Deukmejian Associates to Get S&L; Subpoenas

WASHINGTON —  The House Banking Committee will subpoena close associates of Gov. George Deukmejian to answer questions about their ties to Lincoln Savings & Loan of Irvine, Chairman Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.) said Tuesday.

Gonzalez’s decision came in response to a request from Rep. Richard H. Lehman (D-Sanger), a committee member who wants the panel to question as many as four Deukmejian associates who had a relationship with the failed thrift or its parent company, American Continental Corp.

If all four are called as witnesses, it would be the first time the panel’s investigation has extended to Deukmejian’s circle. The governor has not been linked publicly to the growing scandal, which has touched several prominent politicians, including Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.).

The four associates whose testimony is being sought by Lehman are Franklin Tom, former commissioner of the California Department of Corporations; Christine Bender, Tom’s successor as the agency’s chief; Thomas C. Stickel, a longtime Deukmejian fund-raiser, and Karl Samuelian, the governor’s chief fund-raiser.

Gonzalez said he has decided to subpoena “at least some of them, maybe all four” to testify. He did not indicate when the subpoenas would be issued.

Lehman believes that Stickel should be questioned about his firm’s hiring of Lawrence W. Taggart, the commissioner of savings and loans under Deukmejian in 1983 and 1984 who approved Lincoln’s risky real estate ventures. Stickel’s firm subsequently purchased 20% of Lincoln’s stock.

Samuelian, who worked as an attorney for American Continental, probably would be questioned about a November, 1985, lobbying campaign in which he participated that persuaded Savings and Loan Commissioner William J. Crawford to abandon a proposed regulation that would have restricted Lincoln’s risky investments.

Tom, who resigned as corporations commissioner in February, 1987, to take a job with Samuelian’s law firm, probably would be questioned about his efforts to persuade Bender to approve the sale of high-risk bonds through Lincoln’s offices. Likewise, Bender, who previously worked for Samuelian, would also be asked about the bond sales.