Regulators Won’t Attend Fund-Raisers, Wilson Says : Campaign: Public interest groups claim the presence of state board members at certain money-raising events gives the wrong appearance. The governor now agrees.

Early this month, Gov. Pete Wilson was the guest of honor at a $2,500-per-couple campaign fund-raiser sponsored by the timber industry and attended by a member of the State Board of Forestry, which regulates logging practices.

A month earlier, Wilson invited officials from waste collection companies to a $5,000-a-couple fund-raiser for his reelection drive that was attended by a majority of the Integrated Waste Management Board, which oversees that industry.

Both events have prompted criticism from environmentalists and public interest groups, who contend that the presence of regulators at industry-oriented fund-raisers smacks of undue influence by corporate interests.

Wilson now acknowledges that having regulators at the events gave the wrong appearance. “I don’t think members of a regulatory board ought to attend, no. Certainly not an industry fund-raiser. If they want to attend a different fund-raiser as individuals, that would be different,” he said in an interview.

The controversy underscores the balance that Wilson must strike as he gears up for a race next year that is expected to cost candidates more than $50 million. It is a dilemma faced by incumbent governors across the nation: how to raise millions of dollars without creating the appearance that government decisions are being traded for contributions.

To draw a clearer line between political fund-raising and government decision-making, Dan Schnur, the governor’s communications director, said Wilson has directed that regulators never again be invited to any of his money-raising events that focus on a single industry.

“I think there is a very clear line that shouldn’t be crossed . . . that line was crossed and it won’t be crossed again,” he said.

Schnur however, said Wilson, like many governors, would continue to invite top policy-makers to attend his fund-raisers.

“There’s no problem in our opinion with asking Administration representatives to a fund-raising event to discuss a specific issue or series of issues that would be of interest to the potential contributors,” he said. “What is clearly not appropriate is inviting representatives of the Administration who have any type of regulatory capacity over that industry.”

In attendance at Wilson’s May 11 fund-raiser for the waste industry were four gubernatorial appointees to the six-member waste board--Jesse R. Huff, Michael Frost, Sam Egigian and Paul Relis. Wilson’s office said all four were invited by the Republican governor’s reelection campaign staff. The board oversees the siting of new landfills.

An invitation to the event at Sacramento’s exclusive Sutter Club promised that the board members and the governor would table-hop during the evening so “everyone will have the opportunity to talk with these special guests personally.” Several who attended the event say no specific regulatory decisions were discussed.

Schnur said the case of the timber industry fund-raiser was slightly different because Joseph Russ, the forestry board member, attended as a paying contributor and not as Wilson’s invited guest. Even so, he acknowledged that the governor under any circumstances was uncomfortable having regulatory officials appear at fund-raisers that focus on a single industry.

But Schnur said Wilson was comfortable with inviting high-ranking appointees who have broad policy-making authority over a range of industries. The regulators, in contrast, he said, make day-to-day decisions that directly impact the economic well-being of a specific industry.

Indeed, the governor brought along Resources Secretary Douglas Wheeler and Food and Agriculture Department Director Henry Voss to the timber industry fund-raiser and Cal-EPA undersecretary Daniel Haley attended the waste industry event.

On Wednesday, Marjorie Berte, the governor’s insurance adviser, joined the governor at a fund-raiser hosted by the California Assn. of Insurance Companies.

The critics of Wilson’s fund-raising efforts said it was inappropriate for officials with any authority over an industry to attend fund-raisers but they leveled their strongest criticism at the involvement of regulators.

Ruth Holton, executive director of California Common Cause, an organization lobbying for campaign financing reform, said the presence of state officials at fund-raisers gives corporate interests special access and sends “a subtle message” to regulators that these interests are important to the governor.

She said she was bothered that several of Wilson’s fund-raisers, like many of those commonly held by legislators, came at a time when major issues affecting the industry sponsoring them were pending before state government. The waste industry is pushing a variety of proposals to relieve overburdened Los Angeles area landfills that the waste board is expected to review. Several companies present at the governor’s fund-raiser are proposing to ship trash by train to Eagle Mountain, a remote desert area in Riverside County.

Michael Paparian, state director of the Sierra Club, said he was troubled by the forestry event because it was preceded by an announcement from the governor that he had ordered state officials to speed up approvals of logging permits--a move long sought by the depressed timber industry.

Schnur said political donations have no influence on the Administration’s decisions.

Frost, who was appointed to the waste board by former Gov. George Deukmejian, agreed. He said he was not influenced by his attendance at the fund-raiser and saw no reason why he should not have been present.

A former Deukmejian chief of staff, Frost said it is his job on the waste board to talk to environmental and local government groups as well as industry executives. “If I was invited to another similar event, I would go,” he said.

Huff, a former state finance director under Deukmejian, said he, too, has an open-door policy and is willing to discuss waste issues with a broad spectrum of groups.

Schnur said the recent fund-raising events have helped Wilson erase his campaign debt and begin accumulating a war chest to fend off a Democratic challenge. Figures from the fund-raisers are not available now, and there have been other such events held privately, but the governor’s campaign debt at one time totaled at least $400,000.

State Treasurer Kathleen Brown and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, two of Wilson’s potential Democratic rivals, say they do not raise funds from industries they regulate. A spokeswoman for Brown said that beginning in 1992 she stopped accepting donations given on behalf of investment banking houses--but continues to accept them from individuals within the industry.

Garamendi said he does not accept money from the insurance industry he oversees. “I’m their regulator. I’m their policeman. I’m not here to be loved and I don’t think it’s right for me to take their money,” Garamendi said.

Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub contributed to this story.