It’s ‘Gold Rush Time’ in Capital : Fund raising: Time begins running out in the two-year legislative session. And lobbyists are griping about the record number of events they have been invited to.

With time running out in the two-year legislative session and hundreds of bills awaiting do-or-die votes, many lobbyists are griping about being invited by lawmakers to pony up for a record number of campaign fund-raisers.

A check of one lobbyists’ date book showed that he has been invited to 90 fund-raisers during the month of August with tickets ranging from $500 to $1,000 each. If he were to attend all of them, it would cost his special-interest clients more than $44,000.

“It comes close to being blackmail or extortion,” said the lobbyist, who declined to be identified. “This is gold rush time. Those guys are trying to get as much money as they possibly can as fast as they can. The Legislature is in session, the lobbyists are all in town, and this is crunch time for major bills.”

The legislative session is scheduled to end Aug. 31. After that, all unpassed bills are dead.

“It’s legitimate to help some of them (legislators) who need (campaign) support, so long as there is no quid pro quo ,” another lobbyist said. “But this is ridiculous. . . .”

A third lobbyist said he would go to “about a dozen or so” of the fund-raisers to which he has been invited “because I have to . . . but no more than that because it’s impossible.”

It would indeed be very difficult for a lobbyist to attend all of the scheduled August campaign fund-raising cocktail parties, dinners, lunches and breakfasts.

For instance, there were 15 separate fund-raisers scheduled around town on Tuesday night, including a $1,000-a-ticket reception for Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) at an art gallery.

“How do you hit 15 places in one night?” a lobbyist asked. “You’d have to hire an ambulance to cart you around.”

“This is the most invites I’ve ever seen,” another lobbyist marveled. “It breaks all records. No question about it.”

But legislators vigorously deny they are putting pressure on lobbyists to pay up or risk suffering legislative setbacks.

“Those invitations have nothing to do with my vote,” said Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), who is running for state insurance commissioner on the November ballot. “They never have and they never will. I vote on the merits of a bill.”

Garamendi had a chicken dinner with music and dancing Thursday night at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Sponsorship tickets ran as high as $2,500.

Printed on the back of the invitation form is a paragraph noting that Proposition 73, the state’s political reform act approved by the voters in 1988, limits contributions from individuals, businesses, corporations or unions to a maximum of $1,000.

But it points out that a political action committee (PAC) composed of two or more people can contribute a maximum of $2,500, larger broad-based PACS can contribute $5,000, and husbands and wives are separate contributors even if funds come from community property.

“This request for a contribution is not a request for a contribution in excess of those limits,” the invitation says.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) believes that voter approval two years ago of Proposition 73 itself has led to the record-high number of August legislative fund-raisers.

“So-called campaign reform is going to force more people to spend more time pursuing dollars because they can only get smaller numbers of dollars,” Brown said. “Now, they have to get more masses of people to contribute, which means 10 times as much time will be spent on fund raising.”

In addition to limiting contribution amounts, the ballot proposition took away the power of legislative leaders--such as Brown and Roberti--to amass huge campaign war chests and transfer big chunks of campaign money to candidates friendly to their leadership.

“You can’t help out anybody any more,” Brown said sadly. “And that’s a real tragedy.”

In an attempt to obtain maximum attendance at their events, state legislators often turn to gimmicks to try to lure as many lobbyists as possible into purchasing tickets to their fund-raising events.

For example, Assemblyman Lloyd Connelly (D-Sacramento) will hold a $500-per-person bingo game at a local hotel on Monday. Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Carson) is inviting lobbyists to view a $500 televised Super Bowl rematch between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos at a sports bar on the same night.

Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Sacramento) will throw $1,000 worth of hosted bar, hors d’oeuvres and horse racing at the Cal Expo Turf Club on Thursday. Assemblyman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) hopes lobbyists will want to see a $500 performance of the musical “Ain’t Misbehavin”’ with the Broadway cast here on Tuesday.

On the Republican side of the aisle, Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Rohnert Park) threw a $1,000 Chinese dinner at a local restaurant on Wednesday night. Assemblyman Bill Jones (R-Fresno) had a $500 steak and eggs breakfast Thursday morning at a local hotel.

Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) tossed his fifth annual costumed $500 “beach party” at a hotel on Wednesday night. Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield), who identified himself as the commanding officer and founder of the Republican Air Force, threw a $500-a-ticket continental breakfast at the same place on Wednesday morning.

The Rogers invitation said, “Through your support, the RAF has remained high above the quagmire of socialism and has effectively stayed the evils constantly trying to invade the California Legislature.”

The cheapest August legislative fund-raiser appears to be a $50-a-ticket buffet lunch being hosted by Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos) at a capital political hangout next Tuesday.

But one lobbyist scoffed, “Areias wouldn’t send the check back if it was written out for $500 either.”

The September invitation list already includes a $1,000 round of golf at the famed Pebble Beach Golf Course with Assemblyman Sam Farr (D-Carmel), and a $500 evening at the Greek Theater with Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles and Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles).