Golding’s Stand on Trade Tax Questioned

At a time when her husband was earning tens of thousands of dollars by helping to lobby against California’s unitary tax, County Supervisor Susan Golding repeatedly took strong stands against the same levy in her role as a public official, records show.

During 1985 and 1986, years when Golding’s then-husband, Richard T. Silberman, reported receiving at least $30,000 from two business-backed lobbying groups fighting for repeal of the tax, Golding formally urged the Board of Supervisors to take a stand in favor of rescission of the tax.

“Due to the direct threat the Unitary Tax poses to thousands of San Diego County jobs, and the many millions of dollars flowing into our regional economy each year, it is my recommendation to adopt a formal county legislative policy to rescind the California Unitary Tax,” she wrote on Feb. 14, 1985, shortly after taking office.

Golding also sponsored the 1985 creation of the county’s International Trade Commission, which took a stand against the tax, and successfully backed the appointment to that commission of a top corporate executive whose firm funded the lobbying groups that were paying Silberman.

However, a spokeswoman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission said a public official would not appear to benefit from such an arrangement and therefore would not risk violating state conflict-of-interest laws. The spokeswoman stressed that she could not offer a specific opinion on Golding’s actions.

Despite making her position known, Golding abstained in March, 1985, and May, 1986, when the full board formally took positions in favor of “reform” of the controversial tax. Generally, a vote is needed before an official can run the risk of a conflict-of-interest violation, said Carol Thorp of the FPPC.

“I didn’t vote on the issue. I expressed an opinion in an advisory board,” Golding said. “I’ve never been told that’s a conflict of interest. If it is, I should be told.”

She also said she, like many business groups, was strongly opposed to a tax she believed was harmful to the local economy.

But two of Golding’s rivals in the San Diego mayor’s race, City Councilman Ron Roberts and growth management advocate Peter Navarro, accused the supervisor of abusing her office.

“You’re using your office for your own private gain. That’s a conflict of interest. That’s what you’re not supposed to do,” Roberts said.

“What she’s doing, there should be no question about it, is influence peddling, a pattern of abuse that is endemic in our system and the reason why we have to clear everybody out of there,” Navarro said.

Under California’s former unitary tax system, multinational corporations paid taxes to the state based on their worldwide income, not just the commerce conducted in the state. For example, if 10% of a global firm’s sales, payroll and property were in California, the state assessed its corporate tax rate against 10% of the corporation’s entire income.

The system was overhauled in 1986 after intense lobbying by large multinational firms.

Two groups established to push for the revisions were the California Investment Environment Coalition and the California Unitary Coalition, both of which were heavily sponsored by San Diego-based Kyocera International, a manufacturer of technical ceramics, and Sony Corp.

The California Investment Environment Coalition is a lobbying group that spent $230,000 in 1984, $382,000 in 1985 and $177,000 in 1986 in attempts to influence legislation, state records show.

The California Unitary Coalition is a political action committee that donated to legislators, including Senate President Pro Tempore David A. Roberti.

Golding’s disclosure statements show that Silberman received more than $10,000 from the California Investment Environment Coalition in both 1985 and 1986. The group’s address was listed as Kyocera’s San Diego headquarters.

Silberman, who helped organize the California Unitary Coalition, was paid more than $10,000 by the San Diego-based group in 1986, according to Golding’s disclosure reports.

Regulations governing the disclosures do not require officeholders to specify exactly how much they were paid. The records do not make clear whether Silberman was employed for the entire year.

Golding said she believes that Silberman, whom she divorced this year, was a consultant to the groups and not a registered lobbyist. Silberman is serving a term in federal prison after a conviction for his role in a scheme to launder FBI funds that were represented as drug money.

In addition to suggesting that her colleagues back rescission of the tax, Golding in 1985 sponsored creation of the county commission and nominated Kasey Hasagawa, Kyocera’s president, to the advisory board.

Because of other commitments, Hasagawa served only a few months and was succeeded by William Everitt, vice president of communications for Kyocera.

Golding said she chose Hasagawa because “I was looking for people from companies in San Diego who were knowledgeable about international trade and interested in investing in San Diego. We were trying to improve the business climate.” She also noted that the commission had little power.

Everitt agreed, maintaining that there was “absolutely no connection between that appointment and what was going on in the unitary tax. The unitary tax thing had been going on for a long time.”

As an ex-officio member of the commission, Golding said at a May, 1986, meeting that she “agreed . . . on taking a position opposing the unitary tax.”

“We should not only inform the San Diego delegation of our position but also chairs of the committees, the governor’s office and any other legislator active in opposing reform,” Golding said, according to minutes of the meeting.

Actively promoting its position would help make the fledgling commission, which first met in October, 1985, influential, Golding said at the meeting.

The commission adopted a position in favor of the concept of unitary tax reform. That stand was adopted by the Board of Supervisors 15 days later, with Golding abstaining.

Times Staff Writer Ralph Frammolino in Sacramento contributed to this report.