Wilson Cleared of Wrongdoing for Trade Mission Donations

The state’s political watchdog agency has ruled that Gov. Pete Wilson did not intend to violate the law when he solicited donations from California companies to help pay for a 17-day trade mission to Asia last year.

The opinion by the Fair Political Practices Commission clears the way for the Wilson Administration to spend $114,000 it collected to offset expenses from the trip, said Trade and Commerce Undersecretary Loren Kaye.

“We are going to reimburse ourselves,” Kaye said. “We’re delighted that it’s over and we can finally do what we intended to do all along.”

At issue was whether the 21 donations ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 each were illegal gifts to a state official in violation of the $250 limit in the Political Reform Act.

California Democratic Party Chairman Bill Press raised the issue in a complaint to the FPPC after Wilson aides disclosed that they had solicited the money to fund his trip to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China.

Those who pledged to contribute to the trip were invited to accompany the governor and his delegation on the mission.

But the FPPC’s enforcement division, in a decision dated Monday, ruled that Wilson may have committed technical violations but did not intend to break the law. It said no action would be taken in the case.

The ruling said Wilson aides probably erred in having the donors earmark their contributions specifically for the governor’s trade mission. Instead, they should have made no-strings-attached contributions to the Trade and Commerce Agency, the commission said.

But because the trip was for official state business, the commission lawyers determined that the gifts were exempt from the $250 limit.

“If the facts showed that this was a ‘tropical vacation’ rather than legitimate business, that obviously would be considered an aggravating factor that would potentially change our view of what occurred here,” the ruling said. “It appears to this agency that the trade mission constituted a legitimate governmental purpose.”

Press, reached Wednesday, criticized the FPPC. He noted that the commission’s legal division had said in an earlier letter that the contributions could be illegal. “I strongly suspect that if it had been anyone other than the governor, the FPPC would have levied a stiff fine,” Press said.

He said Wilson, regardless of the commission’s opinion, should return the money and use taxpayers’ funds to pay for the trip.

“I believe that for the governor to accept and to now spend this money is to thumb his nose at the spirit of the law, if not the letter,” Press said. “They may have found an end-run. But the regulations clearly state that a state agency cannot accept corporate contributions and target them for any particular purpose. It smells.”