Lobbyist’s Letter Urges Donations to Thank Ferraro

A lobbyist for ambulance companies has urged her clients to give a political contribution to Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro as thanks for his persuading Councilman Nate Holden to hold a committee hearing on proposed ambulance fee increases.

“Last spring and summer, when we were working to get the fee increase approved, Councilman Holden agreed to schedule us into his committee if we would agree to support Councilman Ferraro’s next fund-raiser,” lobbyist Ann Carlton Bose wrote ambulance company leaders.

“The Blaine Group (her employer) plans to participate by purchasing a seat for this dinner,” the letter said. “We urge you to join us in thanking Mr. Ferraro for his loyalty and support.”

Holden, who is chairman of the Transportation and Traffic Committee, and Ferraro denied asking for contributions in exchange for scheduling a hearing.

“It is untrue as far as I am concerned,” Ferraro said. “It’s a lie,” Holden said. Later, Holden told a reporter, “people are going to read this (expletive). . . .”--and burst into wrenching sobs. Holden’s sobbing was so intense that he was unable to speak, even after his chief of staff, Herb J. Wesson Jr., brought him water. Only after the councilman wiped his face with a wet paper towel did he resume talking.

The councilman sobbing behind his desk, his head cradled in his hands, provided a dramatic moment in a supercharged City Hall already tense because of the investigation into the financial affairs of Mayor Tom Bradley.

The Bose letter was obtained by Linda Douglass of television station KNBC, and was confirmed by The Times in interviews with Bose, Blaine Group President Devon Blaine and Rand Brooks, chairman of one of the ambulance companies employing Bose.

‘He Is a Good Friend’

In the letter, Bose said, “You may recall that Councilman Ferraro was especially helpful to us when we were attempting to get the fee increase scheduled before the Transportation and Traffic Committee.” At another point in the letter, she said, “I want to encourage your support for this man. He was instrumental in getting us scheduled into committee last year. He is a good friend to the ambulance industry and keeps his promises. Now it is time to keep ours.”

Bose said that her letter stemmed from her efforts to get a hearing before Holden’s committee last year for an ordinance increasing ambulance fees, which are regulated by the city. The ambulance companies contended that rising expenses and reduced payments from Medi-Cal and Medicare were hurting them financially.

After four months of trying, she said, she called Ferraro for help in persuading Holden to schedule a hearing. “He has always been accessible to me when I called him. I called him because he was president of the City Council.”

“He called me back and said, ‘this is kind of silly, I am embarrassed to ask this, but Holden says if your clients will support my (Ferraro’s) next fund-raiser, he would schedule it.’ ”

“I said ‘John, we come to your fund-raisers anyway but tell him yes.’ That was the nature of our conversation.”

‘Better Cover It’

“When I wrote this letter, I was not entirely sure it (Ferraro’s conversation) was a joke or not so I thought I had better go forward. On the off chance it wasn’t a joke, I thought I had better cover it.”

Holden said he opposed the increase and a provision in the measure that would have given the city Transportation Commission greater rate-setting authority. Holden said he never spoke to Bose. Instead, chief of staff Wesson and another aide handled the case. Wesson said he told her Holden had objections to the measure.

“I will take a polygraph test and I am going to sue,” Holden said. “She hurt me. I have a good name, and I am going to keep it good.”

Ferraro said he talked to Bose once.

Asked about his conversation with Holden on the delay in having a hearing, Ferraro said: “As president of the council, it is my responsibility to move files (proposed ordinances) through the process. I talked to Nate (Holden). Nate said he was seeking additional information from the Department of Transportation (on the proposal) and he wasn’t ready to put the file on the agenda.

‘The Extent of It’

“I told her (Bose) I talked to him. That was the extent of it,” Ferraro said, adding that he never mentioned the subject of his fund-raiser in his conversation with Bose.

Rand Brooks, chairman of Professional Ambulance Service, one of the firms employing Bose, said he did not have a copy of the letter before him, but he believed that the letter was authentic.

“It sounds very authoritative to me and I think that at that time we did participate,” he said.

Blaine, president of the Blaine Group, said she knew of the letter.

She said that Bose was an “up-front and honest” person and “if that is something she said he (Ferraro) said, he said it, whether it was a joke or not.”

A Ferraro aide said he had not yet received contributions from the ambulance companies employing Bose for his fund-raiser, which is a May 11 luncheon.

Will Be Reviewed

A spokesman for the city attorney’s office said that news accounts of the letter will be reviewed “and if there is something in the paper that looks like it raises questions,” the office will look into it. He said a reporter’s verbal account of the letter will be passed on to the office of special operations.

Law enforcement sources said the incident could be investigated under Section 68 of the state Penal Code, which forbids public officials to seek or receive bribes. The offense is punishable by up to four years incarceration, forfeiture of office and permanent disqualification from public office.