Gates Defends Cunliffe, Says He Tried to Help

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, whose department is conducting a criminal investigation into Sylvia Cunliffe’s conduct as head of the city’s General Services Department, said Friday that she “is being convicted by politicians, bureaucrats and newspapers.”

In a stout defense of Cunliffe, Gates said he contributed $100 toward her legal fees--which was returned Friday--and had asked a Los Angeles Police Protective League attorney to help her. Cunliffe faces complaints of mismanagement, favoritism and the misuse of confidential personnel information against a city employee.

Cunliffe, presently on a forced leave of absence, is the subject of several city investigations. She also is at the center of a criminal probe by the district attorney and the Los Angeles Police Department into whether there was a “criminal conspiracy” involving the rental of city-owned property.

“She is being convicted by politicians, bureaucrats and newspapers,” Gates told The Times. “She has the right to be heard and to have (legal) representation.”

Gates said he sent $100 on July 1 to the city’s Los Angeles Managers Assn. for a “Cunliffe Defense Fund,” but his check was returned Friday morning after his intended donation was disclosed in the Los Angeles Daily News.

Robert Rush, general manager of the city’s Animal Regulation Department and president of the association, said he sent the check back to Gates because the donation “was not the propitious thing to do at the present time.”

Rush noted that one member of the association, Frank V. Kroeger, general manager of the city’s Department of Building and Safety, is serving on a three-member committee appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley to investigate some of the allegations against Cunliffe.

Bradley declined to comment on the matter, but other City Hall officials said they were disturbed that Gates had sought to assist Cunliffe.

“The more serious question is whether it is appropriate and proper for Gates to, in effect, prejudge a matter while his own department is investigating it,” Councilman Marvin Braude said.

Gates defended his gesture and said he acted after receiving a telephone call last month from a distressed Cunliffe, who was upset over the costs of hiring an attorney.

“Hell, I think they should have collected from every general manager,” Gates said. “That disturbs me greatly. We’ve got a bunch of general managers scared out of their wits (to help Cunliffe). They just don’t have any guts.”

The police chief, who also is considered a general manager, described Cunliffe as “a friend in the professional sense” and praised her agency’s performance in working with the Police Department.

However, Gates insisted that his personal views would not influence police investigators.

“Their instruction is to investigate the hell out of it,” he said. “They’re professionals and they are going to do precisely that.”

Called at His Office

Gates said Cunliffe had phoned him at his office to ask if her planned vacation would interfere with the police investigation. Gates said he told her to go ahead with her trip but did not talk about any specifics of the investigation.

The conversation then shifted to her financial concerns, he said. And although Cunliffe did not solicit any money for her legal defense, Gates said he decided to write a check to help her. He also phoned an attorney for the Police Protective League, Mary Ann Healy, to seek her help in obtaining a lawyer for Cunliffe.

Cunliffe, who called Gates’ actions “noble and compassionate,” said she heard from Healy but that the attorney advised her she could not take the case because of a possible conflict with her other clients, including the Police Protective League.