Kim Hires GOP Advisers to Audit Campaign

Rep. Jay Kim (R-Diamond Bar) said Thursday that he has hired two prominent Republican consultants to review his campaign expenditures and defend him against allegations he improperly used hundreds of thousands of dollars from his engineering corporation to pay some of his 1992 campaign expenses.

The Federal Election Commission was asked Wednesday by one of Kim’s opponents in the 1992 election primary to investigate whether the congressman violated federal campaign laws prohibiting corporations from contributing to federal campaigns and repaying employees who make personal contributions. Violations can result in civil or criminal penalties.

In Los Angeles, the U.S. attorney’s office is reviewing the matter to determine whether an investigation is warranted.

In Washington, Kim said he has hired J. Stanley Huckaby to conduct a “full and independent investigation” of his campaign expenditures and company books of JayKim Engineers, based in Diamond Bar. Huckaby served as treasurer of former President George Bush’s 1988 and 1992 election campaigns.

Huckaby was not available for comment, but Keith Davis, who will be working with Huckaby, said the firm was hired Wednesday morning. Davis said: “We’ll go through everything we are given in terms of reviewing records.”

Kim said he has already sent documents to Davis. “The books and other financial information were shipped to him by Federal Express and he has everything he needs,” Kim said.

He also said he has hired attorney Jan Baran, a prominent elections specialist who advises the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Baran could not be reached for comment.

According to hundreds of pages of company records obtained by The Times, JayKim Engineers provided Kim’s congressional campaign with free office space plus staff and office supplies.

The firm also paid Kim’s salary and expenses during the 1992 election, as well as campaign bills ranging from airline tickets to telephone service, records show.

Kim has said that he instructed his staff to set up a special JayKim Engineers account to track the corporation’s spending on the campaign. He estimated that the expenses amounted to no more than $1,000. He said his staff was supposed to sent the campaign a bill, but never did.

However, a computer printout of the expenses charged to the corporation’s campaign account total more than $400,000, records show.

Kim said Wednesday that most of the money was his salary and related expenses and the rest was incidental expenses.

During the last few days, Kim has continued to attend meetings of the House of Representatives, not missing a vote. After Congress had adjourned Wednesday night, he delivered a short speech denouncing the impact of President Clinton’s tax package on small businesses.

He referred to his experience as the owner of an engineering corporation that he says he sold recently. The company is in court receivership after the firm defaulted on a $1-million loan.

Kim said: “I know firsthand what it is like to meet a payroll and create jobs. It is hard, especially during these tough times. When the government runs out of money it simply raises taxes and tells the treasury to borrow more money from hard-working Americans.

“But when a small business runs out of money it has to lay off employees or simply close its doors and go out of business and file bankruptcy.”

Records show that in the last year Kim withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company for campaign expenses or his personal use while the company slipped toward insolvency. The company has failed to promptly pay its taxes and has taken short-term loans from its profit-sharing plan to meet payroll expenses.

At the same time, Kim and his wife have received about $100,000 from the corporation for office space that the firm rents from the Kims but does not use. Tagged onto the rent invoices were bills ranging from car polishing to a $60,000 lifetime country club membership for Kim and his wife, records show.