Challenger Scott Takes Aim at Hoge’s Financial Dealings

Bill Hoge preaches fiscal conservatism as a Republican assemblyman, but his personal and campaign finances are landing him in hot water this election season.

As a race that could determine control of the Assembly cranks into high gear, Hoge’s financial dealings are being brought to the fore by challenger Jack Scott, the former president of Pasadena City College. The most recent of Hoge’s dealings to become public is a loan of more than $10,000 he received from an aide to whom he later gave a 50% raise. Another $10,000 loan--this one interest-free from a friend--raises still more questions about his dealings under strict state laws for elected officials.

Coupled with Hoge’s acceptance of money from gambling interests while heading the Assembly committee on gaming, some political pundits say, the new questions about Hoge could sink the two-term assemblyman representing the 44th District centered in Pasadena.

“It’s turning into one of the very interesting races,” said Alan Heslop, a government professor at Claremont-McKenna College. “The incumbent has had a number of high visibility problems, and he’s running against a Democrat who has a substantial base in the community.”

That is recognized by Republican strategists in Sacramento, who have poured $100,000 into Hoge’s coffers to help him hold on to his seat in a district stretching from Sunland-Tujunga to Alhambra, where registered Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans. Scott’s strategists say they are also looking for money from the Democratic Party to help them make a final push before election day.

“The Democrats in that district are always going to make it a close race,” said John Nelson, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove). He added that the district boasts an “independent electorate that no one can predict. . . . They meet all the typical indicators of people who don’t vote party. They vote person.”

You could not ask for two more different people. Scott, of Altadena, is a Texas native and Yale graduate who is now a distinguished professor of higher education at Pepperdine University. His 27-year-old son was accidentally shot and killed in 1993, a tragedy stressed by Scott in his campaign mailers arguing for gun control. And although he calls himself a “centrist Democrat” and has been endorsed by police groups, the pro-abortion rights Scott supports affirmative action and opposed Proposition 187, which sought to deny government benefits and services to undocumented immigrants.

Hoge is a hard-line Republican who says he supports the right to bear arms and the right to life, wrote one bill to have the National Guard help fight illegal immigration--it was stalled in the state Senate--and another calling for the chemical castration of some child molesters, which Gov. Pete Wilson signed into law. He dismissively calls Scott a “liberal professor” in his campaign materials. On campaign forms, Hoge sometimes writes his name as “Bill ‘Tax Reduction’ Hoge.”

In an interview, Hoge said Scott has escalated the attack because he is “a desperate candidate . . . people want to discuss and hear about the issues.” Hoge, however, did not attend either the Republican primary debate or a debate scheduled by a local newspaper.

And it is Hoge’s finances--personal and campaign--that are gaining the most attention this election season.

Since Hoge’s first run for the Assembly in 1992, opponents have criticized him for accepting contributions from gambling interests--now $276,500 of his nearly $1.9 million in campaign funds over three elections. Complicating the matter is that both of his ex-wives have said--including one in divorce court filings--that he has a fondness for gambling. Hoge has strongly denied any gambling habit, and says there is nothing inappropriate with taking money from legal gambling interests, pointing out that Democrats do it, too.

Another thorny issue for Hoge has been how he’s handled his Assembly payroll. Although he railed against former Democratic Speaker Willie Brown’s patronage system, after Republicans took over the Assembly in 1994 Hoge doled out raises averaging more than 50% to six staff members.

One of those staffers is district director Brent ten Pas, who gave Hoge a loan in excess of $10,000 in 1995, according to Hoge’s newly filed statement of economic interest form. Ten Pas this March received his third raise in two years--the latest being a 50% raise that boosted his salary to $72,000. The raise was retroactive 3 1/2 months, providing another $7,000.

State law prohibits public officials from making decisions affecting the income of people who have recently given or lent them money, and violation of that statute can result in a $2,000 fine, Fair Political Practices Commission spokesman Gary Huckaby said. He would not discuss the Hoge case or say whether Hoge was being investigated by the FPPC, but Hoge has already been added to a civil lawsuit, filed by a group of citizens, that challenges Assembly pay raises.

Scott has called for an FPPC investigation into the ten Pas loan, but Hoge in an interview dismisses that as “mudslinging.” He refused to discuss the loan in detail. “I’ve disclosed what was required to be disclosed,” he said. “I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Hoge also would not discuss in detail another loan, this one a $10,000 personal loan in 1995 from a friend, La Canada insurance broker Lee Hooker. The loan was interest-free, and Huckaby of the FPPC said that state law counts any reductions from the market rate of interest as a gift. With Hoge saving several hundred dollars in interest annually, the discounted loan could be a gift well above the state limit of $280.

“This was no gift,” Hoge said. “This was a loan.” He would not discuss it further.

But while opponents have questioned some of Hoge’s activities, the assemblyman played an important role in helping to uncover alleged corruption in the state capital.

He said he reported former state Republican Party Chairman Michael B. Montgomery to authorities for allegedly trying to illegally influence him to support a card club. Hoge helped investigators secretly record his conversations with Montgomery, who has since been indicted.

Still, Scott calls Hoge “ethically challenged.”

Hoge’s response is that Scott is mudslinging and that the campaign should be fought on the issues.

Hoge says Scott “never met a tax increase he didn’t like,” citing Scott’s support for Proposition 111, a voter-approved measure that raised gas taxes by nine cents, and Scott’s opposition to Wilson’s 15% tax cut. Scott said he opposes the cut because it would have damaged education funding.

He also is hammering Scott for opposing a court ruling that said illegal immigrants should pay out-of-state tuition rates, saying Scott “believes illegal aliens should pay lower tuition fees than American citizens.”

Scott, who presided over a successful $100-million construction program at Pasadena City College and helped form Pasadena’s influential Coalition for a Nonviolent City after his son was killed, says his leadership skills make him suitable for the job. “I bring people together,” he said, noting that he worked with Republicans and Democrats on the Pasadena Community College Board of Trustees.

Hoge says his record is his best asset. “The voters know what I stand for, what I represent,” he said. “I haven’t wavered an inch.”

Hoge has been praised by South Pasadena residents for helping them keep the Long Beach Freeway from being extended through their city and has drawn praise from victims’ rights groups and international media attention for his castration bill. Half a dozen states are considering similar legislation.

Political observers say that with his name recognition, Hoge has an inherent edge in the district. Also, although registration numbers between the two parties are almost identical, Republicans historically are more loyal than Democrats. But, analysts add, this will be no cakewalk.

“If you called me six months ago, I would have said this is a race for Mr. Hoge to lose,” said Heslop, the professor. “Now this is a tight race.”