Southland Legislators Denounce Fund-Raising Sins

Listen to Southern California’s congressional delegation and it sounds like the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not make fund-raising calls from the office.

“Never. No way in the world,” said Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-San Diego).

“Absolutely not,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas). “It’s just a no-no. It’s not to be done.”

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Torrance), one of Congress’s most aggressive and successful fund-raisers, left herself just the tiniest bit of wiggle room. “No one should ever say never,” she said. “But not consciously ever.”

In a survey of 31 House members representing districts from San Diego to Santa Barbara--along with California’s two senators--not one pol acknowledged ever having dialed for dollars from his or her desk, the controversial practice receiving intense attention in the campaign finance scandal. Two legislators even refused to discuss the matter with reporters from their office phones.

But at the same time, none think President Clinton--who has said he may have solicited contributions from his White House office--or Vice President Al Gore--who has acknowledged doing so--should be prosecuted. Indeed, even strong administration critics in the delegation soft-pedaled the subject, suggesting a punishment akin to that dished out for not honoring one’s father and mother.

About the strongest statement came from Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley): “Lawmakers shouldn’t be lawbreakers.”

Vehement denials concerning their own actions aside, the leniency expressed by the legislators toward Clinton and Gore seems to reflect a pronounced case of the don’t-throw-stones- from-glass-houses phenomenon.

Many echoed Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), who denied personal wrongdoing but, when asked about Clinton, said: “About 90% of the people who hold elected office on the Hill probably could be prosecuted” if campaign laws were vigorously enforced.

No one, of course, would say who.

“I would guess that most members of Congress have received [fund-raising] calls or made calls,” said Los Angeles Democrat Julian Dixon (“I haven’t made any,” he added quickly). “It’s been kind of commonplace among members of Congress or presidents or vice presidents.”

Add Rep. Matthew Martinez (D-Monterey Park) to the much-ado crowd.

“Nobody in the political world today is without campaign skeletons,” he said.

Many of those surveyed said some of the rules on fund-raising are silly, particularly the 114-year-old law prohibiting solicitation on federal property, which has caused Clinton and Gore such headaches this year.

Originally intended to keep the high officials from shaking down civil servants for their pocket change, the measure seems woefully out of date to several of the Southern California legislators. They live in a high-tech world where people have phones not only in their homes and offices but also in their cars and, increasingly, their pockets (one Florida Democrat carries a pair of phones, one for his campaign and one for House business). So who knows where a fund-raising call is coming from?

In the Times survey, more than one respondent cited “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno’s take on the matter: If the president can’t use the White House phone, should he take a roll of coins down to the 7-Eleven?

“President Clinton lives in the White House,” pointed out Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove). “Does that mean he can’t call from his own phone? To move the president from one place to another costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars.

“It would be much easier if we could put a phone in here in the office that could be used just for campaign purposes.”

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Sanchez was one of 21 House members who agreed to be interviewed for the survey. Five others had staff members answer The Times’ questions on their behalf. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein submitted answers in writing, and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) declined to respond to specific queries but provided a four-line statement.

“President Clinton and his defenders excuse his and Vice President Gore’s fund-raising activities by stating that everybody’s doing it, that everyone is making fund-raising calls from their offices,” Packard’s office wrote. “Well, that’s just not true. I do not make fund-raising calls from my office and I refuse to accept fund-raising calls in my office.”

Four members--Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson), Bob Filner (R-San Diego) and Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar) refused to participate in the survey. Explaining Kim’s decision, aides said the congressman, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to three misdemeanors arising from campaign finance violations, said he cannot discuss any fundraising-related questions until he is sentenced in January.

Since spring, when news of Gore’s calls first drew headlines, many other Washington politicians have found themselves on the hot seat concerning their own use of the office telephone to raise campaign money.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who sits on the committee investigating fund-raising abuses, famously refused to answer the question directly: “To be on the safe side, you should always make [fund-raising calls] from a campaign office,” he said.

Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) was caught on tape leaving his office phone number during a solicitation, and ended up as the subject of a widely faxed press release when the Democrats sent him a cake on the two-year anniversary of the call.

Against this backdrop, the Southern California delegation was ready for the straightforward have-you-ever question: Nope, never, nunca, no way, they chorused.

But members began to waffle and equivocate and step on their words when asked what they do when donors return messages by calling a representative’s office, or if supporters bring up fund-raising during discussions of legislative business while the legislator is on the job.

“You may be talking with somebody and they may say, ‘Hey, I’ll see you at [a fund-raising] barbecue.’ You can’t unring the bell at that point,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon)

A 17-year congressional veteran, Hunter says he makes his calls from a cubicle in the Republican National Committee office or his private campaign office. But when asked whether he had ever used the office phone, he left himself an out, saying: “Not that I recall.”

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) acknowledged getting some guff last year when he diligently made fund-raising calls from the Republican National Committee but left a Capitol Hill number for callbacks. “You learn as you go along,” he said.

Michael Byrd, a Grover Beach real estate businessman, thought for sure he had caught Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) red-handed at a meeting in Anaheim in September. A lobbyist was showing off technology that allows real estate agents to use an 800 number to dial direct to Capitol Hill. In a conference call, with 50-odd people there, Royce chatted up his country-western fund-raiser in Orange County the next day, Byrd recalled.

“I took that call at my home in Fullerton,” Royce told The Times, saying that his aides in Washington had patched the call back to California.

“I didn’t initiate the conversation anyway, so there isn’t any impropriety,” Royce added. “I basically was asked a question and I answered it.”

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Although there is much debate and confusion about how the law applies to Clinton and Gore--they may be allowed to use some White House phones because part of the building is a residence--members of Congress displayed wide agreement that the rules for them are clear, straightforward and well publicized.

“When we were freshmen, that was the one thing that they stressed. You got paranoid about it; it sounded like a major crime,” said Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Palm Springs), who arrived on Capitol Hill as part of the 1994 GOP revolution. “That was one of the ones we didn’t touch. They clearly said it’s illegal, and don’t do it, so we didn’t do it.”

Elected in 1982, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Los Angeles) said, “The general notion that you don’t make fund-raising calls from your office has always been understood.”

“Obviously, he added, “the focus on it has gotten a little greater in the past six months.”

The House Ethics Manual, which insiders call the bible, says clearly on Page 285 that the federal criminal code “makes it unlawful to solicit or to receive any political contribution in any building where federal employees work.”

In case anyone missed that--or the headlines--the House Ethics Committee sent a five-page reminder last April.

Some members of Southern California’s delegation have come up with their own routine to do what they must.

Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis makes most of his fund-raising calls from a rocking chair in his Redlands backyard.

Democratic Sen. Boxer dials from the car on her many trips to and from airports.

Gallegly tries to reduce the need for calls by having a Congressional Club--supporters pay $49 a year. And if they give $500, they get a birthday card signed by the congressman.

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Times researcher D’Jamila Salem-Fitzgerald contributed to this story.