TV Preacher Heads Off Foreclosure as Critics Hint Use of Political Influence

Flamboyant television preacher Gene Scott blocked the pending foreclosure auction on his landmark downtown church on Hope Street Tuesday when associates transferred ownership of the property to a new corporation headed by Scott’s lawyer--which immediately declared bankruptcy.

The maneuvering came amid charges by Scott’s opponents that he was using political influence to curry favor at City Hall.

The church, famed for its towering neon “Jesus Saves” sign, was scheduled for auction because officials of the Church of the Open Door, which had sold the property to Scott’s Wescott Christian Center in January of 1986, won a court decision finding Wescott in default.

In a series of press conferences and appearances before the City Council Tuesday:

- It was disclosed that on Monday, Wescott Christian Center deeded the church property to the Hope Street Building Co., a for-profit corporation headed by Edward L. Masry, Scott’s attorney and chief financial officer of Wescott. The new entity immediately filed for reorganization under chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws, Masry said.

Scott will continue to occupy the church and pay the Hope Street Building Co. $250,000 a month in rent, of which $150,000 will be earmarked for the Church of the Open Door, but the result of the bankruptcy proceeding is to temporarily freeze any change of ownership in the building.

- The City Council heard testimony on a proposal by Councilman Gilbert Lindsay to declare the church a cultural heritage monument, an action that would keep the property from being developed into a high-rise commercial venture. A vote on the measure is scheduled today.

- Pastors of the Church of the Open Door angrily charged that the bankruptcy move and the proposal before the City Council were intended by Scott to delay foreclosure by clouding the title to the Hope Street Church and reducing the potential value of the site.

Scott’s organization owes a total of $17.5 million in principal and interest to the Church of the Open Door, which has relocated from the inner city to Glendora. According to its pastors, Scott has not made any payments to the Glendora church or to the Biola Hotel, the former joint owner of the property, since August and is $7.5 million in arrears.

“Apparently it’s now a political matter to get this designated a cultural heritage site,” the Rev. G. Michael Cocoris, senior pastor of the Church of the Open Door, told the City Council in a hearing Tuesday. “It seems to me that it’s nothing more than a ploy to keep the property in their hands. . . .

“If you declare this a cultural heritage site, obviously the value of the property will go down, and we will be left in a very precarious position.”

Church of the Open Door spokesmen alleged that Scott has used political influence to sway the council to declare the church a monument so that other potential buyers will steer clear of the property.

“What exactly is the rush?” asked Joel Klevens, attorney for the Church of the Open Door. “Architecturally that building has no standing. . . . The only real significance of the building is that it was owned by Wescott Christian Center, the minister of which is Dr. Gene Scott, who I understand has some political influence.”

The hearing took place after an aborted attempt by Lindsay to get the council to immediately declare the church a cultural monument. That move was stopped when a procedural mistake prevented the council from voting on the matter Tuesday.

The white-bearded Scott, surrounded by supporters in the hall outside the council chambers, denied that he was trying to get the church property at a reduced cost.

“These people lied to us first, then lied to the courts, now they’re lying to the council,” Scott said of officials of the Church of the Open Door. “We are prepared to buy the property if they’d concentrate on clearing the title. That was our claim throughout. We stopped paying when the cloud came on the title.”

Scott has said that Wescott Christian Center is willing to pay the full $23-million price for the property--but only if a possible deed restriction can be resolved.

Late Friday, the 2nd District Court of Appeals denied a motion by Scott’s lawyers to stop the foreclosure pending action to clear up legal problems over whether the Church of the Open Door, which occupied the site at 550 S. Hope St. for 74 years, had the legal right to sell the property.

Scott fell behind in his payments when Lehua May Garcia, who claims to be a member of the Church of the Open Door, went to court, alleging that a long-forgotten deed on the downtown property dedicates it to “the promulgation of the eternal trusts of God’s Holy Word” and thus casts doubt on whether the building can ever be legally sold.

Officials of the Church of the Open Door maintain, however, that Scott signed a release holding their church harmless in case of any suit related to terms of title and religious trust. Further, they charge, Garcia admitted under oath that she had been a volunteer since 1984 for the television ministries of Scott and was “now a regular attender at his services.”

But Jennifer King, Garcia’s attorney, said Tuesday that her client had gone over to Scott’s church “more as an investigatory thing to find out what’s going on” and was still a member of the Church of the Open Door in Glendora.

Scott denied after the meeting that he has given any political donations to Lindsay or to Mayor Tom Bradley.

However, Dolores Press Inc., which has published Scott’s books and is headed by Masry, donated the use of an airplane, according to Bradley gubernatorial campaign reports; the donation was valued at $5,600. Another $2,500 contribution from Dolores Press Inc. also is listed on Bradley’s report.

Bradley press deputy Ali Webb said it was her understanding “that the donations came via a member of Dr. Scott’s congregation.”

Bradley has visited Scott’s church, and Scott took out a full-page ad lauding Bradley and reprinting part of the mayor’s remarks at the church. Bradley appointed Scott to the 43-member blue ribbon committee overseeing the successful $2-million fund-raising campaign to help restore the book collection of the fire-ravaged Los Angeles Central Library.

On Monday, Scott, in a letter to Bradley, offered to give a promissory note for $7 million to the city to fund renovation of the library.

Scott, who donated his Glendale television studios for a library fund-raising telethon, was “the man who made it happen,” Bradley said.

Scott also took out another full-page ad Saturday praising Lindsay and quoting excerpts from an address Lindsay gave at the Hope Street Church.

“I began to think I’m getting tied up with this Dr. Gene Scott,” Lindsay was quoted in the Scott ad. “What a beautiful tie-up. . . . With me talking loud in the council in this city, using my seniority and the authority that’s granted to me . . . hell’s gonna freeze over before they close this (church). . . . Don’t worry. . . . I’m glad that we are going to be together and you’ll be on my side, because I’ll be on yours.”