Roth Decides Not to Attend Disney Trip to France : Inquiry: Questions raised recently about the supervisor’s political finances contributed to his decision not to join a local delegation, an aide said.

SANTA ANA — Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth, whose political finances have come under close scrutiny in recent weeks, has pulled out of a Walt Disney Co.-organized trip to France next week to avoid any appearance of impropriety, an aide said on Friday.

Because of “the current climate relative to gifts,” Roth “just decided it was not appropriate to go on the trip,” Roth aide Dan Wooldridge said. “We just felt that Don had things to tend to here.”

The Times has reported during the past two weeks that Roth failed to disclose in state-required reports that he had received a number of trips, gifts, and what amounted to a loan from local business people and political allies. And the FBI is investigating Roth, a former Anaheim mayor and two-term supervisor, over allegations of influence peddling, officials have said.

Anaheim city officials have also been criticized recently for accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of Disneyland tickets, trips and other gifts while at the same time voting on Disney projects. The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission this week granted city officials an exception to state laws, allowing them to continue to vote on Disney affairs.

Wooldridge indicated that the questions raised about both the Anaheim-Disneyland ties and about Roth’s own political finances contributed to the supervisor’s decision to cancel his trip. He declined further comment on the issue. Roth could not be reached for comment Friday.

A delegation of 77 local officials from Disneyland, the city of Anaheim and other local political and corporate leaders will meet outside Paris beginning Monday for tours of the new Euro Disney complex. The trip was arranged by Disney, but company officials said each delegate is paying $1,767 for air fare and four nights in a hotel.

Along with the Disney tours, Roth was to have met with French government officials to learn more about that country’s rail technology. Roth has been the main local backer of a proposal to build a high-speed rail train between Anaheim and Las Vegas.

Wooldridge said that Disneyland President Jack Lindquist was “very disappointed” by Roth’s decision and tried unsuccessfully to change his mind.

His decision leaves Harriett M. Wieder as the only supervisor attending the Disney tour.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton said he did not know Roth had canceled his plans, but was not surprised. “I think it’s understandable given the bad press he’s gotten lately,” Stanton said.

Questions about Roth’s political finances have focused on his reporting of gifts and other financial contributions under the state’s Political Reform Act of 1974. The act requires local and state officials to disclose a range of economic affiliations to guard against potential conflicts of interest.

The Times has reported that Roth did not report in an economic disclosure statement filed in April that he accepted three trips to Santa Catalina Island and what amounted to an $8,500 interest-free loan through an unusual rental agreement with the Dougher family, which owns more than a dozen local mobile home parks.

He also did not disclose that he had been given free use several times of a Palm Springs area condominium owned by local developer Magdy Hanna of Newport Beach.

Four months ago, Roth voted to approve a $5-million condominium project proposed by Hanna on land that Hanna is buying from the Dougher family.

Political finance experts say Roth may have violated state law both by failing to disclose the gifts and by then voting on the condominium project. The Fair Political Practices Commission has declined comment on the case, although Roth’s attorney has contacted lawyers there about the matter.

The most recent questions center on Roth’s relationship to his longtime friend and campaign manager Harvey Englander, a Costa Mesa-based political consultant who often represents corporate clients before the county and other governmental bodies.

Roth in 1990 acquired a 2% stake in a fledgling company started by Englander to market sunscreen in custom-made plastic golf balls.

The supervisor listed stock in the company--called Before Play--in his disclosure statement for 1990 but did not report how he got it.

Englander said Roth did not pay for the stock. And the consultant offered conflicting accounts this week of how the shares were acquired by Roth, saying initially that the stock was a gift but then indicating that it was compensation for the supervisor’s service as a director of the company.

In either case, political finance experts said the source of the stock should have been reported--either as a gift or as outside income.

While The Times story stated that Roth’s role as a company shareholder and a director had not been previously disclosed, Englander noted Friday that Roth was identified as a director of a subsidiary company in a story that appeared in another newspaper in 1991.