Marina Developers Contribute to Supervisors’ Campaigns : Politics: Records show that leaseholders have given $508,044 to members of county board since 1986. They say they donate money to win access to public officials.

Most major Marina del Rey leaseholders turned out in February for the fund-raising dinner that launched Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana’s reelection campaign.

Although the three-term supervisor had no prominent challengers, leaseholders bought more than 60 tickets at $500 apiece for Dana’s fund-raiser at Santa Monica’s Museum of Flying. In all, marina interests contributed nearly $32,000 that night to Dana, whose district includes Marina del Rey and who has more influence on marina policy than any other elected official.

Their generosity was not unusual. Records show that Marina del Rey developers contributed $508,044 to members of the county Board of Supervisors since 1986, and Dana was the leading recipient.

Dana said developers and others contribute money to his campaigns “so they can come in . . . and see you and talk to you--for access. . . . I don’t think it goes beyond that.”

The leaseholders generally agree. Political donations, said marina developer Jona Goldrich, “give you access. . . Otherwise you’re just another number.”

“It’s just the cost of doing business,” said Abraham M. Lurie, the marina’s biggest leaseholder, who has contributed $56,600 since 1986 to the supervisors. “I don’t think any of them do anything for the money they receive, except maybe giving access.”

In addition to contributing to the supervisors’ campaigns, some marina leaseholders also have given to causes and candidates favored by supervisors, such as the unsuccessful 1988 state Assembly campaign of Deane Dana III, son of the supervisor, and the losing 1988 state Senate campaign of Dana’s chief deputy, Don Knabe. Knabe, who received $40,350 in leaseholder contributions, often serves as a liaison between leaseholders and the county Department of Beaches and Harbors.

Some political experts say that access to a public official can be a valuable commodity.

Robert Stern, chief counsel to the California Commission on Campaign Financing, a private research group, said getting private time with an official “means so much more” than simply speaking at a public hearing. “If you have an hour with an official and your opponent doesn’t have an hour, that’s very important,” he said.

UCLA Law Professor Daniel H. Lowenstein, former chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, agreed.

Although Lowenstein has not studied the marina, he said access can be especially significant at the county level, where many issues are not that visible to the public but have “economic stakes (that) are very, very high.”

When the record shows a pattern of giving across the ideological spectrum in non-election years as well as election years, Lowenstein said, it is “certainly a strong indicator” that the contributor is trying to influence official action.

Records show that all members of the board have received checks from the leaseholders, though in widely varying amounts. The Marina del Rey Political Action Committee, a group financed almost entirely by marina leaseholders, has given $71,350 to supervisors in the last six years. Marina leaseholders Lurie, Goldrich and Jerry Epstein, among others, have also been fund-raisers in recent years for some supervisors.

Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who retired last year, was noted for his directness in soliciting contributions, according to Robert Leslie, a Marina del Rey PAC official.

Jerry Snyder, who holds the lease to the high-rise Marina City Club condominiums, recalled a day in 1990 when Schabarum called him seeking money to promote Proposition 140, his ballot initiative to limit the terms of California legislators.

Snyder said he wrote a $5,000 check to Schabarum’s campaign even though he does not support term limits. “You never know when you need access,” he said. “You just don’t say no to these people.”

Schabarum could not be reached for comment.

Campaign Contributions

Marina del Rey developers have been substantial campaign contributors to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors during the past six years. Their direct contributions to the supervisors from 1986 to the present are summarized below: Supervisor Deane Dana: $188,110 Ex-Supervisor Pete Schabarum: $151,866 Supervisor Mike Antonovich: $101,118 Supervisor Kenneth Hahn: $39,700 Supervisor Gloria Molina*: $14,000 Supervisor Ed Edelman: $13,250 TOTAL: $508,044 NOTE: * Molina contributions since she ran for Supervisor in 1991.

SOURCE: Campaign contribution reports