Bradley Aides Return Checks; City Job Involved

The disclosure of a political fund-raising letter for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley that wished potential contributors “success” in their bids on a major city public works contract has sent Bradley aides scurrying to return nearly $12,000 in donations, The Times has learned.

Written by Elvin W. Moon, a business consultant who once served on the city Building and Safety Commission, the letter was mailed to at least 55 engineering firms that had been invited to bid on design work for a multimillion-dollar renovation of an aging sewer main near the city’s Hyperion treatment plant in Playa del Rey.

Moon’s letter, dated June 25, invited officials of those companies to a $2,000-a-head reception for Bradley July 16 at Moon’s Westchester home. It closed with this postscript: “We wish you much success in your bid for design work for the North Outfall Replacement Sewer (NORS).” Moon said Bradley and about 20 supporters showed up at the event, although not all of them gave money.

“It’s disgusting and outrageous that anyone would use a (bidding) list for that type of solicitation,” said Maureen A. Kindel, president of the city Board of Public Works, which will award the design contract and oversee construction of the new sewer. “I’m outraged that anyone would tamper with the competitive bidding process. . . .”

Bradley campaign chairman Tom Quinn said: “The contributions were solicited at a fund-raiser that was not approved by the campaign management.”

Kindel said she does not know if the incident has tainted the bidding for the design contract, which has yet to be awarded. She said the city attorney’s office has been asked to review the matter. All potential bidders were sent letters Friday advising them that “acceptance or declination of the invitation (to Moon’s fund-raiser) will have no bearing upon the selection process,” Kindel said.

Kindel, a close Bradley associate who has been a major political money raiser for the mayor in previous campaigns, said Friday she is not actively raising money for Bradley in the current gubernatorial race.

The Times obtained a copy of Moon’s letter and on Wednesday began interviewing officials of firms that had received it. Kindel said she first learned of the letter that day, after a potential bidder who had been solicited for a Bradley contribution telephoned the city engineer’s office. She said she then informed the Bradley campaign.

Kindel said she does not know Moon, has never met him, and hopes “I never will.”

Bradley campaign officials on Friday acknowledged that the mayor attended Moon’s reception, but said they did not know how the appearance was arranged. Irene Tritschler, state finance director for the Bradley gubernatorial campaign, said she had declined Moon’s request for a Bradley appearance because Moon had not previously hosted a major fund-raiser.

“I don’t know who put it on the schedule,” Quinn said.

Bradley campaign manager Robert E. Thomson on Friday sent Moon a letter telling him to stop all fund raising on Bradley’s behalf.

Moon, 38, a business consultant who seeks subcontracting work for minority firms, said the Bradley reception, the letter and the postscript were solely his ideas. He said he could not recall the name of the Bradley campaign official who scheduled the mayor’s appearance.

“I think very highly of the mayor,” Moon said. “He’s done a good job. . . I said to myself, ‘I’d like to do something to help out.’ ”

Moon said he did not intend the postscript to suggest that contributing to the Bradley campaign would help an engineering firm win the sewer design contract.

‘No Connection at All’

“There was no connection at all,” he said. “People read what they want to read. But there was no intent there. . . .

“I wished all of them well, (it was) just a friendly kind of greeting, that was it.”

However, the chairman of one Southland firm that plans to bid on the sewer project said of Moon’s letter: “I think everybody understands what it says.” The official requested anonymity.

“I don’t think I’ve ever received a letter like that before,” said Elmer F. Ballotti, of Greeley and Hansen, a Chicago engineering firm, which neither contributed to nor bid on the project.

“I was very put out about it,” said Norbert W. Weinberg of Lockman & Associates of Monterey Park, which is not bidding on the sewer project. “I threw it away. . . . I thought it was pretty rotten. We get requests for campaign contributions from time to time but this one to me was almost like, well, not blackmail, but almost as if he thought he could do you some good on the selection, which I’m sure he couldn’t. I don’t think that’s the way you get work.”

Five Checks Returned

Bradley campaign officials on Wednesday returned five checks totaling $11,800 that they had linked to the Moon fund-raiser, said Tritschler, the finance director. The checks were accompanied by a letter saying that “the contribution was given at an event which had not been authorized by the campaign staff and solicitations were made in a manner inconsistent with campaign policies.”

Tritschler said she could not immediately identify the five contributors because the list of their names was not available.

However, the campaign furnished The Times with a copy of one of the letters that accompanied the returned contributions, and it was addressed to the Pasadena office of Parsons Corp., parent company of Engineering-Science Inc. of Arcadia. Engineering-Science was among the firms asked by the city to bid on the sewer design work.

Stanley Goldhaber, who chairs the Parsons political action committee, had told The Times earlier that he was barred by the committee’s rules from commenting on its contributions to political candidates.

Moon said he mailed about 250 to 300 invitations to the Bradley reception, using lists of engineering firms and minority contractors that he had compiled during the course of his business. He said he also used a list of 55 engineering firms that had been invited to submit proposals on north outfall sewer project design work.

Public Document

Moon said he obtained the list, a public document, at the city engineer’s office.

As a minority business consultant, Moon said he is notified whenever the City of Los Angeles puts a major project out to bid. In the course of his business, Moon said, he contacts firms that have been invited to bid on major projects to persuade them to hire minority contractors whom he represents. He had initially obtained the sewer design project list for that purpose, he said.

Moon affixed the postscript referring to the sewer project only to the letters that went to the engineering firms invited to bid on the design work, he said. He sent other messages--generally wishes of good luck in business--to the other companies that received his invitation. The Parsons contribution was the only one from a company on the sewer list, Moon said.

Moon said he viewed the Bradley fund-raiser as a business opportunity as well as an occasion to help the mayor’s election campaign.