A Little R&R; in Maui Precedes the Budget Battle

At 7 a.m. Saturday, California Sen. Richard Alarcon, a Democrat from Sylmar, ordered a coffee to go from the terrace restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel here. A warm breeze from the beach crossed the resort’s palm grove and koi pond and whispered across the veranda, launching another lovely December day in Hawaii.

Today, Alarcon will be back in Sacramento to confront an ugly task: cutting government services and possibly raising taxes to close a projected revenue gap bigger than the entire budgets of many states.

But over the weekend, he was hundreds of miles away -- in Maui, snorkeling, working out at the hotel fitness center and playing golf at taxpayers’ expense.

Like nearly a dozen fellow lawmakers, Alarcon flew to Maui on Wednesday to attend a conference sponsored by the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the 26,000-member union of prison guards. The conference involved three morning panel discussions on Thursday and Friday -- one of which Alarcon skipped -- leaving lawmakers ample time for play before their departure Sunday.

Attendees included three out of four of California’s legislative leaders, and the wives of many of the lawmakers. Most of the politicians promised to pay for the Maui trip with their own money or campaign accounts, which in some cases include thousands of dollars in donations from the prison guards.

But Alarcon said he would have the Senate -- California taxpayers, in other words -- foot the bill for his $450 flight. The rest of the costs, including his $300-a-night room at the swank Sheraton, would partly be covered with the tax-free $125 senators receive each working day for living expenses.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think there was a benefit in coming here,” said Alarcon, looking island casual in khaki shorts and a T-shirt. “Relationship-building is critical in this business.”

But what some lawmakers call “relationship building,” others call special access that might translate into extra clout for prison guards when budget negotiations get underway in earnest. Advocates for the poor and schools, for instance, were working last week to protect their share of a shrinking state budget. But only the prison guard representatives, whose members recently received a sizable pay hike from the state government, hobnobbed with leaders of the Legislature on the sands of Maui.

Those attending the two-day conference -- union leaders, lawmakers and a few lobbyists -- said no special favoritism would result from the get-together, which featured seminars on state issues as well as free time for golf and other recreation. Instead, they described it as a forum that allows them to talk more openly and honestly than the partisan posturing of the Capitol usually permits.

“It’s not like when we’re in Sacramento,” Sen. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) insisted from her hotel suite overlooking world-famous Ka’anapali Beach. “We can sit down and have candid discussions about the budget.”

The senator said she is paying “every penny” of the Maui excursion from her own pocket. She certainly isn’t hiding it from voters. While other lawmakers snorkeled, golfed or shopped, Figueroa spent Saturday morning in her hotel room, signing two boxes of Christmas cards for constituents. The cards, purchased at the hotel gift shop, feature the Hawaiian Christmas greeting -- “Mele Kalikimaka.”

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Watchdogs Offended

Government watchdogs say there is much to find offensive in the Hawaii trip.

“All of the major social programs in the state are going to be on the chopping block,” said Paul Ryan, a project director at the nonprofit Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. Groups that lack the resources to host appealing fetes for legislators, he argued, wield less clout and are more vulnerable to severe cuts to their programs.

Such coziness -- and the perception of the influence it creates -- also make voters cynical, Ryan argued. “When we have voters who feel that their votes matter far less than campaign contributions being given, such as from CCPOA,” he said, “that’s a problem.”

Over the last few decades, the prison guards association has gradually become a Capitol heavyweight with few peers. The union, known for its strategic support of Democrats and Republicans, helped to elect Davis in 1998 by contributing $2.1 million to his campaign. Since then, the union has given Davis an additional $1.46 million in direct and indirect donations.

Announcing his $10-billion budget-cutting package Friday, Davis said no area of government would be spared. The Department of Corrections, however, fared better than most. Under Davis’ proposals, the agency would lose $13.56 million from its overall budget of about $5 billion. By comparison, Davis proposes $74.3 million in midyear cuts, from an overall budget of $4.48 billion, to the University of California, and nearly $60 million, from a budget of $3.45 billion, in reductions for the state university system. This year the guards union won pay raises of 37%, spread over five years, from the Davis administration, a package that will cost more than $500 million annually when fully implemented. Only one legislator, state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), voted against the raises.

In the debate over how to close California’s budget gap, Davis has suggested reopening some employee contracts, though the prison guards have not been singled out.

Despite the criticism that has dogged their trip, lawmakers who made the trek to Hawaii offered no apologies. Among them was Assembly Minority Leader Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks).

Wearing a “Lahaina Yacht Club” T-shirt and navy blue shorts, Cox said his trip, and that of his wife, would be covered by campaign and personal funds. He also said he spent “an appreciable amount of time” during the week with Mike Jimenez, the prison guard union president, discussing ways to reduce prison costs.

“I make no apologies for being here,” he said. “This was a legitimate legislative conference.”

Cox added: “I would have gone to Bakersfield if that’s where the event was.”

“But I might have stayed home,” interjected his wife, Maggie, drawing a sharp look from her husband.

Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson looked well-rested Saturday as he reclined on a lounge chair overlooking azure waves and the black rock cliff of Pu’u Keka’a.

But Wesson, wearing shorts, a tan polo shirt and bright white tennis shoes, said the trip, pleasant as it may have been, would not change the fact that he gives the state’s prison guards no more consideration than any other special interest group in Sacramento.

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Taking the Heat

“Sometimes when you’re an elected official you have to take the heat,” said the Culver City Democrat. “I can take the heat.”

Wesson said he worked throughout the trip. Even during a dinner of filet mignon and coconut-crusted mahi mahi at a Lahaina restaurant, Wesson said he and Cox worked -- handling Assembly housekeeping duties such as committee and seating assignments.

Wesson said no taxpayer money will be spent for Assembly members traveling to Maui. His trip, as well as his wife’s and a staff member’s, will be paid for with campaign funds, which can be spent on travel so long as it involves a political, legislative or governmental purpose.

Jim Brulte, the Senate’s Republican leader, plans to pay for his trip from his officeholder account -- a fund to which people and corporations can donate to cover a lawmaker’s expenses. After losing a golf tournament Saturday afternoon and using the Internet in the hotel’s business center to check the results of a Senate race in Louisiana, Brulte said he would take a nap.

He brushed aside those who suggest it was inappropriate for legislators to gather with leaders of the prison guards union even as Davis was unveiling potentially far-reaching budget cuts.

“Should I turn down an invitation to speak in Hawaii simply because Gray Davis has bankrupted California?” said Brulte. “I don’t think so.”

Other people on the trip included Sens. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) and Jim Battin (R-La Quinta) and Assemblyman Russ Bogh (R-Cherry Valley). Also attending was Board of Equalization member Bill Leonard, a former legislator.

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Times staff writers Dan Morain and Jenifer Warren in Sacramento contributed to this report.