Firings by Bradley Signal Imminent End of Job Training Unit

Mayor Tom Bradley said Tuesday he will dismiss most members of the board that oversees the troubled Private Industry Council and replace them with top business executives, signaling the virtual demise of the federally funded job training agency.

Acting after a series of scandals were publicized, Bradley said he also will seek to strip the council of its $1.1-million budget, forcing the agency to close its office and lay off its dozen staff members, City Hall sources said.

In an interview, Bradley said he is dissatisfied with the performance of the board members he appointed to the Private Industry Council, which together with the city funnels $42 million a year in federal grants to 55 agencies that train the poor and unemployed.

Defects and Problems

“I’m convinced . . . there are a number of defects and a number of problems and it will require some dramatic changes,” Bradley said. “And I am going to recommend a number of very dramatic changes in the way this PIC operates.”

Bradley said he did not want to “leak” more details of the plan to dismantle the council. Other City Hall sources, however, said the mayor has agreed with a staff report that he urge the City Council to turn the PIC’s functions over to the Community Development Department, which would become the sole distributor of the federal grants.

In the interview, Bradley said the changes will include naming chief executive officers of Los Angeles corporations to a new PIC board. Under the plan, the board will function on its own, advising the Community Development Department on how to manage job training programs.

The mayor criticized the current board members for spending too much time quibbling over details at meetings and not setting broad policy.

Words of Disappointment

“I have done . . . as much as possible to give the private sector an opportunity to demonstrate that they can make this thing work,” Bradley said. “I’ve been disappointed that it hasn’t worked . . . it just became clear we had to do something different.”

Bradley said he envisions the new board members meeting about four times a year to review policy, make program recommendations and set goals.

In recent months the council board members suffered through a scandal that forced its president, Dominick J. Ramos, to resign his $76,572-a-year post, effective April 30. Ramos came under pressure after reports that he mishandled a $160,000 marketing contract, used federal funds to purchase a new 1986 Lincoln Continental for himself and lied on his resume.

Robert J. Clark, chairman of the PIC board, said he learned only in recent days of the mayor’s plans to dissolve the agency. He said Tuesday he is convinced that Bradley is making the changes because the mayor’s staff is angry that the board members defended Ramos and “did not chop his head off.”

“The thing that really bugs me is that the mayor face-to-face will not discuss things with me,” said Clark, whom Bradley appointed to the original PIC board eight years ago. “They have not been honest with us at all . . . It’s a typically political way to function. Don’t ever face an issue openly.”

Clark said he will ask state officials in Sacramento to investigate the mayor’s proposed actions. Clark criticized Bradley for failing to reappoint or replace the 12 board members whose two-year terms expired July 1. While these 12 continue to serve, there are seven more vacancies on the 29-member board.

Bradley said on Tuesday that he found it “impossible” to recruit chief executive officers to participate on the PIC board without restructuring the agency. The mayor said he wanted to wait until the city administrative officer prepares an audit before making changes. Bradley said he expects to approve the recommendations in the next few days.

Political Supporters

Among the 12 board members whose terms have run out are John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League and a friend of Bradley’s, and John McDowell, a labor leader and Bradley supporter. Their fate on the board remains unknown.

If the City Council approves Bradley’s anticipated request to eliminate the PIC’s budget, the agency will lose its office space and its 12 staff members, who have no civil service protection, will eventually be laid off, Clark said.

“They’ve got mortgages and families and kids and they are shot to hell,” Clark said. “Bradley had assured me that they will get paid. There never has been the slightest hint that anything would happen.”