Lockyer Releases Records, Schedules

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer released hundreds of pages of office calendar and scheduling records, detailing his private discussions about gay marriage and gambling, meetings with influential political consultants and corporate executives, and attendance at Democratic Party functions.

Lockyer disclosed his schedule, in response to a public records request, within hours of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger making public 350 pages of calendar material covering his first year in office.

Lockyer’s calendar offers considerably more detail over a two-year period, identifying the people who took part in his meetings and in many cases listing the topics discussed.

In a sign that their year-old rift continues, the schedules also show that the state’s two most important elected officials seldom meet.

Lockyer, who said he voted for Schwarzenegger in the recall election, met with the governor twice during the gubernatorial transition in the fall of 2003. After the second meeting, Lockyer told reporters that he had advised Schwarzenegger to authorize an independent investigation into allegations that he had groped or mistreated women over three decades.

Schwarzenegger aides were furious, and what had seemed a promising friendship across party lines quickly fizzled. The governor and attorney general have held only two scheduled meetings -- one by phone -- since Schwarzenegger took office more than a year ago.

Nathan Barankin, Lockyer’s spokesman, said, however, that the two men have spoken by phone on at least “several occasions” in the past year -- conversations that were not logged on the calendars.

Lockyer’s schedules attest to the broad sweep of his role as the state’s top law enforcement officer -- and also to his political ambition.

He met with billionaire investor Ronald Burkle and movie producer Stephen L. Bing at Burkle’s office in Los Angeles on Sept. 17. There is a disagreement about the purpose of the meeting.

The topic is listed in Lockyer’s calendar as a “complaint about Fox Network.”

Barankin said the men had wanted to see if legal action could be taken against Fox News for “false advertising” based on its claim to being “fair and balanced.”

Lockyer took no action, Barankin said.

But a spokesman for Burkle said Monday that the attorney general had sought the meeting to talk about “a possible campaign for another office.” Lockyer has been mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2006.

Fox came up in passing, but neither Burkle nor Bing expressed interest in filing any sort of claim against the network, said Frank Quintero, a spokesman for Burkle who spoke to both men about the meeting.

“They believed the attorney general requested a meeting to discuss his vision for California,” Quintero said.

Burkle has contributed nearly $32,000 to Lockyer since 2000, state records show.

Bing has given $250,000 to the California Democratic Party since last year. Bing and Burkle were two of the largest campaign donors to former Gov. Gray Davis. They have also donated money to state Treasurer Phil Angelides, considered a potential Democratic rival to Lockyer in the ’06 election.

Lockyer met with seven of his aides in March for a briefing on gay marriage. Lockyer supports gay rights.

But in the wake of the same-sex marriages granted in San Francisco, the attorney general has, in court filings, defended existing law defining marriage as solely between heterosexual couples.

On Aug. 4, Lockyer spoke with Shell Oil Co.’s chief executive officer about its Bakersfield refinery, which the company was attempting to close.

The attorney general has worked to dissuade Shell from closing the refinery to maintain California fuel supplies.

On Jan. 31, Lockyer spoke at an AFL-CIO rally in support of a supermarket strike in Southern California. He later sued the three supermarket chains involved in the labor dispute, charging antitrust violations.

Lockyer, who once took part in a multistate antitrust suit against Microsoft, met with company Chairman Bill Gates in Mountain View, Calif., in January 2003. At that point, the suit had been resolved and there was no litigation pending, Barankin said.

He described the meeting as a “meet and greet,” for Lockyer and Gates to “talk about Microsoft” as an “employer and business entity in California.”

Lockyer repeatedly attended Democratic events -- at least 19 -- over the last two years. On Jan. 9, his schedule showed him meeting with “Democratic activists” from the Santa Clara Democratic Committee, among other groups. The following week, he was at the state Democratic Party convention in San Jose.

In February, he spoke at the Orange County Democratic Party’s biannual convention.

In March, Lockyer attended the Democratic caucus luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. And the next month he met with Democratic students at UC Davis.

“He’s very active in Democratic politics,” Barankin said.

Though he is said to be interested in the governor’s job, Lockyer at one point last year had his eye on the presidency -- at least the fictional kind. Lockyer met actor Martin Sheen, who plays the president in the NBC-TV series “The West Wing.” The attorney general also got a tour of the show’s set.

Times staff writers Marc Lifsher and Dan Morain contributed to this report.