Lawmakers Report $57,190 in Official Gifts : Politics: The amount reported for 1990 shows a significant decline. Legislators become more cautious in accepting gifts in wake of FBI inquiry into corruption.

Joseph B. Montoya reported receiving just two official gifts last year--$20 worth of Carnation products and a $15 brass ashtray from the San Francisco consul general of the Philippines.

Of course, the former state senator from Whittier was in federal prison much of the time.

But the pickings for other San Gabriel Valley area legislators were almost as slim in 1990, according to statements filed by local legislators with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Free trips and other gifts declined from $87,049 in 1988 to $64,716 in 1989 and $57,190 last year as legislators became increasingly cautious about accepting gifts in the wake of an FBI investigation of corruption in Sacramento.

The reports, filed under a March 1 deadline, also document the last days of a once-popular political sideline, paid speechifying, which was banned by voters effective Jan. 1.

Statements filed by local legislators show that honorariums fell from $184,510 in 1988 to $34,500 in 1989 and $17,000 in 1990, the last year they could accept such fees.

Voters banned honorariums, effective Jan. 1, by passing Proposition 112 in June. That constitutional amendment superseded an initiative that in 1989 had limited speech payments to $1,000 from any one source. Before that, the sky was the limit, and some legislators were pocketing as much as $5,000 for speaking to a group, touring a plant or showing up for a reception.

Sacramento oratory lost its luster as a sideline business when Montoya was indicted for taking a $3,000 honorarium from an FBI agent posing as a businessman seeking legislative assistance. Montoya took the money without bothering to deliver a speech. He resigned in February, 1990, after being convicted of extortion, racketeering and money laundering.

Before Montoya’s fall, some legislators were making tens of thousands of dollars a year for speeches. In 1988, former Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) earned $46,900. Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), who moved from the Assembly to the Senate last spring, made $32,367, and Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), earned $26,143.

Last year, Hill’s speech income fell to $3,000 and Nolan’s plummeted to $1,400.

Still, there were trade organizations and others willing to pay the maximum $1,000 last year to hear legislators talk. Hill received $1,000 for speeches to the California chapter of the American College of Cardiology and U.S. English Foundation Inc. Nolan earned $900 from the California Cable Television Assn.

Sen. Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear) received $1,000 for speeches from McDonald’s hamburger chain and the California Medical Assn. Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) received $1,000 from the California Assn. of Collectors, a trade group. Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) picked up $1,000 from the cable television lobby. Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier) was paid $1,000 by the California Trucking Assn., the Personnel and Industrial Relations Assn. and the California Optometric Assn.

Besides making money from speeches, legislators could take as many gifts as their consciences would allow--until this year. With Proposition 112 came new restrictions forbidding lawmakers from taking more than $250 a year in gifts from a single source, except for gift exchanges on holidays, birthdays and other occasions and for payments for travel that has a government or public purpose.

The new rules have forced legislators to give up free memberships in country clubs and a Sacramento gym. The Capitol Health Club, which had been giving free memberships that legislators variously reported as worth from $852 to $1,096, has reduced its offer under the new rules to a $250 discount. A spokesman for the gym said few legislators have accepted the offer.

Russell, who reported the gift of $3,400 worth of free memberships in the Lakeside Golf Club, Oakmont Country Club and Verdugo Club last year, said he has resigned from all of them this year because of the new rules.

The new rules also may deprive some legislators of free admission to ballgames.

Last year, for example, Calderon received $610 in tickets to Los Angeles Rams football games from attorney Andy Camacho, and Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) received $300 worth of football tickets from UCLA.

But if the gifts are worth less than $250, there are no restrictions. Thus, Hill, who received a movie pass and tickets to Dodgers baseball games and Disneyland last year, could accept the same sort of gifts this year because all were under the $250 limit.

But Hill would have to give up such other benefits as the $1,000 lease of a car from a Whittier auto dealer and $900 worth of lodging at a condominium provided by a Palm Desert developer.

