Belmont Partner Set Up Campaign Contributions

A politically connected partner in the Belmont Learning Complex project helped arrange large campaign contributions for two school board members who must make crucial decisions affecting the downtown high school, records and interviews show.

Belmont partner Art Gastelum, a former lobbyist and well-known City Hall insider, invited Los Angeles Unified board members Jeff Horton and Barbara Boudreaux to back-to-back breakfast meetings where they received $10,000 checks from textbook publishers in January. School board President Victoria Castro, a longtime friend of Gastelum, helped put together the meetings at his request and attended.

The contributions were among the largest made to Horton and Boudreaux, who are locked in tough reelection campaigns against challengers who are supported financially by Mayor Richard Riordan.

In Horton’s case, the $10,000 contribution in the name of Santillana USA Publishing, based in Miami, is controversial for another reason. Santillana’s president says the donation was made without authorization by an employee, was not drawn on company accounts and violates the firm’s policy against giving money in school board races.

“It’s a conflict of interest,” said Santillana President Manuel G. Sandoval. “If you want to sell your books to a school district and you’re giving money to a school board member, you’re setting yourself up.”

Horton said the donation did not present a conflict because he plays no role in recommending or purchasing elementary school textbooks, which were the focus of the breakfast conversation. Nonetheless, his campaign said it will return the Santillana donation, possibly as early as today.

Horton also said “there’s no connection” between his support of Belmont and the contribution, the amount of which “surprised” him.

Boudreaux’s $10,000 came from Binet International, campaign records show. Boudreaux did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Large Project Bogged Down

The breakfast meetings also spotlight Castro’s close friendship with Gastelum, whose firm has regular dealings with the district. She defended their friendship and said anyone who suggests it presents a potential conflict assumes “we can’t differentiate our roles.”

Gastelum’s role in facilitating the donations comes at a time when the district’s $200-million Belmont project has become bogged down in environmental problems, cost overruns and a number of investigations, including one by the county grand jury.

Board members face key decisions involving millions of dollars in business with Temple-Beaudry Partners, the development team that won the right to build the high school. Kajima Urban Development is the managing partner of the Temple-Beaudry group; Gastelum is one of three limited partners.

Gastelum’s primary job has been to negotiate Belmont’s final, $13.2-million construction phase, which calls for a joint-use agreement with the city to build a swimming pool, gym, community center and other recreational amenities. His firm stands to earn a substantial management fee if the partnership’s plan wins final approval from the city and school district.

Since the donations were made in January, new complications have developed. The board has hired a law firm to ask Temple-Beaudry Partners to share the cost of anticipated construction delays caused by renewed environmental testing. Currently, the construction contract requires L.A. Unified to bear the costs, which could top $3 million.

Last week, board members were asked to reopen bidding on the final construction phase to firms other than the Temple-Beaudry group. That action is part of a reform package sponsored by Horton and up for consideration by the board at its April 6 meeting.

A campaign consultant to Horton held up that motion as evidence that Horton is not beholden to Gastelum. “He’s clearly not operating in the interests of Gastelum,” said Parke Skelton.

Asked if she felt that working with Gastelum to facilitate a campaign donation presented a conflict, Castro said: “Is it the best way to do business? Maybe there’s room for reform. But it’s not illegal.”

An expert on campaign regulations agreed the fund-raising meetings violated no laws. But he said it was an example of influence peddling that posed “ethically troubling” questions for the board members involved.

“He’s established as someone who can facilitate money,” said Robert C. Fellmeth, director of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego.

“Is it now giving [Gastelum] preferential access to these guys to state his case privately? That’s the key issue here.”

Gastelum said Belmont was not discussed at the breakfasts and that he sees no problem with setting them up.

“You don’t think this happens with elected officials all the time?” he said. “You know it does. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s completely reportable. It’s done all the time.

“Is that any different than [the teachers union] sitting down with a public official and talking about pay raises and giving him a check for $40,000?”

He also said that he has given $250 to board member David Tokofsky, a vocal critic of Belmont.

Gastelum, a former aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, is a well-known fund-raiser in the Latino community. He worked as a paid lobbyist before starting up Gateway Science and Engineering, an environmental and construction management firm, in 1993 and becoming a partner at Belmont.

Supporters of Bilingual Education

The three board members involved in the breakfast meetings have been unwavering supporters of the project, located in a heavily Latino neighborhood in Castro’s district. They form the nucleus of a board majority that over the years selected Temple-Beaudry as builder, approved a controversial environmental report and inked the construction contract.

Yet Gastelum said it was their support of bilingual education--not Belmont--that earned them an invitation to the Jan. 24 breakfast meetings with representatives from Santillana, which specializes in bilingual materials.

“I was approached to see if I could be helpful to the company,” Gastelum said. “I said that they ought to support candidates who are supportive of bilingual education.”

Gastelum said he asked Castro’s help in getting the board members to coordinate their schedules for the meetings, which he indicated would include a large political donation.

Hosting the meetings at the Pasadena Ritz Carlton was Santillana’s Western regional sales manager, Moses Gonzales, who also owns Binet International, another textbook firm. He was accompanied by Harold P. Mintz, a local political consultant.

Mintz’s connection to Santillana is unclear. Although company officials describe him as an independent contractor working on commission, he has handed out business cards listing his title as a Santillana vice president.

Those who attended the meetings described them as a show-and-tell by company reps eager to expand their business. After some talk about the future of bilingual education and Proposition 227, sealed envelopes came out.

“One of [the reps] said, ‘We support educators who support our philosophy--and Mrs. Boudreaux, here’s a check for your campaign,’ ” said Castro.

Castro added that the envelopes contained $10,000 cashier’s checks--not imprinted corporate checks, as required by state law. Boudreaux returned hers, and Gonzales issued a proper check drawn on his own firm, Binet, said Mintz.

On the advice of the FPPC, Horton’s campaign cashed the bank check but asked Gonzales to supply a letter on Santillana stationery confirming it was the company’s money.

Gonzales said he did so with the understanding that was what his employer wanted. “I put Santillana because they were supposed to reimburse me for the money,” he said.

But in Miami, Santillana President Sandoval said he was stunned to hear from a reporter that his company was listed as a contributor to Horton. He said the contribution was unauthorized and called Gonzales’ explanation for it an “absolute lie.”

Gonzales characterized the matter as a misunderstanding.

Informed about the dispute, Horton aides said they will return the check to Gonzales. Gonzales told The Times he will write another $10,000 check to replace it--this time from his own Binet account.

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Times staff writer Louis Sahagun contributed to this story.