Questions Arise Over Wilson Bid to Block Bill : Politics: The senator says he is acting in the public interest. Critics contend that his actions could mean more business for one of his major campaign contributors.

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), acting at the behest of one of his major political fund-raisers, has moved to block legislation intended to improve heavy-duty bolts that have been found at fault in many construction and aerospace accidents.

Wilson said he has checked the bill’s progress because he and the fund-raiser, Ron Cedillos of Long Beach, want it strengthened with amendments that would require bolt manufacturers to have their products tested by outside firms. Cedillos’ firm tests bolts.

Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) and other critics said Wilson’s actions threaten to kill the bill outright, intentionally or not. Some in the industry have suggested that Wilson is pressing for the amendment because it would mean more business for a campaign contributor.

“There isn’t a quid pro quo,” Wilson said in an interview Tuesday night. “I would do for him what I would do for anyone if I thought it was in the public interest, even if they hadn’t given me a dime.”

But he said he was aware of Cedillos’ contributions and his interest in the bill. “Mr. Cedillos is in the business. He is a friend. He has raised money for me,” he said.

Gore, in a letter to Wilson earlier this week, said: “While I know your aim is to strengthen (the bill), the practical impact . . . would be to defeat this important piece of public safety legislation.”

Wilson said in the interview that he would rather see the bill die than pass in its present form. “It seems to me that no bill is better than a bad bill,” he said.

Cedillos, owner of Cedillos Testing Co., a firm that tests aerospace parts, has helped raise thousands of dollars for Wilson’s campaign. Cedillos also is known as a critic of the aerospace industry, working to publicize what he sees as its shortcomings.

Wilson is seeking to require testing of the bolts by outside laboratories, rather than letting manufacturers test their own products. Cedillos’ firm conducts the kinds of testing Wilson would make mandatory, although both Wilson and Cedillos said they were acting only to protect the public.

The California senator acted to block the bill after Cedillos contacted his office in Washington, beginning June 25. Until then, according to congressional and industry officials, Wilson had expressed no interest in the measure during the nearly three years it was making its way through the legislative process on Capitol Hill.

Some industry officials accused Wilson of intervening simply to repay a political debt to Cedillos.

“What’s more important: dollar bills for Pete Wilson or people’s lives and safety?” said Tommy Grant, a Houston fastener distributor who has been outspoken on the bolt safety issue. “This is all about dollar bills. They’re going to get someone killed.”

Cedillos, a former actor, has sponsored fund-raisers for Wilson, including a gathering last year attended by Vice President Dan Quayle at Cedillos’ Long Beach plant that raised an estimated $140,000. In addition, state and federal records show that Cedillos contributed $1,000 to Wilson’s last senatorial campaign and that his company has given $2,000 to Wilson’s gubernatorial campaign.

Cedillos also paid Wilson a $2,000 honorarium in 1988 for making a speech to employees at his plant.

Cedillos, in a telephone interview, said he sought Wilson’s help because he believes the legislation, as drafted, will not provide adequate safeguards against the distribution of faulty bolts. He said he was particularly upset that the measure continues the system of allowing manufacturers to test their own products in their own laboratories. The bill also would permit--but not require--outside testing.

With Cedillos’ advice, Wilson’s staff has been drafting possible amendments to the bill. One such amendment would require all bolts to be tested by outside laboratories.

Although Cedillos acknowledged that his independent testing laboratory would benefit from such an amendment, he insisted that he is motivated entirely by a desire to prevent disasters caused by faulty bolts.

“The fastener industry has proven itself incapable of testing itself,” he said. “People are putting bad hardware on airplanes.”

The problem of defective bolts came to light several years ago when the industry was flooded with cheap imports, many of them bearing counterfeit markings of more established and reliable nut and bolt makers. Dangerous fasteners are believed to have been responsible for accidents in nuclear plants, commercial airliners, missiles, trucks, buildings, bridges, school buses and even the U.S. space shuttles.

More recently, several major companies have been convicted of fraud in connection with these cases of defective bolts.

Wilson said he agreed with Cedillos that an in-house laboratory cannot be trusted to test its own bolts adequately.

No bill can be considered in the Senate without unanimous consent. Although Wilson has been preoccupied by his gubernatorial campaign and has not been present in the Senate since it reconvened after Labor Day, he nevertheless objected to it being brought to a vote, which he has the right to do in absentia.

Wilson’s stand demonstrates the unusual influence that a single individual--especially an individual with the access that well-connected campaign contributors enjoy--can have on Congress. It also shows how a Senate member, in this case Gore, can fight back, especially in an election year. Aides to Gore have let it be known to Capitol reporters that Wilson was seeking to hold up the bill.

Gore, in his letter to Wilson, noted the measure provides for strict accreditation of both independent and manufacturer-owned laboratories and sets severe criminal and civil penalties for violators.

Furthermore, Gore said that requiring outside testing in all cases would be impractical because testing laboratories are often too far away. The bill is supported by most major trade associations in the industry.

Wilson’s proposed amendment would scuttle the bill by causing many of the organizations to withdraw their support for the measure, according to Gore. If the measure does not pass before Congress adjourns later this month, it will die.

Cedillos, whose firm employs about 50 people and has annual sales of $3.5 million, said other industry officials have been too timid to speak out for legislation that would get tough on the distributors of defective bolts.

Frank Light, Wilson’s fund-raising chairman, said Cedillos has played an important role in fund raising for the senator’s gubernatorial campaign. He said Cedillos is willing to sell tickets and serve as co-chairman of “any of the major events we’ve had in the last year in the Los Angeles area.”

Cedillos also publicly defended Wilson not long ago when it was disclosed that the senator had received $243,334 in campaign contributions from savings and loan interests. In a letter to the Orange County Register, he noted that the S&L; money represented only 2% of Wilson’s total campaign contributions.

Times staff writers Ralph Frammolino in Sacramento and Gregory Crouch in Orange County contributed to this story.