Bradley Advisers Replace Manager of His Campaign

Leaders of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s faltering gubernatorial drive replaced campaign manager Mary Nichols on Monday after months of internal criticism over the management of a campaign that is short of money and behind in the polls.

She will be replaced by Los Angeles attorney Robert Thomson, who was a top adviser in Ira Reiner’s successful campaign for district attorney in 1984 and who has worked in a number of Democratic political campaigns.

“It is clear that all of us in the campaign felt changes were necessary,” said William Robertson, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and a top adviser to the Democraticmayor.

Maureen Kindel, a top Bradley adviser and president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, said the decision was made at a series of meetings attended by her; by Tom Quinn, campaign chairman and overall boss; by Sam Williams, an attorney and close Bradley adviser, and by longtime Bradley aide Fran Savitch.

Asked if the group was unhappy with the campaign direction, she replied: “We talked among ourselves. I felt we needed to shore up the leadership of the campaign. We needed to provide some strength and experience to assure a more dynamic campaign and a new direction.”

Nichols, a Los Angeles attorney and former chairman of the state Air Resources Board, is being shifted from her paid manager’s job to campaign vice chair. She said she doubted that she would accept a salary for the position. She will work on fund raising, developing issues and negotiating for a possible debate with Bradley’s opponent, Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.

Nichols said she “recommended” Thomson to replace her. “I raised the point a month or so before the primary that the campaign was very thinly staffed and I was being bogged down by the administrative responsibilities . . . and I was looking around for someone . . . who could do the day-to-day operation of the campaign.” She said she considered the move a promotion.

Thomson is managing partner of the downtown Los Angeles law office of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, a major political donor whose contributions include $13,000 to Bradley’s last mayoral campaign, $5,000 to his opponent that year, Councilman John Ferraro, and $9,000 to council campaigns, including $6,000 to Councilman David Cunningham.

In May, the Los Angeles City Council, rejecting the recommendations of its staff, voted 11 to 3 to include the firm on a team of attorneys to negotiate the terms for construction of a $235-million city trash-burning plant. The firm employs Cunningham’s son as an associate. Cunningham voted to make the firm part of the legal team.

“Bob Thomson is an experienced, able campaign manager,” Robertson said in an interview. “He will bring new ideas, new strategy and new directions to our efforts. Obviously some mistakes were made during the primary. With Bob Thomson at the helm, the campaign should avoid those mistakes in the future.”

Thomson was also chief deputy Los Angeles city attorney, and directed the 1973 upset election of Burt Pines as city attorney.

In addition, the campaign’s fund-raising effort was shaken up.

New Fund-Raising Effort

Ira Distenfield, a major Bradley contributor and fund-raiser and senior vice president of Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards, an investment firm, was named campaign vice chairman in charge of a finance effort that has fallen far short of expectations.

Distenfield has himself given $32,500 to Bradley’s gubernatorial and mayoral campaigns, and his firm has contributed $11,500. In addition, a firm with which Distenfield was previously associated, Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co. Inc., has given Bradley $30,000 in recent campaigns.

In Northern California, a Democratic party activist and fund-raiser, William Russell Shapiro, head of Firehouse Barbeque Inc., has been named chairman in that part of the state in an attempt to spur contributions in an area hit by apathy among Democrats.

Gloomy Side Not Mentioned

Only $386,000 is on hand, according to the last report filed with the state, not enough for a summer television advertising campaign that was once considered by campaign leaders.

The formal announcement of the changes, made by campaign Chairman Quinn, made no mention of the gloomy side of the campaign. Instead, citing a Los Angeles Times Poll showing Bradley 12 points behind the governor, the announcement began, “Responding to a recent statewide poll showing Tom Bradley gaining on George Deukmejian, Bradley campaign Chairman Tom Quinn today announced a major expansion and restructuring of the Bradley organization.”

But for the past few months, Nichols has been strongly criticized by veteran Bradley advisers, who said that she was too inexperienced to manage a statewide campaign. This was her first crack at what is usually a difficult job.

Several Reasons Cited

In addition to Robertson and Kindel, criticism came from longtime Bradley fund-raiser Irene Tritschler, adviser Savitch and old Bradley friend and adviser William Elkins, sources said.

Several reasons were cited for the unhappiness.

A labor source said organized labor was angry because Bradley, showing up for an interview at a Sacramento newspaper, faced an informational picket line and had to cross it for the interview. Jerry Cremens, president of the California Building and Construction Trades Council, became angry at Nichols, sources said, saying the mayor should not have been put in that position. When Nichols replied that the picket line was only informational, Cremens reportedly said, “I don’t tell you how to write a legal brief; don’t talk to me about picket lines.”

Off to a Bad Start

In another incident, Nichols told a reporter in an interview that Bradley would take a stand on the reconfirmation of California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird. After Nichols was quoted, Bradley announced that he would be neutral. Afterward, Nichols told a reporter she had discussed the matter with Bradley and Quinn and “they pretty much said, ‘Yep, that was a dumb quote but if that’s the worst thing you do, you’re OK.’ ”

The staff got off to a bad start on the very first day of the campaign when Bradley arrived in San Francisco for a City Hall rally and was greeted by only a handful of spectators in a heavily Democratic city.