Disney Becoming Mouse That Roared in the State Capitol : Lobbying: The company had been only a token player in California politics. But now, as it plans to expand its attractions, it is stepping up campaign contributions.

By MARK GLADSTONE and RALPH FRAMMOLINO

April 22, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

SACRAMENTO —

With expansion of its entertainment empire in Southern California at stake, the Walt Disney Co. is shedding its image as a bit player in the state Capitol by dramatically increasing the amount of money it pumps into statewide and legislative races.

In the last year, Disney has boosted contributions to state officeholders to $95,000 and spent another $73,000 on initiatives--more than a tenfold increase over the yearly average contributed by the firm during the 1980s. In recent months the entertainment firm also hired one of the top Sacramento lobbying firms to seek passage of controversial legislation that would ease environmental constraints on the construction of a $2-billion Long Beach waterfront theme park known as Port Disney.

A Disney spokesman said last week that the heightened attention to Sacramento comes as the company is seeking help from the Legislature in the park venture and in changing laws that would permit it to develop time-share properties.

“We are trying to make our needs known,” said Tom Deegan, Disney’s director of corporate communications. “We have requirements as a business that wants to grow, (and) we want to communicate to legislators.”

The company also has stepped up its focus on local politics, according to records filed with the secretary of state. In 1990, Disney spent more than $303,000 on local campaigns, an almost fivefold jump from the year before. Most of that--$260,000--went to campaigns for transportation tax increases in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Although Disney’s total contributions last year of almost $473,000 do not come close to matching the likes of such big givers as the Atlantic Richfield Co., $1.6 million, or the Irvine Co., $951,000, they do place the entertainment company in the league of major donors.

Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-San Pedro) suggested that Disney--which attracts millions of tourists to the state--probably doesn’t need to court state officials.

“Most people have a warm spot in their heart for Disney . . . Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Pluto and the whole bunch. People have kind of grown up with this,” said Elder, whose district includes Long Beach.

But the company now faces the sobering reality of government regulation as it plans a massive theme park expansion in Long Beach or Anaheim as part of the “Disney Decade,” Deegan said. As a result, Disney officials said, the company made a corporate decision to become more active in state politics.

As part of the effort, Deegan said, the company, which has been a big political player nationally and in Florida, home of Disney World, recently established a government relations group that includes an office in Burbank.

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), whose unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor received $2,000 from Disney, noted that the company is seeking to gain “support through contributions, which is not uncommon these days.”

That has not always been the case.

Since 1981, public campaign records show, Disney typically contributed an average total of $7,000 to $17,500 a year to the Capitol’s most powerful elected officials. Recipients have included Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), and former Gov. George Deukmejian. Former state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim)--whose district included Disneyland--also received regular donations. Seymour is now a U.S. senator.

But in 1990, Disney’s pattern of giving changed; it poured $169,287 into state campaigns. Disney reported spending $95,000 on 85 statewide and legislative contests, ranging from governor to lawmakers representing the most northern parts of the state. The firm gave Pete Wilson $1,000 but gave nothing to his gubernatorial opponent, Dianne Feinstein. Much of the $95,000 was given weeks before the November election.

In addition, Disney donated $73,287 to groups backing statewide initiatives, ranging from increasing the gasoline tax to the sweeping environmental measure Big Green.

Disney’s 1990 giving shows no strong ideology but follows the time-honored Capitol tradition of backing incumbents and covering all the political bases, the records show.

For instance, Disney gave $20,000 to each side slugging it out over reapportionment schemes and contributed to opposing candidates running for lieutenant governor, treasurer, and attorney general. It also gave to Republican incumbent Curt Pringle and his successful Democratic challenger, Tom Umberg, in the central Orange County Assembly district that includes Disneyland.

Now Disney is interested in obtaining $250,000 from the state for a feasibility study of a proposed “people mover” that would connect Disneyland, Anaheim Stadium and the Anaheim Convention Center, said George Urch, an aide to Umberg. The request for help was relayed by Disney to Anaheim city officials who then turned to Umberg, Urch said.

Meanwhile, Disney has stepped up its lobbying for other parts of its legislative agenda. In the recent past, the company employed a single lobbying firm on a small retainer. But this year, Disney hired two additional advocates, both of whom are heavy hitters in their respective fields.

Dugald Gillies, a veteran real estate lobbyist, was hired to push for special consideration under state time-share laws to allow construction for an international chain of vacation resorts at its amusement parks, including either Long Beach or Anaheim.

The change being proposed by Disney would keep the Department of Real Estate from exercising its power to set prices on time-share sales to Disney World and other out-of-state destinations, as well as waive a number of in-state homeowner association rules to allow Disney greater control over any California resort it intends to build.

An item attracting wider public attention, however, is a Disney-requested bill that would help clear environmental hurdles for the Port Disney project. Disney has hired the lobbying firm of Don BrOwn to help make private pitches to lawmakers on behalf of the measure introduced by Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno.

Maddy received $1,000 from the company last year, but Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), who is carrying the time-share measure, received nothing, records show.

The Maddy bill has touched off a furious lobbying battle between Disney and officials of the Coastal Commission, which opposes the proposal. Both sides are working the corridors of the Capitol to buttonhole lawmakers in preparation for a hearing later this month by the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

Disney officials and an aide to Maddy maintain that the bill merely clarifies provisions of the Coastal Act to allow filling in 250 acres of Long Beach shoreline near the Queen Mary for the proposed theme park.

But Peter Douglas, the Coastal Commission’s executive director, maintains that Disney is “misrepresenting the bill” and that it would set an extremely bad precedent by filling in coastal waters for non-port uses.

Disney is “trying to sell it as something good for kids and something good for the economy,” Douglas said in an interview. “They are putting all sorts of sugar and spice on it . . . when in fact it’s something that the Coastal Act hasn’t allowed for 17 years.”

Douglas and other critics may be facing an uphill fight, Elder said.

“They (Disney) are the master of communications and entertainment,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of people who pick fights with Mickey Mouse.”

DISNEY POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Here are Walt Disney Co.’s political contributions for California and local campaigns since 1984. The list is broken down between state and local initiatives and campaigns, with some major contributions detailed under each category: 1990

State initiatives and political campaigns: $169,287

Among the contributions:

* To 85 statewide and legislative races: $95,000

* For both sides of reapportionment initiatives: $40,000

* To support gasoline tax hike initiative: $28,287

* To Big Green environmental initiative: $ 5,000

Local initiatives and political campaigns: $303,238

Among the contributions:

* For Orange County transportation sales tax: $250,000

* For L.A. County half-cent transportation sales tax: $10,000

1990 overall total: $472,525

1989