Deddeh, Bentley Reverse Public Rejection of Raises : Politics: Campaign vows of losing S.D. County legislators are privately rescinded around election time.

Two San Diego County legislators who publicly rejected benefits increases during their campaigns quietly reversed themselves when it was too late to affect the election.

When they were candidates for higher office, Sen. Wadie P. Deddeh and Assemblywoman Carol Bentley joined the stampede of lawmakers eager to demonstrate their personal restraint during the state’s $11-billion budget nightmare.

In March, the San Diegans waived an $8-a-day increase in their expense checks. In April, Deddeh even went so far as to ask the state controller to give him a 5% pay cut .

But that was before they lost their primary races and no longer had to face the voters. Since then, the two have demanded that the State of California pay them in full, state records show.

Deddeh (D-Bonita) and Bentley (R-El Cajon) sent letters to Controller Gray Davis last month saying they had changed their minds and want to claim full per diem of $100 for rent, meals and other expenses of doing business in Sacramento. Others making the change were Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Nolan Frizzelle (R-Fountain Valley).

In addition, Deddeh has asked that his full $55,500 annual salary be restored--making him the only lawmaker to reverse himself after taking a voluntary pay cut, a spokesman for Davis said.

An aide to Deddeh said Monday that the veteran senator, who lost a bitter Democratic primary campaign for the new 50th Congressional District, decided to take the full amount of both his expense check and salary because he has already donated the difference to three charities.

Bentley, however, directly blamed her change of heart on her foiled bid for the 37th Senate District seat. Running for the upper chamber meant she had to forfeit her Assembly seat, and she’s now a lame duck with an uncertain future.

“I had every anticipation that I was going to be successful and have a position for another four years,” Bentley said about her initial decision to forgo the per-diem increase.

“My whole situation has changed. I’m going to be out of work very shortly, so I’m my sole support. I’m looking out for my own financial interest . . . I’m trying to save money.”

In Sacramento, the move by lawmakers to reject the per-diem increase was largely seen as a symbolic gesture at a time when the state was making deep cuts in social programs to erase a continuing budget shortfall. In all, 73 out of 120 senators and Assembly members decided against taking the bigger expense check after the state Board of Control voted March 18 to raise the per diem from $92 to $100.

Bentley was one of the first lawmakers to say no, firing off a letter March 19 asking Davis to withhold the extra amount from her daily expense checks. The letter came 16 days after she declared herself a candidate for the Senate seat.

“In the wake of the current fiscal crisis that our state faces, I cannot accept this increase in good conscience,” Bentley wrote. “Therefore, I’m declining to accept the $8 increase.”

Deddeh faxed a letter dated March 25 to Davis, asking the controller to do the same for him.

“I agree that a per-diem increase cannot be justified at this time,” wrote Deddeh, who was then locked in a tough three-way Democratic primary race against former congressman Jim Bates and San Diego City Councilman Bob Filner in the new 50th Congressional District in southern San Diego County.

The senator then contacted Davis on April 1 and asked that his salary be reduced as well, following an example of Gov. Pete Wilson and other statewide officeholders who took a similar voluntary pay cut during last year’s budget fiasco.

But it didn’t take Deddeh long to change his mind. Records show that he reversed himself in a letter to Davis dated June 1--one day before Filner beat him in the congressional primary. His letter gave no explanation.

Bentley waited until June 10 to send an equally terse letter rescinding her waiver of the per-diem increase. Frizzelle and Rosenthal, who were beaten in their reelection bids, followed suit by mid-June.

The timing of the letters meant that Deddeh, Bentley, Frizzelle and Rosenthal received the higher per-diem rate through July 1, when the state began the new fiscal year without a budget and lawmakers agreed to suspend all expense and salary payments for themselves, said Edd Fong, a spokesman for Controller Davis’ office. The four will also be paid the $100 per-diem rate when a new budget is signed and lawmakers can collect checks for retroactive expenses, Fong said.

Roberti changed his mind on the per-diem increase in July, after he survived a tough special election contest for a San Fernando Valley Senate seat. The powerful Senate president will not have to face voters in November. He, too, will be able to take the per-diem increase retroactively, Fong said.