Harbor Commissioner Resigns Amid Charges of Funds Misuse

Los Angeles Harbor Commissioner Michael Schwab, under investigation for allegedly misappropriating funds at the union where he works, has been asked by Mayor Tom Bradley to resign from the board, Schwab told The Times on Wednesday.

Schwab, who denies any wrongdoing, said he submitted his resignation at a meeting with the mayor Friday. Schwab said he agreed to remain until Bradley names a successor, which could take several weeks.

“The mayor has stayed with me a long time on this, but he said he has had enough of it,” Schwab said in an interview. “I am sorry that I have to leave under these circumstances, but I can understand that the mayor and the Harbor Department don’t need this kind of publicity.”

Ali Webb, a spokeswoman for Bradley, confirmed late Wednesday that Bradley had requested and received Schwab’s resignation last Friday.

“There is no assumption of guilt of any kind or wrongdoing,” Webb said. “It is (Bradley’s) desire to have the Harbor Commission function with a full board, where no member is experiencing any difficulty or is under any cloud.”

Schwab was appointed in August to the five-member board, which sets policy for the Port of Los Angeles. His appointment came after several years of lobbying by members of labor groups, who had gone without representation on the board since 1981. Bill Robertson, who heads the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, had submitted Schwab’s name to the mayor for consideration.

Webb said Bradley has not chosen a replacement for Schwab, but she said the mayor will consider another labor representative. “There traditionally has been a labor member, and I am sure the mayor will weigh that fact,” Webb said.

Schwab, 41, is business manager and recording secretary of Wilmington-based Pile Drivers Local 2375, which has about 1,000 members in Southern California and Nevada. The union represents pile drivers; bridge, wharf and dock carpenters; welders; rig-builders; marine divers and tenders.

The U.S. attorney’s office, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor launched an investigation of Schwab and the local last fall after three members of the local alleged that they did not receive their share of a $9,000 grievance settlement paid to the union by an employer in 1985. Authorities said Wednesday that the investigation could last six more months.

Union Rules Violation

A separate investigation by the United Carpenters and Joiners of America, the parent union to Schwab’s local, found that Schwab and the union’s financial secretary had violated union rules in handling the money, Schwab and other union sources said. Among other things, the parent union last week recommended to the local that Schwab repay the union $5,600, the sources said.

Members of the local will meet Friday to discuss the allegations and recommendations, and they will vote Feb. 14 on whether to remove Schwab and the financial secretary from office before the end of their terms in June, union officials said.

Schwab has repeatedly denied that he misappropriated money, and Wednesday he said he will appeal the parent union’s finding to the union’s international office.