BACA TOPS LOCAL OFFICIALS IN VALUE OF GIFTS RECEIVED.

Byline: Troy Anderson, Mariel Garza and Harrison Sheppard Staff Writers

Sheriff Lee Baca rakes in more gifts than other county and city politicians, according to new reports filed by local public officials.

Baca accepted $5,360 worth of gifts in 2002, up from $3,916 in the previous year, including numerous rounds of golf, opera tickets worth $320 from Lee Iacocca's electric-vehicle company in Van Nuys, a $260 cigar box and other gifts from actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even $60 worth of flowers from Gov. Gray Davis.

Elected officials and top appointed officials in local government must, by law, annually report gifts and travel given to them. The report, known as a statement of economic interest, also requires them to disclose - but only within broad ranges - their personal assets. Los Angeles city officials have until today to file their forms.

On Monday, Mayor James Hahn's statement listed gifts worth $1,254 including tickets to the Grammy music awards, Rose Bowl game and Lakers, Dodgers and Sparks pro games.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said Hahn's $1,200 in gifts does not sound alarming to him but that Baca's $5,360 ``sounds like a lot.''

The key, said Coupal, is whether the gifts are small items to show appreciation or more desirable things that might represent an attempt to influence the official.

``I think it's a question of magnitude,'' Coupal said. ``I don't think that nominal gifts, such as small consumable gifts like candy or flowers are anything to lose sleep over, but sports tickets, which are high value, and artwork or things like that, we would have a concern about that.''

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo reported $895 worth of gifts.

District Attorney Steve Cooley received $971 worth of gifts, down from $1,490 the previous year.

All told, county government's elected officials and department heads reported accepting $25,860 in gifts and travel in 2002, down from $27,629 in 2001. The total for the Board of Supervisors was $17,447 in gifts and travel in 2002, up from $15,080 in 2001.

The haul included Rose Bowl tickets, meals, parking passes and $250 in World Series tickets for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke accepted $11,833 in travel expenses to board meetings of OAO Technology Solutions in Washington, D.C. Burke was elected to the company's board in 1992. The firm is an information technology outsourcing services firm.

Supervisor Gloria Molina accepted $3,446 in travel expenses as part of an educational and cultural exchange delegation to Cuba and to attend International Women's Day activities in Mexico.

The statements also show that many county officials have investments, businesses and property ranging in value from thousands of dollars to million of dollars, including Burke, whose worth ranges from $1.4 million to $5.2 million, down from $1.5 million to $6.2 million in 2001.

Antonovich had assets valued at between $360,007 and $2.7 million, and Molina had assets between $214,003 and $2.1 million.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky listed $46,003 to $380,000 in assets while Supervisor Don Knabe indicated $10,001 to $100,000.

Police Chief William Bratton, in his first statement of economic interest since taking over as head of the Los Angeles Police Department in October, reported on Monday hundreds of thousands of dollars in income from his consulting business, investments and stock.

In the statement, which covered the period from Oct. 25 to Dec. 31, 2002, Bratton also reported more than $100,000 in income from Bratton Group, a public-safety consulting service. The largest single source of income through that business came from Kroll Associates, a firm that employed Bratton as part of the independent team monitoring the consent decree over the LAPD.

Bratton, whose salary as police chief is $239,039 a year, also reported between $10,001 and $100,000 in income from serving on the board of directors of Firearms Training Systems Inc., an Atlanta-based computerized firearm training company.

Bratton also owns 20,144 shares of Rite Aid stock, and has vested options for 33,334 Rite Aid shares, and owns 32,000 shares of SmartCop Inc., a privately held Florida public-safety computer software company for which Bratton serves on the board of directors.

Bratton reported thousands of dollars' worth of stock in a number of companies held by his wife, Rikki Kleiman, through a retirement account. He also noted his wife's income from her job as an anchor for Court TV, which is more than $100,000, and her income as a co-author of a book and an adjunct law professor at Columbia Law School.

City Controller Laura Chick did not report receiving any gifts. Chick, however, reported a number of stock holdings and other investments. Chick reported owning shares in 36 companies, with 35 of those each valued in the $2,000 to $10,000 range and one in the $10,000 to $100,000 range.

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Sheriff Lee Baca

Received most gifts