Bradley OKd 1984 Deposit at Far East National Bank

Mayor Tom Bradley signed an authorization for federal money to be sent to Far East National Bank in 1984, nearly five years before he says he first was made aware that the bank did business with the city, according to a document revealed Friday at a Los Angeles City Council committee hearing into conflict-of-interest allegations against the mayor.

Council members also were told that the mayor’s office had been notified in writing as early as 1978 that the city had a business relationship with Far East National Bank. City Treasurer Leonard Rittenberg told the committee that he had located a letter written in 1978 by former Treasurer Robert Odell to the mayor’s deputies, explaining why he selected Far East National Bank for some city business.

Bradley, who was paid $18,000 as an adviser to Far East National Bank last year, has maintained that he did not know that the bank did business with the city when he accepted the position and that he would not have agreed to be a paid adviser had he known.

But Bradley’s denial that he was aware of the bank’s ties to the city has been challenged by a series of documents that show the mayor and his office had made inquiries on behalf of Far East National Bank during the year he was employed by the bank.

Bradley’s relations with Far East are a central piece of an ongoing city investigation into the five-term Democrat, miring him in what Bradley himself has conceded is the darkest passage of his long political career. Earlier this year, as allegations became public, he resigned his position with the bank, returned the $18,000 and on Wednesday admitted to “an error in judgment.”

The document introduced to the council committee on Friday provides still more evidence that Bradley was in a position to know that the bank had an active business relationship with the city for years before he accepted the paid position.

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores produced the document, obtained from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, showing that the mayor had authorized funds to be transferred from the federal government to an account previously established by the city with Far East National Bank.

Flores had been handed the document by a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

The document introduced to the committee Friday is an “authorized signature card” that was required by the UTMA before funds could be sent to the city as part of an ongoing transit project. Bradley’s role in signing the card was only to certify the signatures of mayoral aide Anton Calleia and former aide Frances Savitch.

Signs Many Papers

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said the mayor would not respond to any questions about his involvement with the bank until the city attorney completes his investigation.

Privately, two mayoral aides said it is possible that Bradley signed the card before the banking information was entered, or that he did not see the name of the bank, which is typed on the opposite side from his signature. One aide cautioned that hundreds of documents cross the mayor’s desk in the course of a day.

A spokesman for the UTMA said the banking information was typed onto the card by city officials, not federal employees.

As for the mayor not taking notice of the bank’s name, UTMA Deputy Director of Public Affairs Richard Centner said: “It’s theoretically possible. It’s also theoretically possible that you or I would pay the paperboy with a blank check.”

City Councilwoman Gloria Molina, a member of the committee, also was skeptical.

“Obviously, the mayor’s office was well informed,” about Far East’s relationship with the city. The UTMA document, she said, “contradicts the mayor’s earlier statements. . . . The documentation that was presented clearly shows that the mayor was involved, in some form, in designating Far East National Bank.”

‘Dense Information’

Committee Chairman Michael Woo said: “Dense information came out. It’s up to us to sift through it.” Woo said the UTMA document “may be significant” and added that it is possible the committee may call mayoral aide Calleia as a witness to explain the circumstances surrounding Bradley’s signing of the documents.

The committee spent most of the 90-minute hearing exploring City Treasurer Rittenberg’s policy of depositing funds in minority-owned banks.

Rittenberg told the committee that his policy, which would in some situations allow deposits to be made with minority-owned institutions at below-market rates, would not cost the city more than $15,000 a year in lost interest.

“Indeed, a small price to pay” for aiding minority communities in the city, he said. Rittenberg said the actual cost could be less. “I was hard-pressed to find one instance in the last two months where it cost us anything,” he said. “I believe the city has an obligation and a commitment to support social issues,” he said.

Council members also questioned Rittenberg about why his office allowed a $600,000 deposit to sit in a non-interest-bearing account at Far East for three months during 1987. A second deposit of more than $700,000 also sat idle for more than a month. Together, the city lost about $12,000 in interest, Rittenberg estimated.

Account Had Been Dormant

In explaining the error, Rittenberg said the department’s procedures broke down, in part because the account in question had not been used for nearly five years. Rittenberg told the committee that his department receives several hundred separate deposits a day, totaling nearly $1 billion a month.

Meanwhile, at a press conference called by black residents who support Bradley, Councilman Robert Farrell said he believes the publicity over Bradley’s finances is racially motivated. “There seems to be something akin to a campaign to tear him down,” Farrell said.

Rev. Cecil Murray, pastor of the First American Methodist Episcopal Church, joined Farrell at the press conference and described the Bradley investigation as a “witch hunt.”

INVESTMENTS STUDIED--Anumber of Los Angeles City Council members are reassessing investments. Part II, Page 1