The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 2

HoflAnflelefl States State Supreme Court MF Thursday. July 22, 1982Part I 3 Justices Openly Skeptical of Proposition 8 Constitutionality of Crime Measure Argued Before Panel so by a vote of 4 to 3 with two of the justices, Bird and Mosk, indicating that they thought the initiative did violate the single-subject rule. After the election, opponents again challenged the measure. The courts speeding up the usual process, agreed to hear the challenge directly. Tuesday's 90 minutes of oral argument were conducted in a tightly packed courtroom and the justices, for only the second time in court history, permitted television coverage of the proceedings.

Practically all of the debate Wednesday focused on the single-subject rule, passed as an amendment to the Constitution in 1948. Ephraim Margolin, a San Francisco attorney representing opponents of the initiative, contended that the measure's far-ranging provisions could not meet the test of Please see COURT.Fage 16 not with the power of the people, but the integrity of the process the people use to express themselves?" Only one of the seven justices seemed inclined to uphold the initiative, suggesting that any doubts about the measure should be resolved in its favor. "When the people speak to us, we are to listen, are we not?" asked Richardson. "Perhaps there is a general feeling of concern and anxietywith the Legislature certainly and probably the courts over the effectiveness of our criminal enforcement proceedings." Opponents of the measure, citing the single-subject rule and other alleged constitutional violations, had tried to keep the initiative off the June ballot. The court refused to do ry of questions from the justices, indicating widespread doubt on the court over the validity of the politically volatile measure.

Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird noted several times that the voters in 1948 had adopted the single-subject requirement as a means of reducing confusion and the chances of fraud. It is the court's responsibility to strike the measure down if it violates that principle, she said. "The fact that (Proposition 8) was passed by the people does not mean our job has ended," Bird said. "As a matter of fact, our job is just beginning." When Kempsky urged that the court not thwart the "vote of the people," the chief justice interjected: "It's not overruling a public Social Security Seen as Big Election Issue GOP Chief Agrees With Brown, Believes Wilson Erred on His 'Voluntary' Proposal By RICHARD BERGHOLZ, Times Political Writer Police officer Mario Deiro undercover in suite of the Omnitronix offices overlooking Newport Freeway. 'STING': High-Roller Officers By PHILIP HAGER, Times Staff Writer SAN FRANCISCO-Openly skeptical members of the California Supreme Court were urged Wednesday to set aside their doubts about Proposition 8 and uphold the sweeping anti-crime initiative passed by the voters in June.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Nelson P. Kempsky denied that the far-ranging measure violated state constitutional mandates limiting initiatives to a single subject. He rejected opponents' contentions that the measure was so complex that it could have confused and misled unwary voters.

"Proposition 8 did not drop into the voters' laps unknown and un-mentioned," he said. "It was widely debated." But Kempsky encountered a flur Bradley Gets Backing of Labor Group Candidate Promises State Federation a Voice in His Cabinet By RICHARD BERGHOLZ, Times Political Writer Mayor Tom Bradley promised organized labor Wednesday that if he is elected governor next November he will create a cabinet-level secretary of labor in his administration. The pledge, sought by labor, came shortly after the California Labor Federation, meeting in Anaheim, endorsed Democrat Bradley over Atty. Gen. George Deukmeji-an, the Republican nominee.

Most of the labor leaders knew of Bradley's commitment to the new cabinet post before the official backing was adopted overwhelmingly. Duties Not Specified There is no such post in existing state government and the Los Angeles mayor was not specific about the duties of his proposed appointee. He said the labor secretary would "consolidate and coordinate" labor-related matters and would sit in on cabinet meetings to help chart the course of administration policy as it relates to labor. Whatever the duties, the appointee will be "the voice of labor in my administration," Bradley said. Deukmejian did not fight for the labor endorsement, and the mayor ripped into his GOP opponent as "a foe of working men and women all his political career." By comparison, Bradley said, labor has backed him in every race he has run in the last 19 years.

Bradley used the labor convention to criticize Deukmejian's proposal last Monday that state prison inmates be put to work at productive jobs for the consumer market and paid wages for their work. One of the most frightening aspects of the Deukmejian plan, Bradley said, was the proposal that prisoners be released early in return for their cooperation in the work program. "I don't want a Charles Manson to get oufearly, just because he cooperated in some work program," the mayor said. But at the same time, he insisted that he is "not opposed to putting prisoners to work." "I believe they should pay for their crimes," he said. Public Safety Cited But the concerns of public safety should weigh far more heavily in determining release dates than "whether a prisoner can make a good table," in a prison workshop, he said.

In addition to Bradley, the labor federation endorsed Assemblyman Leo T. McCarthy (D-San Francisco) for lieutenant governor, Democratic incumbent state Treasurer Jesse Unruh, Secretary of State March Fong Eu and state Controller Ken Cory; Los Angeles Dist. Atty. John Van De Kamp for attorney general, and incumbent Wilson Riles in the nonpartisan job of state superintendent of public The Republican national chairman rarely agrees with Democratic Gov. Edmund G.

