Election in Culver City Could Be Costly to Fireworks Distributor

Dressed for the occasion in his overseas cap with all the medals on it, Harold Sikoff reached into a small cardboard box Wednesday and pulled out a pink card to start the lottery for the right to sell fireworks in Culver City.

The half-dozen onlookers at City Hall laughed when Sikoff, commander of the L. Bushnell Post 123 of the Disabled American Veterans, chose his own ladies’ auxiliary as the first winner among 14 applicants.

His own group was chosen next, and soon all 10 winners were determined, among them eight veterans groups, Troop No. 113 of the Boy Scouts of America and the Culver Palms Y Men’s Club.

The ritual is part of a yearly routine leading up to seven frantic days of fireworks sales before the Fourth of July.

But 1986 may be the last year of fireworks sales in Culver City, the only source of so-called “safe and sane” fireworks in the Westside.

Although a 3-2 majority of the City Council favors the sales, next Tuesday’s election could tip the balance the other way, depriving the fireworks empire once controlled by convicted political corruption figure W. Patrick Moriarty of one its most lucrative outlets.

Still Owns Stock

Moriarty, who is scheduled to go to jail for mail fraud April 21, still owns stock in Pyrotronics Corp., the Anaheim-based firm that markets Chinese-made Red Devil fireworks, according to his lawyer, Jan Lawrence Handzlik. Although no longer chairman of the firm, he has stayed on as a consultant.

Tapping a market that stretches from the beach communities to central Los Angeles, agents of Bishop Fireworks Co., Pyrotronics’ local subsidiary, sell more fireworks in Culver City than are sold anywhere else in the state, industry sources said.

Revenues on the yearly sales at busy intersections as far west as Lincoln Boulevard, as far east as Fairfax Avenue and as far south as the Fox Hills Mall are estimated at more than $500,000, with all but about $100,000 going to expenses.

Firm Splits Profit

The Bishop company splits the remaining $100,000 profit with the 10 sponsoring groups, which means that the veterans and other nonprofit organizations are left with about $50,000--or 10% of the gross revenue--to divide among themselves, according to Fred Brookins, Culver City coordinator for the supplier. By contrast, in nearby cities where service groups are required to staff the stands themselves, they generally keep 40% of the gross.

“The city doesn’t dictate who the nonprofit corporations purchase fireworks from. We have no participation in that decision at all,” said Councilman Paul A. Jacobs, who opposes the sale of fireworks in Culver City because of fire hazards.

“Whoever they hire to guard and work the stands, it’s their business,” said Councilman Richard Brundo. “It’s not our affair. We allow the sale of ‘safe and sane’ fireworks. How they go about it is their business.”

Veterans Satisfied

Officers of the city’s veterans groups said they, too, are content with the system. One exception is Sikoff, who pulled his group out of a citywide veterans’ council in 1984 complaining of being short-changed in fireworks sales. He said his group received $1,800 last year from the gross sales of $36,000 at the Disabled American Veterans stand.

“We’re getting shafted, in plain words,” he said.

Still, he sees no alternative to the existing system since Brookins saves each sponsoring organizations a considerable financial burden by advancing the $2,600 required in permit fees, Sikoff said.

With the average age of World War II veterans reaching 65, most groups would rather leave the operation of the fireworks stands to Red Devil’s professionals, said Nate Whitman of Cpl. David Allen Post 667 of the Jewish War Veterans.

However, Don Coleman, treasurer of Boy Scout Troop 113, said his group might be able to earn more money on its own.

‘They Have Equipment’

“But they have the equipment all set up because they do it every year,” he said. If an organization could be sure that it would be authorized to sell fireworks every year, it might be worthwhile to set up as an independent, he said.

According to Brookins, a former vice president of Pyrotronics and now its local coordinator, the Culver City stands gross about $525,000 in a typical year.

Of this, about $227,000 goes to pay for the fireworks, which Bishop buys from Pyrotronics, he said. Labor costs are about $75,000 and other expenses include about $35,000 in sales tax, $20,000 for the city’s July 4 fireworks show, $15,000 for rent, $14,000 for warehousing, $12,000 each for trucking and advertising, $9,500 for off-duty Culver City police officers to provide security and $5,000 for insurance, he said.

This leaves a profit of about $100,000, Brookins said.

Require Annual Reports

Municipalities generally require the nonprofit organizations to file reports every year on gross sales, net profits and how the fireworks revenue is spent, officials said.

In Downey, “It’s just mainly part of the ordinance that the council wanted to be sure that the funds are used for what they are purported to be used for, charitable purposes and so on,” said Bill Sumner, Downey fire marshal.

Harold Macbeth, chairman of the Culver City Veterans Coordinating Council, also declined to reveal sales figures, saying, “Our contractual information is between us and our agents.”

Macbeth, past commander of American Legion Post No. 46, said the fireworks sales help raise money for high school scholarships, Little League baseball and other causes.

Pays for Fireworks Show

The proceeds also pay for a Fourth of July fireworks show and help deter the sale of illegal fireworks, he said.

“The city of Culver City benefits a great deal from the sales tax, (from) people dealing with city merchants, (and) it brings people into the city,” Macbeth said. “It is a good municipal advertising situation.”

Fireworks have been sold in Culver City since the 1950s and independent vendors once competed freely. By the mid-1960s, however, the Bishop Fireworks Co., founded by the late Kenneth Bishop, had begun to dominate the field and veterans’ groups entered into a partnership with the firm.

Macbeth said Pyrotronics, the state’s largest fireworks company, has the best prices and that the veterans’ council has stayed with it even though other companies have approached the council with other offers.

Although private firms are banned from selling fireworks in Culver City, the law provides for permits to be paid and other steps taken “by or on behalf of” a nonprofit group.

Although the veterans apparently decide among themselves which organization will occupy which site on private land, Chief Administrative Officer Dale Jones said city-owned sites are allocated on a first-to-apply basis.

The fate of fireworks sales depends on the outcome of the current race for two seats on the City Council. Two incumbents who are running for reelection have spoken in favor of fireworks sales.

According to campaign contribution statements, one of them, A. Ronald Perkins, accepted $350 in campaign contributions from Red Devil in 1982 and another $250 from Brookins, the Red Devil representative, last month. Another, Richard Alexander, received two $50 gift boxes of fireworks from veterans’ groups.

Both said the contributions did not affect their position on fireworks sales.

Want Sales Banned

Three of the five challengers want fireworks sales banned. If at least one challenger is elected, the current 3-2 majority that favors fireworks sales could tip the other way.

Two incumbents who are not up for reelection received more money from Moriarty or his associates. Richard Brundo, who has two years left on his term, received $666 from Moriarty in 1980 and $250 from Bishop Fireworks in 1984. He also accepted three $50 boxes of fireworks from veterans’ groups.

He, too, said his support for fireworks antedated the contributions. “I’ve been in favor of fireworks for years.”

Councilman Paul A. Netzel, who favored fireworks sales until last year but now wants them banned, accepted a total of $600 in campaign contributions from Kenneth Bishop in 1980 and $250 more in 1984.

He said the contributions had no effect on his position, especially since he spoke out against the fireworks trade in a letter to veterans’ groups in 1985.

He said he changed his mind because of the danger of fire and injury even from the strictly limited varieties of fireworks allowed under so-called “safe and sane” regulations, which have been decried by many fire officials.

Times staff writer Tracy Wood contributed to this story.