The Region - News from March 21, 1986

The Small Business Administration has subpoenaed records from U.S. Civil Rights Commission Chairman Clarence Pendleton in connection with a contract Pendleton helped get for a business partner. The subpoenas stemmed from a Small Business Administration investigation into the San Diego County Local Development Corp., a nonprofit, tax-subsidized organization Pendleton headed until he resigned in January. The audit focused on a contract between the development corporation and Sydney Novell, a partner in Pendleton & Associates and Pendleton’s assistant at the Civil Rights Commission. The contract paid Novell $60,000 a year plus fees to prepare some SBA-backed loan packages for Pendleton’s development corporation. Pendleton’s attorney, James Lorenz, said he viewed the subpoena as a request for information and saw as no indication of improper activity.