Cumnningham Conflict Charged in Drilling Plan

Members of a Pacific Palisades community group contended Monday that Los Angeles City Councilman David Cunningham should not vote on the sensitive Occidental Petroleum drilling plan because of a $50,000 loan his campaign committee made to another firm that wants to drill for oil elsewhere along the coast.

Cunningham is chairman of the city’s Board of Referred Powers, an administrative body that met Monday to consider whether to uphold or overturn a zoning ruling last December that blocked Occidental’s plans.

The board delayed any decision Monday for at least a week, and Cunningham made no response to the complaint. Later in the day, his office said he was not available for comment.

The Pacific Palisades Residents Assn., which opposes Occidental’s plan to drill along Pacific Coast Highway there, charged in a letter made public Monday that Cunningham should excuse himself from deliberations because the loan represents a financial interest in the future of coastal oil exploration.

Campaign disclosure reports filed by Cunningham show a $50,000 loan in 1984 from his campaign committee to Bentley International Trading Co., a Liberian gold-mining firm with political connections in California. No terms or reason for the loan were included in the reports, and there was no indication it had been repaid.

A major figure behind Bentley, Kenneth A. Ross Jr., is the leading partner in Ross Petroleum, a Santa Monica company seeking a state permit to drill for oil in the Malibu hills. The two firms also share local offices.

John Murdock, an attorney representing Palisades residents, said the loan’s connection to Ross Petroleum poses a potential conflict of interest because the pending city decision on Occidental’s plan could influence the state Coastal Commission as it evaluates future drilling proposals.