Bradley Slams Deukmejian on Toxics Program

Reacting to the state auditor general’s critical report on Gov. George Deukmejian’s handling of toxic cleanup, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mayor Tom Bradley on Friday accused the governor of “the most irresponsible administration of this program that one could imagine.”

Standing during a press conference at a Monterey Park dump owned by 1982 Deukmejian campaign contributors, Bradley referred to $2.4 million that the auditor general said was overpaid or paid out unnecessarily to toxic cleanup contractors. The governor, said Bradley, should “get the money back” and if the contractors resist, “if they’re in business, sue them.”

The report issued Thursday by Auditor General Thomas W. Hayes, who works for the Democratic-controlled Legislature, said the Deukmejian Administration failed to comply with government contracting laws. It concluded that after more than three years, the Administration only recently began taking steps to ensure that the state is paying private contractors only for cleanup work actually performed.

FBI Investigation

Deukmejian asked for the auditor general’s report last November after The Times reported that the FBI was investigating the state’s contracting practices at several federal toxic cleanup sites.

“It’s just another major example of the governor’s failure in regard to the toxic waste cleanup programs of the state of California,” Bradley said.

Kevin Brett, a spokesman for Deukmejian, countered in a statement that “no one has less credibility than Tom Bradley to criticize others regarding toxic waste and pollution.”

Brett cited city spills of raw sewage into the Santa Monica Bay and Bradley’s approval of oil drilling in Pacific Palisades as “testimonials to his own mishandling of environmental issues.”