Deukmejian Assails Bradley for Failing to Back Prison for L.A.

Gov. George Deukmejian, sounding like he is ready to begin next year’s gubernatorial campaign, blasted Los Angeles and Mayor Tom Bradley on Wednesday for not supporting a downtown prison site.

The Republican chief executive criticized the city in a keynote speech to about 2,000 city officials attending the 87th annual meeting of the League of California Cities, drawing spontaneous applause from the mayors and city councilmen when he said Los Angeles must “start bearing its fair share of the burden of housing some of our state prison inmates.”

Deukmejian did not mention Bradley by name in his speech. But he did in later remarks to reporters, pointedly attacking the Los Angeles Democrat who ran against him in 1982 and is considered a likely candidate in next year’s race.

Talking about the problem of prison overcrowding and unsuccessful efforts to win legislative support for a prison site in an industrial area of downtown Los Angeles, the governor charged: “The mayor was nowhere around in terms of being of assistance or demonstrating any kind of leadership on this issue.”

In another pointed reference to Bradley, Deukmejian revived an issue he used against the mayor in their close 1982 campaign, noting that the number of authorized positions in the city Police Department had dropped while the crime rate was increasing.

“Citizens are crying out for more protection--and I don’t blame them,” the governor said in his speech. “Yet in a major city like Los Angeles, the number of authorized police officer positions has actually dropped over the last decade. That’s not the right message to send the criminal element in California.”

The governor, asked by reporters whether he blamed Bradley for the drop-off in police officer positions, answered, “Yes, without any question. Mayor Bradley has been the mayor all during this last decade. . . . “

The governor said he was not surprised that his comments on the Los Angeles prison situation were greeted with applause. Naming other cities that have offered help in locating new prisons, he said, “I think they feel they are doing their fair share and Los Angeles ought to be carrying part of the burden.”

In Los Angeles, Deputy Mayor Tom Houston told reporters that “we love it every time the governor has a comment on the prison situation because the truth of the matter is that he has only been able to construct roughly 4,000 prison cells, when at least 16,000 were called for in the bond issue passed by the voters in 1982. So, basically, he’s doing one-fourth of the job while trying to claim credit.”

Houston said the Bradley Administration was “not opposed” to a prison site in Los Angeles, but “we have opposed the procedures, such as a lack of local input that has been involved in selecting a local site in Los Angeles County.” He noted that the mayor has supported construction of a federal prison in the downtown area.

He said that if a state prison is built on a site owned by the Crown Coach Corp., a proposal Deukmejian supports, “We will have 11,000 county, state and federal prisoners within the downtown core area. . . . There are a lot of areas in California, such as Blythe, that are begging to have prisons constructed in their areas.”

Bradley Out of Area

Bradley, long active in the cities’ league, including a term as president of the organization in 1980, was in South America on Wednesday on a trip aimed at winning new shipping business for Los Angeles Harbor.

But Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, one of several city officials at the convention, told reporters she thinks that Bradley was unfairly criticized on the police issue. She said of the police officer positions: “Most of those positions involved non-uniformed personnel.”

Picus argued that “the effectiveness of the department has increased” despite the cuts in authorized positions. Picus also defended the city on the prison issue.

“No city clamors to put a prison or a hazardous waste site or airports in heavily populated areas,” she said. “I certainly don’t think the mayor is to blame for not having a prison. I think that is an unfair charge.”

Russell Installed

Another city official, Council President Pat Russell, was installed as the new president of the League of Cities just before the governor’s speech. The governor declined comment when questioned by reporters about a problem in his own backyard--the disclosure by The Times that federal authorities strongly criticized the Deukmejian Administration’s handling of $28.5 million in toxic cleanup funds.

The governor said he had not yet had time to read the critical audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or to question state officials about it. Deukmejian acknowledged that this was not the first time that his Administration has been criticized for its toxics waste cleanup program. But, he said, he believes that all the problems that were brought to his attention have been resolved.

League members applauded Deukmejian when he called for legislation to repeal the state Supreme Court’s so-called “deep pockets” rule that allows injured parties to sue cities and counties in personal injury suits even if the local governments are not directly involved in an accident.

Hits Supreme Court

“The ability of an injured party to sue and win damages, not based on fault but on the ability to pay, has reached absurd proportions,” said Deukmejian, a frequent critic of the high court. The city officials applauded him when he again noted that the Supreme Court still had not implemented the death penalty. “Not one murderer has paid the ultimate price and I think it’s about time that they did,” Deukmejian said, triggering the applause.

League officials said the governor was highly regarded by city officials because during the last two years he signed fiscal legislation that greatly increased revenues to local governments. Most recently, he signed legislation that will provide cities and counties with $375 million over two years for local street and road repair. Half of the money will come from the state general fund, the other half as the state’s share of federal oil revenues.