 0 Barbara Marie Rier 592.33 TOTAL $5,852.33 TOTAL FOR AIDES $9,650.13 TOTAL FOR SUPERVISORS $8,478.85 GRAND TOTAL $18,128.98

* Hired in October, not required to file until next year. Source: Economic Interest Statements, Orange County Registrar of Voters