Bradley Calls for Cultural Affairs Chief’s Ouster

In extraordinarily strong language, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley on Thursday called for the immediate firing of Fred Croton, general manager of the Cultural Affairs Department, charging that he lied when he applied for his city post in 1980, The Times has learned.

“It remains my belief that the cloud cast upon your honesty, integrity and credibility . . . renders you unsuitable for continued public service in light of the high moral and ethical standards to which the citizens of this city must hold its civil servants,” Bradley told Croton in a confidential letter obtained by The Times.

Pending a City Council vote on Bradley’s recommendation, the mayor ordered Croton to vacate his office by 5 p.m. today and begin a paid leave of absence. But Croton’s attorney said his client intends to defy Bradley’s order and report to work as usual on Monday.

“We just don’t feel there is any legal validity to (Bradley’s order),” attorney Richard Grey told The Times. “It’s not as if there is any serious contention he would destroy evidence. It just appears to be an effort to get the man out of the way so he would be an outsider looking in.”

The proposed firing comes only two days after Bradley asked the City Council to fire Sylvia Cunliffe as head of the city’s General Services Department. Both Croton and Cunliffe were Bradley appointees and, if fired, would be the first two general managers dismissed in decades. When Bradley first recommended Croton for the post in December, 1980, he said the new general manager was “superbly qualified.”

Croton, 52, could not be reached for comment, but his attorney, Grey, said the mayor’s action will be challenged and charged it was based on political considerations.

Croton for years has been under fire by both employees and the city’s arts community for his management of the department, one of the smallest in the city bureaucracy. The department sponsors cultural programs, operates a handful of arts centers, approves designs of buildings and advises the citizen-run Cultural Heritage Board on the designation of historical landmarks.

After a management audit of the department last year, Croton was forced to take the unusual step of taking courses on how to get along with people.

A City Council aide who spoke on condition that he not be named said, “There is a significant portion of the arts community that would breathe a sigh of relief that he is gone.” Bradley was out of town Thursday on a fund-raising trip and several of his aides refused comment on Croton’s status. They indicated that an announcement will be made today when Bradley returns.

In his letter to Croton, the mayor focused on three specific charges:

- That when Croton applied for the post in June, 1980, he “knowingly and willfully . . . made false representations” about his employment history in saying that from March, 1973, until July, 1975, he had served as director of the Sharon, Conn., Creative Arts Foundation at an annual salary of $24,000.

Croton’s attorney said that several months ago Bradley sent representatives “back East to find a mystery witness . . . to repudiate the (application) information.”

Asked whether Croton stood by the application information, Grey said, “It certainly isn’t false information. There are different ways of interpreting the information; the city is taking the most sinister interpretation.”

Explaining the claim of a $24,000 salary, Grey said that there had been a “handshake agreement” that once money in Sharon, Conn., was available, Croton would receive compensation for his job as director.

- That Croton failed to report on his job application that from December, 1973, to November, 1974, he had worked for a company called the ANCI Corp.

Grey said Croton did not place the information on the application because it was a “part-time, hit-and-miss thing” and did not relate to the job Croton was applying for in Los Angeles. Grey said he was not familiar with the ANCI firm.

- That since Jan. 19, 1981, Croton failed to correct the “misrepresentations” on his employment application.

The personnel practices of the Cultural Affairs Department under Croton came in for heavy criticism last year after an unusual 11-month investigation by the city Personnel Department. The report found, among other things, “a strong perception among employees that favoritism and other non-job related factors are the basis for decision-making” within the department and “widespread dissatisfaction among employees concerning the administration of a variety of personnel practices in the department.”

In 1985, 19 of the 27 members of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery Associates submitted a joint letter of resignation to Bradley, citing “our growing loss of confidence” in Croton’s management of the Cultural Affairs Department. The resignations prompted Bullock’s department store to withdraw financial support for an annual city arts program.

Under the City Charter, Bradley must forward his recommendations to the council and attach all documentation he used in reaching his decision. If the council upholds Bradley’s recommendation, Croton has the right to challenge his dismissal before the city’s Civil Service Commission.