Foe Forced His Hand on TV Ad, Mayor Says

Mayor Tom Bradley said Saturday he personally warned Councilman John Ferraro to stop making “malicious and false statements” about him or else the Bradley campaign would run a television commercial implying there was something improper about Ferraro’s purchase of a condominium from a major developer.

The commercial was previewed to the press Thursday by Bradley’s campaign chairman, Tom Quinn. But it has not yet been aired, and Bradley campaign officials said Saturday it might not be. However, the commercial has been shown in television newscasts and has been covered in newspaper reports.

Bradley disclosed his warning, made in a telephone call a month ago, in an interview with The Times as the campaign for the April 9 primary became more personal and bitter.

Ferraro, in a taping of KCBS “Newsmakers” to be shown today, demanded that Bradley apologize for the commercial.

The commercial criticized Ferraro for supporting an ordinance in 1978 converting a Hancock Park apartment into condos, then purchasing one unit and selling it back to the developer to buy a larger unit. A fact sheet handed out at a Bradley press conference last week also said that Ferraro’s wife, Margaret, purchased a condo in the development before they were married.

On the television show, Ferraro assailed Bradley for referring to his wife. “He attacked my wife. I think he ought to apologize,” Ferraro said.

Ferraro campaign manager Ron Smith has charged that Bradley released the condo commercial because he is slipping in polls of people most likely to vote.

Asked about that, Bradley said: “Ridiculous. Do you see me acting nervous?”

Bradley said the material was gathered by his staff a month ago.

‘Resented His Statements’

“The staff showed me what they had assembled and said they would like to run it,” Bradley said. “Now I had spoken to Ferraro about a month ago and told him that if he continued his malicious and false statements, I would not be able to contain my staff any longer. I think that was about the time he said I was ‘morally corrupt.’ I have built a reputation for honesty, and I resented his statements.”

Bradley said he authorized his staff to release commercials with the condo material because “there’s been a constant accumulation of negative things he’d been saying, and I hear there is more to come.

“I don’t mind a hard-hitting campaign on the facts or even the near facts, but when your reputation is under attack, nobody can give you your reputation but they can take it away,” Bradley said.

“We needed to understand the kind of man he is,” Bradley said. “He’s not the nice guy everybody assumed he was. No nice guy would do what he did in this campaign.”

‘I Can’t Breathe’

Ferraro’s campaign late last week began airing commercials criticizing Bradley on his handling of a toxic-waste site. The commercial ends with a child lamenting: “Mommy, I can’t breathe.”

Saturday, Ferraro campaigned in two areas where he must pull votes, Westchester and San Pedro. He encountered small crowds and few signs that he was moving up against Bradley.

About 60 men and women greeted him at a coffee and doughnut breakfast at the Westchester Women’s Club in a white, middle-class residential area where voters might tend to favor conservative Democrat Ferraro.

The small crowd was organized by Republicans, which is not encouraging news to a candidate running in a predominantly Democratic city. Martha Meis, a local Republican Central Committee member, said she made many of the calls to invite guests. “I’ve always been a Republican,” she said. “I couldn’t spell Democrat.”

That was another example of the strongly GOP tinge to the Ferraro campaign. Many of his major contributors are also Republicans. Previously, some contributors have said they are participating to hurt Bradley, who lost for governor to Republican George Deukmejian in 1982 and may challenge him again next year.