May 17, 1989, Wednesday, Home Edition
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) received $29,846 and Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) collected $21,300 in speaking fees from special-interest groups last year, according to their annual financial disclosure reports made public Monday.
Wilson’s honorariums more than compensated for the $10,100 government pay raise that he has refused to accept for the past two years. Cranston has announced that he will not accept honorariums in the future, but Wilson has indicated that he will continue to accept them.
Cranston, 74, a millionaire, received a California state pension payment of $62,902 and $18,426 from the Social Security Administration in addition to his $89,500 federal salary, his records showed. His blind trust yielded him an income of between $15,000 and $50,000, and various real estate investments provided additional income ranging between $1,000 and $50,000 each.
Wilson, also a millionaire, received income between $1,000 and $15,000 each from a variety of investments and also got more than $100,000 from his blind trust. He reported the purchase of a condominium in San Diego valued at between $50,000 and $100,000.
Members of Congress are not required to report their income exactly, but instead in specified ranges.
In addition to his honorariums, Wilson, who won reelection last November, took numerous trips by himself or with his wife last year at the expense of special interests. Most of these trips were between Washington and California.
Among the groups providing Wilson with free travel were the Agri-Business Council, Merchants and Manufacturers, California Winegrape Growers, Western States Meat Assn., General Electric Credit Corp., California Medical Assn., Asian Indian Assn., AT&T, Securities Industry Assn., Independent Cities Assn., Fleishman Hilliard Inc., William Lyon University and Beech Aircraft.