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MWD Chairman's Political Fund-Raising Questioned JJ2754 received the complaint or that it was being investigated. A spokesman for Hertzberg said the assemblyman was on a cruise in the Mediterranean and would be unavailable for comment. Hertzberg does not have to report the contributions he received until next January. Pace declined to be interviewed. But a spokesman for the MWD said the chairman had sought legal advice from the MWD's general counsel, Greg Taylor, and his private attorney, former state Sen. Charles Calderon, before he sent the letter. Adan Ortega, executive assistant to the general manager for external affairs, said the chairman was not a paid employee of the agency and had not used MWD staff to help prepare the political solicitation. "That is something that he did and he obviously did it with advice through his own resources," Ortega said. He noted that the request for campaign funds was not written on official MWD stationery--Pace had his own letterhead printed, reading "Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Phillip J. Pace, chairman board of directors," and carrying the seal of the agency. A notation at the bottom of the solicitation said, "Not printed or mailed at public expense. " Taylor said the chairman had shown him a copy of the proposed letter and he had advised Pace that there would be no problem as long as it was clear that it had not been paid for out of public funds. "I know of no law that was violated by what he was doing, at least in the use ofthe stationery," Taylor said. He said the chairman did not tell him who would be the recipients of the letter. Even so, some other board members called Pace's actions unusual and improper. "[pace] is actually utilizing the office ofMWD and its corporate persona," said Mark W. Watton of San Diego, a frequent critic of the agency. "It's kind of like pulling people over on the freeway with a fake badge and a red light. . . . The whole thing is just a sordid affair . . . and I think it's unfortunate. " Watton said the letter was mailed only a few weeks before the board voted unanimously to establish an office of ethics and endorse a bill by state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) that would require the MWD to adopt certain rules of behavior. One rule required by the measure says officials should avoid potential ethical abuses created by "the solicitation of campaign contributions by board members, officers or employees and the receipt of contributions from bidders, contractors, or subcontractors. " "It was just real odd that we were sitting around the room discussing the office of ethics while I knew we all knew the chairman had sent out this letter," Watton said. Another board member from San Diego, Francesca Krauel, http://www.latimes.com/HOMEINEWS/STATE/t000072733.html Page 2 of3 8/15/99