Brown Jr. on anything. But it happened Wednesday when Richard Richards, the GOP chief, agreed that Social Security may be the hottest political issue this year. "In some parts of the country, in states where there are large concentrations of senior citizens, it is the overriding issue of the campaignno question about it," Richards told reporters at a Sheraton Town House breakfast meeting. Brown told the California Labor Federation convention Tuesday the same thing, mainly because his Republican opponent in the U.S.

Senate race San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson had injected the Social Security controversy into the California race earlier. Wilson had said the way to avoid bankruptcy in the system would be to give under-45 workers "greater freedom" to choose their own retirement plans than exists now under the compulsory contribution system. Brown's Interpretation Brown immediately seized on Wilson's statement interpreting it to mean some kind of a voluntary participation by under-45 workers, a move that critics have said would destroy the financial base of the system. Wilson later explained he meant some kind of arrangement whereby under-45 workers might still be required to make contributions to the Social Security retirement plan, but at a lower rate "a minimal contribution," Wilson said than at Continued from First Page ment Assistance Administration to a consortium of the Santa Ana department, the FBI and the Orange County district attorney's office. A second grant, $225,000, was made directly to Santa Ana after the other two agencies withdrew from the project in 1981..

The grants allowed two things. First, the investigators had money with which they could finance undercover purchases of stolen goods. That turned out not to be terribly expensive. Sayne estimated that during the life of the first grant, the investigators paid 2 cents on the dollar for Voter Approved Anti vote, counsel, it's upholding the Constitution." Proposition 8, sponsored by tax activist Paul Gann and known as the "victims' bill of rights," was passed by 56 of the voters June 8. Among other things, the measure guarantees a right to "safe" public schools, limits plea bargaining, grants victims the right to restitution and to attend parole and court hearings, abolishes the right to bail in non-capital cases and permits the use of some improperly obtained evidence in court.

A decision by the justices is expected before the November election, when four members of the -court will be on the ballot for voter approval. Court supporters including lawyers who brought the bills and dinner tabs that high rollers with lots of cash might be expected to pick up for their friends and business associates. "I have been in every spot on Restaurant Row and every nice place on Coast Highway in Newport Beach at one time or another," said Francis Foux, one of the chief undercover operators in the project and a veteran narcotics investigator. Foux (a pseudonym) and his colleagues also spent a good deal of time in private nightclubs and in swank hotels where suites were turned into "party pads." Their purpose was to build up a reputation, Foux said. "Sometimes I was a little worried that we might be too flashy," he said.

"But we had to make sure that we looked like people who had the money to do large-scale deals." To solidify their image, Foux said, the investigators used a variety of devices. "I have been known to give a bartender in some action place a $100 bill ahead of time and tell him to make me look good. "That way, when we had our meeting with the crook, the bartender would keep sending over rounds of what looked like free drinks, like other arrangements, including trusts, and the names of any creditors, setting forth the amount of each debt." It also calls for the release of state and federal income tax returns for the past three years and for each year thereafter that either Bradley or Deukmejian serves as governor. Public officeholders under current California law must file annual statements of economic interest with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, but the law does not require as specific a listing of outside income and investments as proposed by Deukmejian. suit challenging Proposition 8 have expressed concern that the justices could suffer at the polls if they strike down the anti-crime initiative.

Three of the justices on the ballot-Allen E. Broussard, Otto M. Kaus and Cruz Reynoso were appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

The fourth, Frank K. Richardson, was appointed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. Three members of the court-Justices Stanley Mosk, Frank C. Newman and Broussard joined Bird in indicating that they have misgivings about the measure.

When Kempsky suggested the court should interpret the single -subject rule liberally, so that it could uphold the initiative, Broussard asked: "Aren't we concerned, we were being 'comped' by the house." One of the more expensive of the ruses came the night Foux sent two bottles of champagne to every member of an eight-piece band at a Newport Beach night spot. Another involved the rental of a Mercedes Benz limousine that became the centerpiece in a nightlong spree of bar-hopping with a suspected cocaine dealer. The night was capped off with a sham cocaine deal between Foux and another officer in the backseat of the limousine. "We put together $10,000 in cash out of our pockets and the suspect's eyes got real big. He had been a little suspicious of us until he saw the money.

Then he said 'Hey, can I get in on this "We wouldn't let him in at the time, but the next thing we know, he's trying to sell us some stolen property." The careful cultivation of the rogue businessman image paid off. The investigators were able to establish themselves as large-scale dealers in stolen goods, "doing property" in the vernacular of the underworld. The front was solid enough that the officers convicted more than 95 of the people they arrested and still were able to operate undercover. Said Lt. Dave Salazar, "There are an awful lot of crooks in Southern California and they don't know one another all that well.

"It also helped that we were more concerned with recovering stolen property than in making arrests. If we had to make a choice, we would dump a prosecution so long as we could recover the stolen property." The investigators found that there seems to be no limit to the kind of stolen property available, for the right price. They bought truckloads of radishes and lettuce along with non-perishable cargoes like 960 television sets at $5 apiece and an ocean-going freight container full of brand-new automobile tires. Please see Page 23 posal, Bradley issued a statement, saying: "It's a shame that Mr. Deukmejian has failed to agree to the fair campaign code of ethics I proposed six weeks ago, or even to explain why he refused to sign it.

