Agriculture Official Grows Into a Problem for Wilson : Politics: Henry Voss, the governor’s link to farmers, is under fire for alleged conflict of interest.

CERES, Calif. — In the big cities, Henry J. Voss is not a well-known name. But in the heart of California, where farming is king, Voss’ name is golden, particularly to his boss, Gov. Pete Wilson.

Voss is Wilson’s agriculture secretary, making him the Republican governor’s main link to the state’s $19-billion-a-year farming industry. And when Wilson, the lawyer educated at Yale and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall law school, looks to harvest campaign money from farmers, it is Voss, the lifelong farmer, who is usually at his side.

As Wilson runs for President, he needs farm support more than ever. But these days, Voss is proving to be something of a problem. Voss has come under scrutiny for failing to disclose at least $450,000 in outside income during his first five years in office, and is facing allegations of conflicts of interest.

In his latest conflict-of-interest statement, filed Wednesday, Voss provided a more complete accounting, showing that in 1994 he received at least $60,000 more in outside income and that he has wider agribusiness investments.

At a raisin growers event two weeks ago in Fresno, Wilson lauded Voss for doing “an exceptional job.” But when Wilson was asked earlier this week whether he intends to keep Voss in the $109,608-a-year post, the governor gave Voss a less-than-resounding endorsement.

“Can’t answer that yet,” Wilson said. “We want to be fair, both to him and obviously to the people. I don’t know yet fully what the facts are. It does appear that he has been sloppy and I am not pleased about that.”

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During his six years in office, Voss has kept a low profile at the Capitol, so much so that Senate and Assembly Agriculture Committee members cannot recall him testifying. As he faces his worst crisis as agriculture secretary, Voss also is being characteristically quiet.

“Secretary Voss is not ready to discuss this publicly,” said Voss spokeswoman Emma Suarez Pawlicki.

Through his lawyer, Voss blames the omissions on his annual disclosure statements on bad advice from an attorney, whom he has not identified. Voss signed those statements, a product of Watergate-era reform designed to ensure that officials do not make decisions affecting their private holdings.

Appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1989, Voss, 62, came to the Department of Food and Agriculture with credentials that were ideal for a Republican wanting good relations with farmers--so much so that Wilson kept him on when he took office in 1991. Before joining the department, Voss spent eight years as president of the California Farm Bureau, a farm lobbying group and a major campaign donor, which gave $37,000 to Wilson’s reelection effort last year.

For six years, it has been Voss’ job to regulate and represent the state’s farmers in Sacramento. He has done that by fighting regulations burdening growers, maintaining regulations protecting farm interests, and promoting California crops in the United States and overseas. Farmers know Voss or know of him, and virtually all of them see Voss as their protector.

Voss was born into a farm family in San Jose, back when the Santa Clara Valley was known for fruit orchards. But like many Santa Clara Valley farmers, the Voss family moved east as development pressures increased, and bought land in Ceres, near Modesto, off California 99.

The eldest of three brothers, Voss inherited some acreage, and expanded his operations over the years. He now holds title to more than 200 acres of peach, plum, walnut and almond trees near Ceres and Hughson, and other orchards in Merced County. A brother holds title to a 120-acre orchard near Voss’ land.

Like most farmers, Voss belongs to cooperatives that process and pack his harvest. It is those processors that provide Voss with the bulk of his outside income. They include such major companies as Del Monte, Tri Valley Growers, Blue Diamond, Sunsweet and Smuckers, as well as other less known groups. He has received at least $10,000 annually from most of these companies during his tenure.

At the same time, the Department of Food and Agriculture has taken actions affecting companies with which Voss does business in his private farming enterprises.

Voss, for example, grows cling peaches. As agriculture secretary, Voss worked to kill a bill last year that sought to weaken agriculture department-enforced marketing orders. Supported by mainstream farmers, the marketing orders keep prices paid to farmers stable--or, critics say, artificially high. They also provide money for advertising, and regulate the quality and quantity of fruit sent to market.

Harry Snyder, co-director of Consumers Union’s West Coast office and an opponent of marketing orders, became one of Voss’ harshest critics after battling the department over the legislation.

“We saw an agency behaving in a way that couldn’t be explained by its duty to protect the public and promote agriculture,” Snyder said. “When we looked into it, we found there appears to be a reason for it: Henry Voss’ self-interest.”

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In Voss’ first years as director, the Department of Food and Agriculture struck agreements with several food companies to market their products overseas, records show. The program has since been abandoned, but between 1989 and 1992, Blue Diamond received $100,000 from the foreign marketing program, Del Monte received $75,000, and Sunsweet and Tri Valley Growers received $40,000 each. The money was to pay for air fare, hotels, meals and incidentals incurred during the excursions.

“Anybody should have known it is not proper to regulate people who give you money,” Snyder said. “He not only didn’t disclose (his income), he didn’t recuse himself.”

Along with Common Cause of California, Snyder complained in February to the Fair Political Practices Commission that Voss apparently had failed to disclose his outside income on his conflict-of-interest statements.

Voss responded in March by amending statements dating back to 1989 showing the added income. He since has hired attorney Ben Davidian to represent him before the Fair Political Practices Commission. Davidian resigned as Wilson’s $95,000-a-year chairman of the commission in January to enter private practice.

“The image of Secretary Voss making tremendous amounts of money is not true,” Davidian said, adding that although Voss has received payments from Tri Valley, Blue Diamond and the others, Voss’ farms have reported net losses for income tax purposes in recent years.

Davidian dismisses potential criminal conflicts by Voss, saying: “I’m not terribly worried. It makes good press. It’s interesting. But I don’t think it is terribly accurate.”

Voss’ supporters describe him as less than flamboyant and as someone who readily delegates duties. They say he is not one who would knowingly skirt disclosure requirements. Indeed, farmers who know Voss offer testimonials.

Several companies with which Voss does business are among Wilson’s donors: Blue Diamond has given $40,000 to Wilson since 1989. Tri Valley gave $10,000 to Wilson’s last campaign. Sun Diamond, a major cooperative that markets prunes, walnuts, raisin and figs, gave $17,500 to Wilson last year, and $74,000 to Wilson in his 1990 campaign.

Richard Douglas, senior vice president of Sun Diamond, is among Wilson’s biggest presidential boosters. Douglas traveled with Wilson and Voss to South Korea last year on a successful mission to persuade the Koreans to accept California walnuts.

Sun Diamond includes Sunsweet Growers, which processes prunes. In his amended statements of economic interest, Voss lists Sunsweet as a source of $10,000 or more in income in each of his years in office. Voss also has investments worth $10,000 to $100,000 in Sunsweet. Dismissing allegations against Voss, Douglas said: “Henry is not that kind of a guy. He is a straight shooter, and a hard worker on behalf of agriculture. . . . Henry has been an outstanding secretary of agriculture. He’s one of us.”