Bradley Backs Anti-Bias Vow; Yaroslavsky Gives His Own

Fears of tensions between blacks and Jews erupting in a likely match-up next year between Mayor Tom Bradley and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky prompted a coalition of religious leaders to ask the two rivals Thursday to endorse a manifesto to keep prejudice out of their campaigns.

Bradley, after attending a 20-minute closed-door meeting in his office with a delegation of 18 rabbis and black clergy, agreed to the campaign pledge.

Yaroslavsky, due to “scheduling problems,” did not meet with the religious leaders and also declined to directly endorse their campaign practices statement. To the disappointment of several clergy members, Yaroslavsky instead issued his own one-paragraph vow to keep any campaigning on a “high moral and ethical plane. . . .”

Rabbi Harvey J. Fields of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple said Yaroslavsky was troubled by the first paragraph of the coalition’s two-page statement, which directly attacked the campaign firm of Berman & D’Agostino. Fields would not elaborate nor would Yaroslavsky comment on his objections to the coalition’s statement.

‘Pollution’ Cited

The Berman-D’Agostino firm two weeks ago was caught in a political firestorm over publication of confidential memos to Yaroslavsky that in biting, irreverent terms poked fun at a host of ethnic, racial and special-interest groups. Particularly offensive to some groups were excerpts questioning Bradley’s intelligence and urging Yaroslavsky to press wealthy Jewish businessmen for campaign contributions.

Michael Berman and Carl D’Agostino, authors of the memos and partners in BAD Campaigns, contended that they were written in a humorous vein, not intended for public consumption and later said they apologized if anyone was offended.

While news reports about the BAD memos have subsided, the 80-member Alliance of Black and Jewish Clergy said the “pollution” that the memos caused in the black and Jewish communities was still very present.

“Our feeling, very strongly, was that these memos were as hurtful and obscene in their description of Jews as they were of blacks, and I think all of us are very saddened by the nature of the pollution of these memos in our community,” Fields said.

The Rev. Joseph B. Hardwick of Praises of Zion Baptist Church said he was “outraged” by the contents of the memos and that they could cause long-lasting problems with relations between blacks and Jews.

“This is more far-reaching than the two candidates,” Hardwick said. “We’re talking about good will that had been built up between two communities for a number of years that is being placed in jeopardy now.

“The damage that (the memos) could ultimately do to all of the good that we have tried to build up between the black community and Jewish community . . . can erode and bring about disharmony.”

Fields said the memos had led to a “hardening of some of the saddest stereotypes and the most onerous kinds of stereotypes, and it is precisely that that we are frightened of.”

Fields did not offer specific examples.

Yaroslavsky has denounced the language of the BAD memos and has pledged not to hire the firm for a mayoral race. But the councilman and colleague Marvin Braude have retained BAD Campaigns in a ballot initiative fight that they are waging to prevent onshore coastal oil drilling.

On Thursday, Hardwick called for Yaroslavsky to fully divorce himself from the BAD organization.

Hardwick drew a comparison to Louis Farrakhan, the controversial black religious leader who once called Judaism a “gutter religion.”

Hardwick said, “I signed a statement repudiating and denouncing (Farrakhan’s) tactics, his divisiveness as it relates to the Jews and the blacks. I’d like to see the councilman denounce his consultant just as I denounced Mr. Farrakhan’s statements.”

Fields, asked whether BAD should be fired from the anti-drilling campaign, said, “I’m perhaps a little more forgiving. The situation is such that I will take at face value the (campaign firm’s) apology.”

Fields and Hardwick said Berman and D’Agostino will not be asked to sign the campaign promise.

Fields expressed disappointment that Yaroslavsky had not signed the campaigning promise that said the alliance was “outraged and frightened by the manifestation of racism and cynicism . . . in the BAD memos.”

“The councilman has made it very explicit that he welcomes the opportunity of working with us, and he has simply not endorsed our statement,” Fields said. “I wish that he had, but I know that he will have to speak for himself.”

Yaroslavsky’s statement said: “I share in the desire that all political campaigns be conducted without regard to race or religion. In my more than 13 years in public life I have fought hard to ensure that the conduct of political campaigns as well as the conduct of the affairs of government remain on a high moral and ethical plane and I will continue to do so.”

Bradley was not available for comment, but participants in the closed-door meeting said the mayor noted his history of fashioning coalitions between racial and ethnic groups.

Contributing to this story was Times staff writer Rich Connell.