Leonard Leads Area Lawmakers in Spending; Hill’s Costs Also High : Legislature: Leonard’s $580,000 in expenses for 1989 session included $16,000 bill for redecorating office. Hill also was big spender with $322,000 in expenses.

As Republican Bill Leonard began to furnish his new office after winning a state Senate seat two years ago, he received a surprising delivery of dilapidated state-issue furniture.

“Half of it was broken down--drawers that didn’t work, desk legs that were falling off, shelving that was collapsing,” recalls Bob McKenzie, chief of staff for Leonard, whose district includes Claremont, Glendora, La Verne, San Dimas and most of Covina.

The items, including desks, file cabinets and tables, had been assigned to the office of Leonard’s predecessor, H.L. Richardson (R-Glendora). Years earlier, Richardson had shipped off the furniture, which he described as “prison-looking stuff,” and bought his own.

When the furnishings that Richardson had put in storage arrived at Leonard’s office, only a few end tables could be salvaged. The rest was piled up in the middle of the office for return to the state General Services Administration, McKenzie said.

Leonard appealed to the Senate leadership for redecorating help and was given permission to buy new furniture. As a result, in the 1989 legislative session (the latest for which figures are available), Leonard spent $16,039 in taxpayer funds for equipment and furniture--more than any of his colleagues in the 40-member Senate.

In fact, according to records published earlier this month by the Legislature, Leonard reported spending $580,127 on various legislative expenses--more than any other San Gabriel Valley-area lawmaker in 1989 and 22% above the Senate average of $477,003. As with most members, the lion’s share of Leonard’s expenses--$429,000--was eaten up by staff salaries and benefits.

The top spender in the Senate was Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), with a tab of $626,286.

In the 80-member Assembly, the No. 1 spender during the 1989 legislative session was another San Gabriel-area lawmaker--Frank Hill (R-Whittier). Hill, who was elected to the state Senate last April, reported expenses of $322,380--more than 17% above the Assembly average of $274,941 for the period between December, 1988, and November, 1989.

The expense reports, prepared annually by the Assembly and Senate Rules committees, cover about 20 different categories, including staff salaries, travel, cars, district office expenses, postage, telephones, furniture, equipment, supplies, subscriptions and periodicals. It generally costs more to run a Senate office than an Assembly office because senators represent larger constituencies.

Cliff Berg, Senate Rules Committee executive officer, said that a variety of factors influence the bottom line of a legislator’s expenses. For example, office rents in Newport Beach are considerably higher than rents in South-Central Los Angeles. Also, he said, some lawmakers who represent several counties are allocated more staff and may need to rent multiple district offices.

McKenzie, Leonard’s chief of staff, cited the geographic factor in defending his boss’ spending. McKenzie noted that Leonard’s 25th Senate District sprawls over three counties--Inyo, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

“We probably have more people working out of the district office . . . simply because the district is so large,” McKenzie said.

Another reason McKenzie cited for Leonard’s above-average spending is that the rent for the senator’s Upland office is higher than average. But he added that it will not be boosted over the course of Leonard’s four-year Senate term.

Hill and other lawmakers complained about the way the legislative expenses are tabulated.

Hill described the accounting system as “asinine,” charging it was designed to hide the actual number of staffers employed by some members of the Assembly’s Democratic majority. “It doesn’t reflect the true staff budgets,” he complained.

The expense totals, in fact, do not reflect staff and other costs associated with committee assignments. Some committee chairmen--most of whom are Democrats--have additional staff and expenses connected to their extra duties.

Said one Democratic staffer, who asked not to be named, “If someone has a major committee chairmanship, expenses are defrayed into the committees.”

Hill also criticized the spending report for failing to lump together all of the spending by Assembly leaders such as Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), whom he described as “the guy with the biggest staff in the Legislature.”

But Robert Connelly, chief administrative officer of the Assembly Rules Committee, dismissed the criticism as partisan, saying some GOP lawmakers are upset because some of them “have spent a lot of money.”

Connelly defended the system, saying that the 20 or so categories listed “are the same for all 80 members.”

He also noted that although Brown’s office expenses were listed as $269,392, another table in the expense report showed that Brown spent an additional $2 million to run the Speaker’s office.

There were wide variations within single categories in the 1989 reports. For instance, then-Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), who resigned from his seat late last year, spent only $82 on automobile rentals. In contrast, Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), whose district includes South Pasadena, spent $10,553.

Dean Florez, a Torres spokesman, said his boss sits on more committees than other members, and 1989 was a “particularly busy year for us.” Florez said Torres held a variety of committee hearings in such locations as Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and the San Joaquin Valley, necessitating higher-than-usual car rental fees.

Overall, expenses reported by Assembly members in the 1989 session totaled $22,589,109, an increase of 4% over the figure for the 1988 session, Connelly said.

Spending by Senate members totaled $19,022,387, a decline of 2% compared to the 1988 session, Berg said. “We’ve just not been spending money, conscious of the public’s concern,” Berg said.

But passage earlier this month of Proposition 140, which will force the Legislature to cut its operating budget by almost 50%, is triggering plans for much more extensive belt-tightening next year.

On Nov. 7--the day after the election--Sen. President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) issued a memo to his colleagues warning that approval of Proposition 140 “will require substantial personnel reductions.”

EXPENDITURES BY AREA LAWMAKERS

State officials recently released the office-related expenses reported by the Legislature’s 120 members for the 1989 session. The reports cover staff salaries, as well as spending on such items as furniture, leased cars and telephones. In the Senate, Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) was the top spender at $626,286. In the Assembly, Frank Hill (R-Whittier) topped the field, having spent $322,380. The following is a list of spending by San Gabriel Valley lawmakers.

Senate Total Spending Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear) $580,127 Ruben Ayala (D-Chino) $556,740 William Campbell* (R-Hacienda Heights) $534,891 Joseph B. Montoya** (D-Whittier) $464,436 Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) $441,030 Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) $429,183 Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield $389,661 Assembly Total Spending Frank Hill*** $322,380 Charles M. Calderon**** (D-Whittier) $313,153 Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) $306,596 Charles Bader (R-Pomona) $303,815 Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) $293,306 Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) $270,926 William H. Lancaster (R-Covina) $238,908 Richard L. Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) $238,168

* Resigned his seat in December, 1989 ** Resigned his seat in February, 1990 *** Elected to the Senate in April, 1990 **** Elected to the Senate in April, 1990