Lobbyist Wilkinson Among the Top Paid : City Hall: Fees paid by the Porter Ranch Development Co. make up 58% of the $819,452 earned by the former Los Angeles councilman since 1987, records show.

Former Los Angeles City Councilman and self-described “country boy” Robert Wilkinson is one of City Hall’s top-paid lobbyists with more than $800,000 in earnings since 1987, including nearly half a million dollars from the Porter Ranch Development Co., city records show..

The $475,000 in fees paid by the Porter Ranch firm make up 58% of the $819,452.50 the 69-year-old Wilkinson earned while lobbying for nearly two dozen clients since January, 1987.

From January, 1987, to Sept. 30, 1990, only one other City Hall lobbyist, Alma Fitch, earned more money than Wilkinson. She collected $950,183, records showed.

The council in July approved the massive Porter Ranch project, which includes 6 million square feet of commercial office space and 3,395 residences on the 1,300-acre Chatsworth site. Councilman Hal Bernson, who succeeded Wilkinson in 1979 as councilman of the 12th District, shepherded the plan through the arduous approval process.

Wilkinson’s fees were disclosed in quarterly reports that lobbyists must file with the Los Angeles city clerk’s office. The most recent report, covering July through September, 1990, includes the period when the Porter Ranch project received final approvals from the City Council.

Records show that Wilkinson met 53 times in 39 months with city officials as an advocate for the Porter Ranch project, a partnership of Shapell Industries Inc., headed by influential builder Nathan Shapell, and Liberty Buildings Inc.

Among those were five meetings with Bernson and one meeting each with Councilmen Michael Woo and Robert Farrell, all members of the council’s powerful Planning Committee. Wilkinson met twice with Mayor Tom Bradley and his staff and once with Councilman Nate Holden’s staff.

Wilkinson, who was an 18-year council veteran, denied that he used his City Hall ties to provide his clients with special access to Bernson or others. “What I give them is knowledge of the procedures, of the process,” Wilkinson said.

“I’m just a country boy, doing my thing,” said Wilkinson, who rarely wears a tie and favors polyester jackets. “I don’t drive a Mercedes-Benz. Nor a Jaguar. I’m a station wagon person.”

Porter Ranch spokesman Paul Clarke, a former Bernson political aide, said, “I don’t think Bob has any more or less access to Bernson than any other resident of the 12th District or other City Hall government relations expert.”

But Ted Goldstein, a press aide to City Atty. James K. Hahn and Wilkinson’s former chief deputy, said Wilkinson “certainly has a sphere of influence” with Bernson. “But I wouldn’t say Bernson is Wilkinson’s rubber-stamp vote on anything.”

Bernson did not return phone calls about his ties with Wilkinson, who endorsed Bernson when he was first elected to the council in 1979.

The lobbyist reports show that Wilkinson’s major clients have paid him to boost projects in Bernson’s district:

* Great Western Bank, which is building a headquarters in the Chatsworth industrial park. The bank paid Wilkinson $80,129 to help it secure zoning approvals for its project at City Hall, including a permit to build a pedestrian bridge over Prairie Street.

* Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp., developer of the Chatsworth industrial park. Santa Fe has paid Wilkinson $60,000 since 1987 to press for several projects.

* Floyd Rigney, a San Fernando Valley-based developer. Rigney paid Wilkinson $35,000 to gain land-use approvals for a single-family residential development in Granada Hills.

* Watt Pacific and Watt Investment Properties Inc. paid Wilkinson $29,250 to lobby for permits to allow construction of 109 residences in the Porter Ranch area.