Roth Fund Event Is Expected to Help Pay Fine

Supporters of former Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth will pay $100 apiece to attend a fund-raising event next month that is expected to help Roth pay a remaining $25,000 of his $50,000 fine for seven convictions on ethics law violations.

Notices of the reception--which show a younger Roth attired in his Navy uniform and saluting other uniformed personnel--have been circulated throughout the county. The invitation, signed by Roth, asks supporters to “help assist me to retire my political debt.”

“Everyone knows what his political debt is,” said one close Roth associate, referring to the fine. “We’ve all read about it in the papers. I know of no other (financial) obligation he has. Everyone is expecting that’s what he is going to do with the money.”

Assistant Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade, who was part of the team of prosecutors on the Roth case, said he believes that most of Roth’s political obligations have already been satisfied.

“I saw a flyer . . . and I kind of wondered what the words political debt meant,” Wade said.

Roth has already spent much if not all of his leftover campaign funds to help pay the first half of the $50,000 fine, plus legal fees arising from his case. His January campaign disclosure statement shows an outstanding debt of $1,130.42.

The event, called a “Salute to Don Roth,” is scheduled for June 9 at the Anaheim Stadium Club.

In barely acknowledging the legal troubles that cost him his political career, Roth said in the invitation: “As with all of life’s great experiences, there have been some difficulties and some sorrows--but it’s the struggles that yielded success, the toiling that built friendships and the shared visions that helped propel our county to greatness that I will fondly and proudly remember.”

Roth pleaded guilty March 25 to seven misdemeanors for failing to report a housing loan, home improvements, trips, golf outings and other gifts from community members, then later voting on matters before the Board of Supervisors that affected the donors. He had resigned his office 24 days earlier.

Many of the allegations were first raised in a series of articles in The Times.

Roth was sentenced to three years’ probation and 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay the $50,000 fine.

The fund-raiser is apparently the product of discussions Roth held last month with prominent local lobbyists and business people in which he considered hosting an event to help pay his fine.

The former supervisor paid half the amount late last month in a cashier’s check. A majority of the funds, if not all, were drawn from Roth’s leftover campaign funds, defense attorney Paul S. Meyer has said. The balance of the fine is due by Oct. 25.

Meyer said Monday that he had not discussed with Roth how proceeds from the fund-raiser would be used or whether applying them to the fine was even an option.

“I think it’s fitting that after so many years of service that he have some kind of retirement send-off,” Meyer said. The attorney said he had “no response” to Roth’s written statement that contributions would be used to retire a political debt.

The invitation asks that checks be made payable to the Roth Committee in Irvine. Meyer said he did not know the committee’s membership. It was unclear Monday how many people have been invited and how many have promised to attend.

The announcement stirred new outrage from William R. Mitchell, president of the Orange County chapter of Common Cause and a strong critic of Roth.

“This is not like helping out when a house burns down on a person who doesn’t have insurance,” Mitchell said. “This guy was trading favors on his political office.”

Mitchell said plans for the Stadium Club reception would be “unbelievable, but it is consistent with the way he has conducted his affairs.”

Roth’s convictions were the motivation for a proposed ordinance banning gifts to about 1,500 county employees and appointees that the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider at its regular meeting today.

The former supervisor could not be reached for comment Monday.

Michael J. Sofia, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim, where Roth is working to satisfy court-ordered community service, said Monday that Roth was ill and was not expected at work.

“I don’t know anything about a fund-raiser,” Sofia said. “I don’t know if I’ll go because I don’t know anything about it.”

Roth has also drawn attention by spending his community service time in organizing a fund-raising golf tournament for the Boys & Girls Club. Prosecutors have said, however, that they expect Roth to satisfy the service requirement by helping the club relocate and perhaps by painting out graffiti.

Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler, a consistent supporter of Roth, said Monday that he had not received an invitation to the reception but would probably attend if asked.

“I’m not just going to turn my back and walk away,” Pickler said. “I don’t hold any malice. I have no problem going to any event that (Roth) has. I would hope that if I got to a point where I was down and out, somebody would be there to help.”

The fund-raising notice invites recipients to thank Roth for his 37 years of service. Roth served in the Navy from 1942 to 1962 and was a member of the Anaheim City Council from 1971 to 1972 and 1976 to 1986. He left as mayor.

His term on the Board of Supervisors began in 1987 and ended March 1 with his resignation under the heavy pressure of the district attorney’s investigation.

“When I moved to Orange County in 1957, toward the close of my 20-year Navy career, I expected my journeyman days to end,” Roth wrote in the fund-raising notice. “I anchored myself in Anaheim, but little did I know that I was soon to set sail on the greatest journey of my life. And what an adventure those 17 years of city and county service have been.”