The code of ethics I proposed has teeth. The code I proposed requires 48 hours advance review of all campaign mailings. "Mr. Deukmejian's proposal is only an empty promise, devoid of specifics and full of lawyerlike platitudes that offer the voters of California little real hope for a fair campaign. His proposal would not have Please see ETHICS, Page 16 Banowsky Will Become Head of L.A.

Chamber Richards frankly conceded that "I don't know what Wilson is trying to do" in his discussion of the Social Security plan. But he conceded that "if I were a candidate, I wouldn't do it," an apparent reference to Wilson's proposal for a reduced participation by under-45 workers. The Republican chairman has had some experience with the issue this year. "We (Republicans) have been the beneficiary of senior citizen votes in recent years," Richards said. "But in recent months, we had an erosion among our senior citizens, because they thought President Reagan had already cut their benefits." TV Campaign As a result, the Republican National Committee began a nationwide television campaign trumpeting that Reagan "kept his word" and delivered on his promise not to cut benefits.

The campaign was keyed to the July 1 increase of 7.4 in retirement benefits mandated by law. It is true, Richards added, that "the White House" had proposed a budget that called for a three-month delay in the scheduled cost-of-living adjustment of Social Security benefits, a move the President's staff said was necessary to help reduce the federal budget deficit. But Reagan later backed down and accepted a Senate GOP budget plan that overturned the three -month delay in benefits, and Richards, when asked if the President appeared to be trying to position Please see SECURITY, Page 16 William S. Banowsky As president, Banowsky presumably will have more clout and visibility. However, Carr emphasized that the chamber's policy-setting power will continue to reside with its volunteer board, and the chairmanship is expected to rotate year to year among ranking business and professional leaders as it has in the past.

There has been some feeling within the business community and the chamber that, as currently constituted, the organization has not been sufficiently visible and aggressive in formulating and carrying out its policies. Banowsky said he was sought out for the chamber post by the executive recruiting firm of Korn-Fcrry International. The former Church of Christ preacher was president of Pepper-dine from 1971 to 1978, and was credited with guiding it through a time of great expansion. lie was known as a skilled fund Please see BANOWSKY, Page 24 KARI RENE HALL Los Angeles Times Manicured nails and gold rings helped officer convince prospective sellers of stolen property in Santa Ana that he had money to spend. By KAREN TUMULTY and NANCY RIVERA, Times Staff Writers Former Pepperdine University President William S.

Banowsky has resigned as president of the University of Oklahoma to return here as president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Both his resignation and appointment as chamber president will become effective in September, he said Wednesday. The move is part of a wide-ranging reorganization of the chamber aimed at promoting "new levels of activism by business leaders," the chamber said. Sources said the 46-year-old Banowsky will be paid $150,000 by the chamber. Banowsky declined to specify his salary, but he described it as "roughly equivalent" to the $120,000, plus housing and other perquisites, he receives as president of the University of Oklahoma.

Banowsky accepted the position, he said, because he was "not only homesick for Southern California, but I believe the five counties represented by the chamber are the most exciting and dynamic place on earth in our time." Shuffle of Command Willard Z. Carr a partner with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and now serving as chamber president, will become chairman and chief executive. Slated to replace Carr in January as chairman is current Senior Vice President Harold B. Voegelin. In the interim, Voegelin, senior partner in the law firm of Voegelin and Barton, will be the chamber's senior vice chairman.

In effect, Banowsky will be replacing J. Donald Hanaucr, 63, as the chamber's top full-time, paid officer. Hanaucr, who has held the position of executive vice president the the last 10 years, will retire at the end of this year and become a consultant to the chamber. Deukmejian Wants Bradley to Reveal Financial Data Alternative Ethics Code Requires Full Disclosure, Public Tax Returns While in Office the stolen goods they recovered. During the second grant, they reduced that cost to half a cent per dollar.

More important, in many ways, was the flashy life style that the federal grants financed for the principals from Omnitronix. Besides the Omnitronix office, which overlooked the Newport Freeway, the two grants financed several other business office fronts and a plush Newport Beach apartment as cover. The money also paid for leased automobiles and for the kinds of bar has virtually no private economic interests or income beyond his salary as state attorney general; Bradley refused during the primary to make his tax returns public and has major investments ranging from real estate to computerized slot machines. The code signed by Deukmejian and sent to Bradley's City Hall office Wednesday morning carries a pledge that the candidates will "support the principle of full financial disclosure and make public all of my interests in real property! the names of all corporations, partnerships and other institutions in which I own stock, stock options, bonds or By WILLIAM ENDICOTT, Times Political Writer Republican gubernatorial nominee George Deukmejian, who refused last month to sign a fair campaign practices agreement proposed by his Democratic rival, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Wednesday sent an alternative ethics code to Bradley that would require the candidates to make extensive financial and tax disclosures. "We think it is important that the public be aware of what he has so they can see if he has any conflicts," Deukmejian's campaign director, Bill Roberts, said of Bradley.

Deukmejian released his federal tax returns for the last three years during his primary campaign and In response to Deukmejian's pro.