They are known in Sacramento as "crunch weeks," when California's assembly and senate face deadlines for moving legislation toward passage. Last week, as a cutoff approached for voting bills out of committee and onto the floor, the most frantic spot in town was Room 4202 in the capitol building, the hearing room of the assembly's critical ways and means committee. Day after day, the chamber was aswarm with legislators, their aides and California's highly visible corps of lobbyists.
Crunch week also meant that Sacramento's calendar was studded with fundraising events. On Tuesday evening some 100 guests nibbled on shrimp and crayfish at Assemblyman Gerald Felando's $500-a-person "Annual Fresh Seafood Reception," held in the tony Sutter Club, two blocks from the statehouse. On Wednesday there was the $500-a-plate "Breakfast with Assemblyman Wally Herger," and this week there will be the comparably priced "Rise and Shine with Assemblywoman Lucy Killea."
The crowded calendars point up the extent to which California's legislative agenda has become a vehicle for ceaseless and extravagant campaign fund raising. Of course, using public office to attract political contributions is hardly unknown. But in California the practice has spiraled virtually out of control, leading to what an indignant private study commission called "a new political gold rush." In 1984, campaign spending for seats in the 80-member assembly and the 40-member state senate hit $45 million, by far the highest in the nation.
With no limits on contributions or expenditures, candidates regularly build up war chests that amount to ten times their annual $33,732 salaries. Santa Monica Assemblyman Tom Hayden holds the known record for expenditures, at more than $2 million in 1982. Most of the money comes from political-action committees, corporations and labor unions seeking influence. Says former Assembly Speaker Robert Monagan: "The only way to really participate now in state government is by writing a check."
Some legislators admit to spending half their time seeking out potential contributors. Lawmakers "think about campaign money when they get up in the morning, they think about it all day, and they think about it at night," says San Francisco Assemblyman Art Agnos. Last week a California congresswoman was accused of thinking about it too much. A Los Angeles County grand jury indicted three-term Representative Bobbi Fiedler for allegedly offering to help State Senator Ed Davis retire a $100,000 campaign debt if he dropped out of a nine-way primary race for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate. Fiedler called the charge "ridiculous."