Bradley Rules Out U.S. Post, Says He Will Seek 5th Term

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley on Monday flatly ruled out accepting a federal job if the Democrats win the presidency next year. “I am running for mayor” in 1989, he declared.

His comment to reporters appeared to underscore his earlier pledge that he will run for a fifth term rather than switch jobs, as has been speculated. One 1989 opponent, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, is already in the mayoral race and Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block is considering joining the contest.

The mayor also declined to say whether he would sign or veto a proposed ordinance taking away Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s oil drilling rights near the Pacific Palisades beach.

Bradley, who suffered severe political damage when he approved the drilling in 1985, would not say what he would do if the repeal measure, by Councilman Marvin Braude, reaches his desk. But he kept his options open, saying: “I will be very deliberate in my review of any additional information that comes to me as a result of council action. Let us wait until that happens.”

The mayor made the comments on an interview program that will be shown on Century Cable’s Channel 10 at 5 tonight and repeated the next three nights.

70th Birthday Today

Bradley celebrates his 70th birthday today and, when asked if the city needed “new blood” in the mayor’s office rather than a fifth Bradley term, he replied, “My old blood is quite good enough.”

“I don’t think it is a question of how long you serve, it is how well you serve,” Bradley said. “By virtue of my record, I have earned the right to run for a fifth term.”

Under questioning, he emphatically dismissed speculation among supporters and critics that he would give up his fifth-term ambitions if he had a chance to be vice president or if a Democrat won the presidency and offered him a prestigious appointment.

“I think it would be presumptuous of me to even discuss that possibility, but if you have any doubt about it, my answer to you is I am committed and I am not interested in a Cabinet post or vice president. I want to be mayor.”

Asked if that was a “flat-out, hands-on-the-Bible, feet-in-concrete statement,” Bradley replied, “Yes, yes.” He added, “I wanted to put that on the table and get rid of it . . . so nobody else asks me that question. I am running for mayor.

“I have worked at this job and I have accomplished a great deal,” Bradley said. “There is still much more to be done. I am as committed as ever to doing that. . . . I think I have shown the kind of creativity, the kind of vision, the city needs. I want to continue that.”

On another matter, Bradley would not offer his opinion about Councilman Robert Farrell, a political protege who has been the subject of newspaper stories on how he has assisted in obtaining funds and other help for a poverty agency operated by his former wife. Some of Farrell’s opponents in the 8th District, which includes the Memorial Coliseum, are organizing a recall effort against him.

Bradley said he would not comment until signatures have been turned in to launch the recall. He had opposed a previous recall campaign, which aborted when some petition signatures were found to be invalid.

“I don’t jump at conclusions, I wait until the facts are in. That is the judicious way to handle it,” Bradley said. “I know in the case of Councilman Farrell the matter has been referred to the district attorney. Why don’t we wait until it is more than just allegations or statements from various people. Let us wait until there is enough proof or evidence that somebody files a charge. . . .”