Ex-Schools Chief Honig’s Sentence Reduced

Former California schools chief Bill Honig won a legal victory Thursday when a Sacramento judge reduced his four conflict-of-interest convictions from felonies to misdemeanors, slashed the fine he must pay and terminated his probation three months early.

The decision ends the criminal case that devastated the career of Honig, an educator who gained national praise as an aggressive reformer during a decade in office before being forced to resign in 1994 because of his convictions.

“Hallelujah, I’m happy it’s over and I can get on with things,” said Honig, who since leaving office has played a key role in the state’s move to restore phonics to beginning reading lessons. “I think it clears the air for me a little bit.”

Honig’s troubles stemmed from the involvement of his wife, Nancy, with a nonprofit consulting firm that received more than $300,000 in state contracts to help local school districts promote parental involvement. Nancy Honig, who headed the organization, earned a salary of $100,000 from it in 1989.

Although Honig maintained that he had done nothing wrong and that the state had received all services it had contracted for, he admitted in Sacramento Superior Court on Thursday that he bore responsibility for the crimes. He also said he was “definitely” sorry for his actions.

The charges against Honig are known as “wobblers,” meaning they can be prosecuted as either felonies or misdemeanors at the discretion of the court.

Judge James L. Long, who presided over Honig’s trial and who, in sentencing him in 1993, had ordered Honig to pay fines and costs of $13,000 and restitution of $275,000, on Thursday reduced the crimes to misdemeanors and the restitution amount to $47,000.

The decision means that Honig, a lawyer, can retain membership in the State Bar as well as his state license to operate the Napa Valley winery he and his family own.

Honig said in a telephone interview that he also believes it will remove a barrier to his efforts to help school districts improve the way they teach reading. Some school officials have told Honig they would hire his nonprofit consulting firm to help retrain their teachers were it not for the stigma of the felony. And at a meeting at UCLA to discuss reading instruction last year, Honig was shouted down by another participant, who said the group did not have to listen to a “convicted felon.”

Honig’s attorney, Arthur J. Shartsis of San Francisco, said he and his client were surprised by Long’s decision to reduce the charges. But the judge apparently was impressed with the characteristic zeal with which Honig fulfilled the 1,000 hours of community service ordered as part of his original sentence.

Although Honig appealed the sentence and conviction--a fight he lost earlier this year--he made weekly visits to a San Francisco fifth-grade class to tutor the students for nearly two years.

Shartsis, in a brief submitted to the court, also said Honig has worked tirelessly to get out the message that phonics are essential in learning to read. Last spring, at a hearing before a state Assembly committee, Honig admitted that he was at least partly at fault for not making clear to schools--while he was in office--that phonics, as well as literature, are essential in beginning reading lessons.

Prosecutors representing state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren agreed to lowering the fine and terminating probation early, but opposed reducing Honig’s crimes to misdemeanors.

“The attorney general believes that when the public’s trust is violated, elected officials must be held strictly accountable,” said Steve Telliano, a spokesman for Lungren. “A jury of his peers convicted him of four felony counts and the Court of Appeal found that conviction should be sustained.”

Since leaving his $102,000 job, Honig has worked as a visiting professor at San Francisco State for a salary of $60,000.

He said Thursday that the legal fees in the case had exceeded $400,000, but he had received donations to cover all but $100,000 to $125,000.