By SACRAMENTO - Friendship in politics often crosses all logical lines, and its depth sometimes can be measured in campaign cash. The case of Escalon's Naraghi family is a prime example. Wendell and Peggy Naraghi, scions of an Iranian-American family grown wealthy through almond farming and real estate, have given Stockton Republican Dean Andal $9,200 - the maximum possible - to help him unseat Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton. But there is a twist: The Naraghi family also has given the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee $79,000 since 2004, federal records show. The DCCC's primary job? To keep people like Andal from getting into Congress. Campaign contributors give for any number of reasons. Some are moved by ideology, such as Stockton mega-developer Alex Spanos. Professional groups like the state Medical Society will give to both sides as a strategic move. But many individuals give because they have a personal relationship with a candidate; the Naraghis fall into this category. "We are people who vote for the person and not for the party line," Wendell Naraghi said. "I'm a registered Republican." So what's with the $79,000 to the DCCC? "I've known Nancy Pelosi for years," Naraghi said. "She was always an admirable person, a person of good character. Very few people get to be speaker of the House that you know - consider the odds." As for Andal: Six years ago, when he was a member of the state Board of Equalization, Andal voted to absolve Naraghi's father, Hashem, of a $1.3 million tax penalty the state Franchise Tax Board wanted to impose. Hashem Naraghi then gave Andal's short-lived campaign for state controller $10,000 six months after that case. State records show this was the first time the Naraghis had contributed to Andal. But Naraghi's lawyer, Stockton's Richard Calone, contributed $150 to Andal's campaign while the case was still open. Wendell Naraghi says the tax case had little to do with his decision to contribute this year. Naraghi said what sealed the deal for him was Andal's work as an assemblyman to eliminate the sales tax on farm equipment, coupled with the fact that they are both active in the Boy Scouts. "Andal has good family values," Naraghi said. And Pelosi? "There's not a better family person than Nancy - and Andal as well. We believe in Andal and we believe in Pelosi. "Politics makes strange bedfellows, but it does make sense." The tax case first reached the Board of Equalization in the late 1990s. Andal says he only vaguely remembers it and could not recall any details - the final hearing was quick, the vote unanimous. But according to the Board of Equalization's file on the matter, it went like this: Hashem Naraghi had built himself an almond-growing empire by the 1980s; he even had several new heat-tolerant strains of the nut named after himself. Hashem and Wendell Naraghi then expanded operations into real estate, building Naraghi Lakes in Modesto. But almond prices crashed in 1983, and Hashem Naraghi found himself about $29 million in debt. To extricate himself, Naraghi swung a deal with Wells Fargo Bank - one of his largest creditors - to deed over a swath of his land, an almond huller and an almond processing plant in return for forgiving his debt. But Wells Fargo forgave more debt than the property was worth, which, in the eyes of the state's Franchise Tax Board, meant Naraghi should have paid taxes on what amounted to income. The case dragged on for several years and hinged on two points: whether the property was properly appraised and whether Naraghi was financially solvent at the time. Naraghi claimed he was not and argued that the appraisal was too high. Interestingly enough, the appraiser was the Modesto firm of Cogdill & Giomi; the "Cogdill" being state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto. David Giomi later came to Naraghi's aid by acknowledging that their initial assessment, done for Wells Fargo, might have been too high. Giomi later assessed the Naraghi Lakes development on Hashem Naraghi's behalf as part of the case. In the end, the Board of Equalization sided with Naraghi and voted in his favor in May 2001. Two months later, Hashem Naraghi gave Cogdill $3,000 to help his campaign for state Assembly. The family has not contributed to him since. Naraghi then contributed the $10,000 to Andal's race for state controller, a contribution Wendell Naraghi said he had forgotten. Contact Capitol Bureau Chief Hank Shaw at (916) 441-4078 orsacto@recordnet.com. |
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Insider Politics Modesto Style