Leonard last year reported the gift from United Parcel Service of a $220 fishing trip in Alaska, where the dinner check at an Anchorage restaurant was picked up by the Southern California Edison Co. He also reported the gift of a $300 pistol from an Irwindale man.

Leonard, Russell and Torres were the only senators representing the San Gabriel Valley to report more than $5,000 worth of gifts. Leonard reported $6,859; Russell $6,572 and Torres $8,200.

Only two local assemblymen, Nolan and Polanco, reported more than $2,000 worth of gifts. Nolan received $1,000 worth of work by a law firm and memberships in the Verdugo Club, Oakmont Country Club and Altadena Country Club. Polanco’s report listed trips worth $1,480 paid for by the California Cable Television Assn. and worth $4,280 paid for by Green Hills Holdings of Chowchilla.

Assemblyman Paul Horcher (R-Diamond Bar) didn’t take office until December, but he reported $1,152 in gifts. Some of the gifts included lunches with waste-disposal firms, a cable company and others while he was on the Diamond Bar City Council.

Assemblyman William Lancaster (R-Covina) continued to stand out as the lawmaker reporting the fewest honorariums and gifts. He received honorariums of $500 each in 1988 and 1989 and nothing in 1990. His only gift last year was a $72 airport parking pass from the city of Los Angeles.

GIFTS, HONORARIUMS TO LEGISLATORS Assembly Honorariums

1988 1989 1990 Charles Bader (R-Pomona) $2,550 $1,000 $1,000 Xavier Becerra (D-Monterey Park) * * 0 Jim Brulte (R-Ontario) * * 0 Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) 3,250 1,000 NA Frank Hill (R-Whittier) 32,367 4,000 NA William Lancaster (R-Covina) 500 500 0 Paul Horcher (R-Diamond Bar) * * 0 Richard Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) 1,000 0 1,000 Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) 26,143 3,750 1,400 Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) 6,200 2,000 900 Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) 5,600 250 0 Totals $77,610 $12,500 $4,300

Assembly Gifts

1988 1989 1990 Charles Bader (R-Pomona) $1,180 $1,756 $1,648 Xavier Becerra (D-Monterey Park) * * 52 Jim Brulte (R-Ontario) * * 622 Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) 828 1,496 NA Frank Hill (R-Whittier) 20,045 2,371 NA William Lancaster (R-Covina) 407 425 72 Paul Horcher (R-Diamond Bar) * * 1,152 Richard Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) 1,106 2,189 1,574 Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) 7,990 8,361 12,254 Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) 609 2,508 7,584 Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) 619 5,061 651 Totals $32,784 $24,167 $25,609

Senate Honorariums

1988 1989 1990 Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) $500 $2,250 $400 Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) * * 3,200 William Campbell (R-Hac. Heights) 46,900 13,500 * Frank Hill (R-Whittier) * * 3,000 Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear) * 1,700 3,000 Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) 36,550 0 0 H. L. (Bill) Richardson (R-Glendora) 1,400 * * Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield) 3,700 0 0 Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) 2,350 1,000 1,500 Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) 15,500 3,550 1,600 Totals $106,900 $22,000 $12,700

Senate Gifts

1988 1989 1990 Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) $2,323 $1,852 $1,167 Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) * * 2,355 William Campbell (R-Hac. Heights) 5,534 5,898 * Frank Hill (R-Whittier) * * 4,448 Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear) * 6,386 6,859 Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) 8,498 1,641 35 H. L. (Bill) Richardson (R-Glendora) 0 * * Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield) 3,330 1,703 1,945 Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) 8,669 7,474 6,572 Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) 25,911 15,595 8,200 Totals $54,265 $40,549 $31,581

* Becerra, Brulte and Horcher were elected in November, 1990. Calderon and Hill moved from the Assembly to the Senate last spring, succeeding senators who resigned. Calderon replaced Montoya and Hill replaced Campbell. Leonard succeeded Richardson in the Senate at the end of 1988. Bader ended his term in the Assembly in 1990 after failing to unseat Ayala in a Senate race. Source: Statements filed by legislators with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.