E-Mails to, From Hahn’s Office Sought

Pushing their investigation of possible corruption in Los Angeles city government deep into the mayor’s office, federal prosecutors have asked the city to preserve all e-mails sent to or from Mayor James K. Hahn’s office since shortly before he was sworn in.

U.S. Atty. Debra W. Yang’s request to preserve electronic records since June 2001 surprised local officials, and was seen by some as another indication that Hahn’s office had become a focus of the federal probe into city contracting.

In her April 12 letter to the city clerk, Yang asked that all of the electronic communication be preserved for 90 days “pending further legal process.”

“Destruction of any documents or electronic files may impede a federal investigation,” she wrote.

In response, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo issued a letter to the City Council and mayor saying all city employees should preserve electronic communications involving the mayor’s office. Delgadillo urged full compliance with what he described as a communication of “an extremely urgent nature.”

Deputy Mayor Julie Wong, a spokeswoman for Hahn, said the mayor’s office would comply with the request.

“The mayor wants to make sure that federal authorities have all the documents they need to do a thorough investigation,” she said.

Hahn has said repeatedly that he was certain he had done nothing wrong and that he had instructed his appointees to cooperate fully with investigators.

Legal experts said letters seeking to preserve documents were a standard law enforcement tool.

But many council members were surprised by the scope of Yang’s request, which sought e-mails to and from mayoral employees as well anyone “associated with” Hahn’s office.

“It’s terribly serious,” said Councilman Jack Weiss, who once served in the U.S. attorney’s anti-corruption unit and is a frequent Hahn critic. “It means federal authorities are going through the operations of the mayor’s office with a fine-tooth comb.”

Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, whom Hahn defeated three years ago in the mayoral race, called the development “very troubling.”

“It seems the more they investigate, the more they are finding things to be concerned about, from the airport to the seaport and right into the mayor’s office,” Villaraigosa said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Adam D. Kamenstein, who signed the Yang letter and signed past subpoenas, declined to comment on the letter or any other aspect of the investigation.

For at least three months, federal prosecutors have been collecting contracting documents from the city airport and port agencies and the Department of Water and Power, which collectively award billions of dollars of contracts annually.

The district attorney’s office has been conducting a parallel investigation. While federal officials have declined to comment on the nature of their inquiry, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has said he is looking into whether the awarding of city contracts is tied to political contributions.

Federal authorities have subpoenaed records from port director Larry Keller and from public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard, a major city contractor that has developed a close relationship with Hahn.

The U.S. attorney’s office has also subpoenaed the e-mails of former Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards, a onetime Hahn fundraiser who also supervised the port, airport and DWP.

But Yang’s letter marked the first time prosecutors had shown such a broad interest in the mayor’s office.

“It really signals that the prosecutors have an ongoing interest in the mayor’s office,” said George B. Newhouse Jr., former deputy chief of the public corruption unit in the Los Angeles office of the U.S. attorney.

Deputy Mayor Wong said the mayor’s office was told on a regular basis to clean out its computer inboxes and outboxes, as in any office. She and council members said they were not sure how the city preserved electronic communications after they were deleted.

Delgadillo said Yang’s request applied to e-mail for all city offices, departments, commissions and employees.

“The city needs to be forthcoming and cooperative during this investigation,” he said in a statement to the media. “We need to find out all the facts and put it to rest so we can move on.”

Because there are more than 40,000 city employees, Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski said, it was mind-boggling how much data were involved.

“I’m surprised, only because the volume of it is almost incomprehensible,” she said. “I hope it’s not just ‘ask for the universe and see what falls out.’ That doesn’t inspire confidence that they know where they are going.”

Stephen Mansfield, who formerly worked in the corruption unit of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said this type of action was fairly standard.

“It’s not an unusual request in this kind of federal investigation.... What they’re probably trying to do is preserve the records for their review,” he said.

Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, said the request may indicate that federal authorities sought to preserve the documents as they decided what they wanted and perhaps as they negotiated for others that might be privileged.

Weiss said the request to preserve e-mails did not necessarily mean prosecutors feared that city officials were purging incriminating messages or that attorneys would ever want to see all the communication.

E-mails have become a valuable source of evidence in recent years, Newhouse said.

The federal prosecutors “may not know exactly what they want. But this is a very smart thing for them to do,” he said. “They’re trying to freeze things as they are, and I would expect they would follow up with subpoenas very soon.”

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who recently launched an exploratory bid to run against the mayor, called the request “stunning.”

“I think it’s bad news for the city of Los Angeles, because this investigation is not narrowing, slowing down or coming to a conclusion,” he said.