Lawmakers Report Gifts : Yacht Club Memberships, China Trip Listed

The California Cable Television Assn. last year wined and dined Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who sits on a committee that oversees cable television legislation.

The trade group remembered her birthday with balloons, gave her a Valentine’s gift, bought her dinners and theater tickets and paid hotel bills, all totaling $989. It also paid her $1,250 to be a member of its Round Table.

The gifts were listed in the annual Statement of Economic Interests filed by state legislators this month. Other Valley-area legislators reported receiving a trip to China, sports tickets and memberships in yacht clubs.

Statements Mandatory

The statements were filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission. Politicians must list gifts along with investments, real estate, loans and honorariums.

Wright is on the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, which handles cable TV legislation. She said she received the gifts because she once worked at a cable company. Wright said she is invited to industry functions because of her knowledge and friendships.

Many legislators receive campaign contributions and gifts from political action committees with interests in their votes. Under state law this is not a conflict of interest, said Lynn Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the commission.

A legislator may not take money from a political action committee and then vote for a bill that would directly affect that organization. But rarely do bills specifically benefit PACs. They generally affect the PAC’s members, a key distinction.

Assemblyman Tom Bane (D-Van Nuys) and several other lawmakers took a 16-day trip to China. Bane said there were no strings attached but that it became apparent the Chinese officials had a hidden agenda. He said they wanted support for buying nuclear materials from the United States and endorsement of a Chinese effort to annex Taiwan.

Bane said he stayed neutral on Taiwan. But he said it became apparent that China “is too unstable a government to be furnishing nuclear materials to them.”

UCLA Tickets for Davis

Among Valley legislators, Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) received the least in gifts: two season football tickets from UCLA, a lunch and admission to a race track and a model of a 1931 police paddy wagon from a bonding business. They totaled $268 in value, he reported. Assemblyman Gray Davis (D-Los Angeles) received just one gift, $645 worth of financial advice from an accounting firm.

Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) said he received honorary memberships in yacht clubs in Oxnard and Ventura valued at $625. Several legislators said they got free parking at Los Angeles City Hall or Los Angeles and Burbank airports.

Legislators also profited from speaking engagements. Richard Katz earned $5,663, more than any other Valley-area legislator. The groups to which he spoke included the National Assn. of 7-Eleven Franchisees and the Independent Automobile Dealers Assn. Second in speech earnings was Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Insurance, Claims and Corporations Committee, who received $4,000 for talks to insurance companies and retailers.