Baugh Records Said to Show Illegal Donation

The Fair Political Practices Commission is auditing Assemblyman Scott Baugh’s campaign reports and has obtained financial records showing that he accepted a large contribution in cash last year in apparent violation of the state’s Political Reform Act.

Darryl East, the FPPC’s chief enforcement officer, said the agency has evidence that the Baugh campaign accepted $8,800 in cash from a Huntington Beach businessman. East declined to discuss the audit, which was launched last month.

In an interview Wednesday, Adel Ziedan, owner of the Ocean Pacific Market in Huntington Beach, confirmed that he personally gave Baugh the money.

“I gave him cash because I had cash,” Ziedan said in an interview at his market. “He said he wanted a check, really. But I didn’t do it. It was my fault.” Ziedan noted that he was reluctant to say anything that could hurt Baugh.

Ziedan gave the Baugh campaign a total of $10,000, $9,000 of which was obtained through a credit card loan, he said. Baugh, who is an attorney, reported the contribution in his Oct. 14 campaign report.

Baugh did not return repeated phone calls to his office for comment. His lawyer confirmed the existence of the audit and called it “not unusual” for the agency, which regulates campaign fund-raising, spending and reporting.

Ben Davidian, who represents Baugh and headed the FPPC from 1991 to 1995, declined to comment on the cash contribution, noting that his Sacramento law office has yet to receive all the records from Baugh’s 1995 campaign. Some of the records were seized by the Orange County district attorney’s office in a December search of Baugh’s Huntington Beach home or were subpoenaed by the office from Baugh’s former campaign treasurer.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office, which is investigating alleged irregularities in Baugh’s campaign finances, said officials there are cooperating with the FPPC audit and have shared financial and campaign records with the auditors.

District attorney’s investigators questioned Ziedan about the contribution Monday, the store owner said.

East said the FPPC had learned of the $8,800 cash contribution as a result of the investigation by the district attorney’s office, which has primary jurisdiction in the case.

“If they are going to pursue those matters, we will work with them in any manner they wish,” East said.

Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) was elected to the Assembly in a special election Nov. 28, the same day voters in the northwest Orange County district ousted renegade Republican Assemblywoman Doris Allen. Allen angered GOP leaders by holding the Assembly speakership for part of 1995 with the help of Democrats.

When the Legislature reconvened in January, Baugh provided the key vote as Republicans took control of the Assembly. The GOP elected its own choice as speaker for the first time in nearly two decades, naming Curt Pringle of Garden Grove to the post.

In addition to the alleged financial irregularities, the district attorney is investigating Baugh’s alleged ties to the aborted candidacy of Democrat Laurie Campbell in the same election. Campbell was removed from the ballot in October, when a Sacramento judge ruled that her nomination papers had been falsified.

Democrats have charged that Orange County Republican leaders engineered the Campbell candidacy to siphon votes from well-known Democrat Linda Moulton-Patterson. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Assembly Speaker Pringle have acknowledged that their aides had some involvement in placing Campbell on the ballot.

As part of the FPPC audit, campaign contributors have been mailed “confirmation letters” by a special section of the state Franchise Tax Board, which conducts the audit. The letters ask contributors to verify monetary and nonmonetary contributions reported by the campaign.

FPPC officials declined to discuss the audit, confirm its existence or say when a report would be issued. They also declined to say whether the audit is a routine, random examination or one targeting Baugh’s finances.

Questions about Baugh’s alleged links to the Campbell candidacy have become an issue among Republicans competing to oust him in the March 26 primary election. He has denied any involvement in the effort to recruit Campbell.

On Nov. 28, however, he filed an amended campaign finance statement disclosing he had accepted a $1,000 contribution from Campbell’s husband, Rick. He returned the contribution to Rick Campbell in cash Sept. 21, the day Laurie Campbell filed for office. Baugh has said through his attorneys that he was unaware the envelope he gave Campbell contained cash, rather than a check.

The contribution from Ziedan and the return of cash to Rick Campbell may violate prohibitions on the use of cash in California campaigns. Individual cash contributions or expenditures in amounts over $100 are banned under the political reform act, said FPPC spokesman Gary Huckaby. Violations can be prosecuted through civil, criminal or administrative processes.

“You are not supposed to accept [a cash contribution larger than $100],” Huckaby said. “If they still wish to give it, you are supposed to ask them to give it in a check.”

Davidian has said he expects Baugh will have to pay fines, and has predicted that other errors made on campaign reports will be pursued as a civil matter. He said he does not consider the return of a contribution to be “an expenditure” covered under the cash prohibition.

Ziedan said he gave Baugh a large contribution because he likes and respects him, and is grateful to him for past legal help. Ziedan said Baugh, who at the time was an attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad, had represented him when Huntington Beach wanted to condemn a building he owns.

“He helped me with [legal matters] and never charged me a penny for the help,” Ziedan said.

Baugh lives half a block from the market on 17th Street.

Campaign reports filed before election day show Baugh received $11,200 from Ziedan. But an amended report filed Nov. 28 shows Ziedan gave $10,000 in two installments: A $1,200 contribution on Aug. 25 and an $8,800 payment on Sept. 15.

The updated report deleted a $1,200 contribution given on Sept. 30, noting it had been “posted to an incorrect contributor.”