CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Brown Donors Include Lawyers, Movie Studios

SACRAMENTO â€”  In the scramble for funds to finance state Treasurer Kathleen Brown’s race for governor, labor has provided the backbone of her support, but lawyers, wealthy business executives, philanthropists and movie studios have also contributed heavily.

Her single top contributor remains the Democratic Governors’ Assn., which has given her $350,000 through the end of September. The governors’ group, which is struggling to keep the Democratic Party’s grip on state executive offices throughout the country, holds regular fund-raisers in Washington, where it can tap politically active law firms, corporations and other special interests.

Among the donors whose cash is apportioned among Democratic gubernatorial candidates are cigarette manufacturers and a number of Indian tribes, some of which are negotiating agreements with governors in their home states to settle disputes over reservation gambling. Records show that Philip Morris contributed $8,435 to the Brown campaign through the Democratic governors’ group. Other contributors include the American Medical Assn., drug manufacturers Eli Elly and Pfizer, and Prudential Securities.

But as state treasurer, Brown has voluntarily refused to take money from firms such as Prudential that compete for the state’s bond underwriting business. Because of that potential conflict of interest, Brown returned $58,000 to the Democratic governors’ group. The association set up a separate account that meets Brown’s requirements and restored $50,000 of the returned money.

Brown has also shunned campaign contributions from lawyers and firms who perform legal work on state bond sales for the treasurer’s office. Her campaign staff says this voluntary rule goes far beyond the requirements of state law, which imposes no restrictions at all.

But Brown has continued to accept donations from other lawyers within those firms--more than $60,000 in a three-month period ending Sept. 30. Brown campaign officials contend that there is no conflict of interest in taking funds from these individuals, who generally are part of large firms and who do no work for the treasurer’s office.

Brown draws strong support from lawyers in the state. San Diego plaintiffs’ attorney William S. Lerach and his firm have contributed $56,000 to Brown’s race this year. Los Angeles lawyers John and Thomas Girardi, whose firm represented Lockheed employees in a series of suits over toxic chemical exposure, gave Brown $32,000.

Constellation Land Limited Partnership sent $100,000 to the Brown campaign this month. The real estate development group is managed by JMB Properties Inc. of Chicago. Officials of that company played a key role in the Public Employees Retirement System’s $400-million investment in Catellus Development Corp. in 1989. The giant pension fund is still trying to make good on its money after an initial paper loss of $300 million. As state treasurer since 1991, Brown served on the PERS board when it decided to acquire an even larger share of Catellus.

John and Rebecca Moores of Sugar Land, Tex., remain Brown’s top individual contributors. The couple has donated $180,000 in cash and the use of a private plane over the past two years. John Moores made a fortune estimated at more than $400 million from a Texas company he founded, BMC Software Inc. The couple owns extensive property in Carmel.

This month, the candidate’s mother, Bernice Brown, contributed $10,000 and loaned $180,000 to her daughter’s campaign.

Hollywood stars and executives contribute to Brown’s race, including former Walt Disney Studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, $10,000; film producer Kathleen Kennedy, $10,250, and actress Jane Fonda, $1,000. Among the studios, Paramount Pictures has given her campaign $50,000; the Walt Disney Co., $17,500, and Sony Pictures, $10,000.

Barbra Streisand has contributed $3,000; “The Simpsons� executive producer Matt Groening, $10,000.

Another group backing Brown is Agenda for the 90s, a political action committee set up a decade ago by San Francisco real estate developer Walter Shorenstein and United Auto Workers executive Bruce Lee.

While the group has generally spent its money on Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts, it also gives to individual candidates, including $22,500 to Brown this year. A substantial amount of the money that the group has collected came from Lee’s union.