GOP Attacks Gore’s Role in Sacramento Fund-Raiser

Undeterred by the fund-raising controversy that has engulfed him in Washington, Vice President Al Gore is scheduled to headline a $1,000-a-person luncheon in Sacramento on Thursday to honor the state’s Democratic legislative leaders.

The event, intended to recognize Senate leader Bill Lockyer of Hayward, Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante of Fresno and other Democrats, is scheduled to follow a speech to an unusual joint legislative session at the Capitol that kicks off Gore’s two-day, education-related California swing.

Republicans on Tuesday questioned Gore’s attendance at Thursday’s lunch because of reports of his aggressive fund-raising that have earned him the nickname “solicitor in chief.”

“I think that Vice President Gore’s trip is wholly politically motivated,” said Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Jim Battin of Palm Desert. “I think his speech . . . is to get him headlines . . . and then he’s going to go raise money, which he certainly seems to have no qualms doing.”

“I would think if I was embroiled in a scandal like this . . . I wouldn’t come to California under the pretext of a speech when you’re going to be attending a fund-raiser. I would bet you that Democrats have given more attention and energy to the fund-raiser . . . than they have on his speech,” Battin said.

Democrats defended Gore’s plans. “We haven’t ended democracy in America yet,” said Bob Mulholland, a campaign advisor to the state Democratic Party. “As long as we have elections, [you] need fund-raising. Even nuns make fund-raising calls out of the convent . . . for their parish.

“Hopefully, every time the vice president comes to California he can come by a fund-raiser,” Mulholland said.

Party officials hope to raise $50,000 to $100,000 at the luncheon, Mulholland said. Officials said that although Gore’s attendance will heighten interest in the luncheon, the event was planned before the vice president’s visit was scheduled.

Two weeks ago, Republicans were caught off-guard when they learned that Lockyer had invited Gore to address the joint session, a rare appearance for a federal official. At the time, Ginny Terzano, Gore’s press secretary, denied that there was a political motivation behind the trip.

Then last week, news reports focused on Gore making fund-raising calls from his White House office in 1995 and 1996. Gore defended the practice, saying he and the president are exempt from the legal ban that prohibits other federal employees from soliciting campaign contributions on federal property.

On Tuesday, Terzano defended Gore’s impending visit, which mixes political and official business. She said the White House would make certain the state Democratic Party pays the tab for all costs related to Gore’s fund-raising stop.

“It’s completely appropriate for the president and vice president to have a mixture of official and political events while they travel,” Terzano said. “Our office is careful the proper entities pay for the proper proportion of the trip.”

Terzano said the fund-raiser was added to the schedule after Gore had accepted Lockyer’s invitation to address the Legislature. “All of this was designed around his visit to the Capitol,” Terzano said. “That’s the context.”

Under a sweeping revision of state campaign laws, candidates are prohibited from raising donations until later this year.

However, Proposition 208, the voter-approved reform initiative sponsored by California Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, still allows political parties to solicit a limited amount of money in nonelection years.

Ruth Holton, the outgoing executive director of Common Cause, said Gore’s activities are perfectly legal under Proposition 208.

“Obviously, fund-raising in this point in time is embarrassing,” Holton said. “On the other hand, they [the Democratic Party] are not going to unilaterally disarm and, frankly, the Republican fund-raising is just as bad.”

Times staff writers Virginia Ellis in Sacramento and Mark Z. Barabak in Washington contributed to this story.