Nunez sells off French wine

Party officials said the wine was for use at a Democratic fundraiser. But nearly half of the 36 bottles, valued at about $90 each, are in a Sacramento wine locker kept by Nunez's sometime roommate in Los Angeles who is a fundraiser for both the speaker and the state party.

The rest of the wine was consumed at other functions, a party spokesman said, such as a fundraiser this month with Nunez as the main attraction.

Friends of Fabian Nunez, the speaker's political committee, bought the wine from a shop in the French region of Bordeaux because the merchant did not accept the party's American Express card, party spokesman Roger Salazar said. But it did take Nunez's Visa.

The wine -- Nunez's second expenditure at the wine shop this year -- was not consumed at the fundraiser it was intended for, Salazar said, because that event featured a California winemaker.

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said the timing of the reimbursement "seems more than coincidental."

But whether the wine was originally intended for Nunez or for the Democratic Party, he said, "the whole thing just speaks of luxury and using campaign funds for expensive items and not . . . for campaign advertising, the traditional expenses."

Nunez spokesman Steve Maviglio said the reimbursement was unrelated to the criticism of the speaker after the earlier purchase had been publicized.

The timing of the payment was coincidental, said Maviglio, adding "that's the time it took to process."

The wine was bought in July for an Aug. 20 Democratic Party fundraiser that featured Nunez, Salazar said. Invitations billed the event as an "annual winemaker's dinner."

People who attended the fundraiser told The Times they did not recall drinking French wine there, however. After being informed of their statements, Salazar said the French wine was not used at the dinner, because a small Napa Valley winemaker was highlighted at the event and his products were served.

"The [French] wine was purchased for that event," Salazar said, but party officials ultimately decided that it would be "rude" to serve it.