Bradley Adopts Assertive City Policy Strategy

Publicly conceding that the controversy over Mayor Tom Bradley’s financial dealings will not soon be silenced, Deputy Mayor Mike Gage said Friday that the Administration will soon unleash policy proposals that had been held up for weeks in the hope that the storm over the mayor’s personal finances would pass.

The first of the proposals--a plan to encourage developments that include both homes and businesses, thereby theoretically lessening traffic and smog concerns--will be unveiled Wednesday, Gage said in an interview.

The change to a more assertive strategy is driven by concern in the mayor’s office that Bradley will be portrayed as paralyzed by the myriad investigations into his conduct. Further, it is designed to support the mayor’s contention that city business is running as usual despite his troubles.

But while some City Hall officials have speculated that Bradley would chart an aggressive policy course as a tactic to deflect attention from the escalating controversy, Gage expressed doubt that at this point any issue-oriented discussions could shift focus from Bradley.

“I kept thinking this was going to mellow out a little earlier than it has and (the mayor would) just sort of hold back on things and do the lighter things during this period and go with the heavier things later,” Gage said of the controversy over Bradley’s personal investments and outside employment with a bank that did business with the city.

“It is now real clear to me that we can’t do that,” the deputy mayor said. “So we’re just going to move ahead and frankly expect that there won’t be much public exposure. That’s life.”

Meanwhile, it was learned Friday that investigators for the city attorney’s office have been in contact with the Community Redevelopment Agency, visiting the CRA’s headquarters at 6th and Spring streets.

“They have been over here, but we really can’t discuss that,” said Marc Littman, a CRA spokesman.

While the scope of the CRA query could not be determined, the city attorney’s investigation into Bradley’s finances does touch on the CRA’s account with the Far East National Bank, from which Bradley earned $18,000 in 1988 for service as a paid adviser. He has since resigned and returned the money.

Previously disclosed documents showed that Bradley’s office made inquiries to the CRA last year on behalf of Far East while Bradley was advising the bank. In a May 26, 1988, memo, CRA Administrator John Tuite said Bradley had called him the day before “regarding Henry Hwang, president of the Far East National Bank.” The memo indicated that Hwang was apparently looking for investors for the bank.

Two weeks later, Tuite sent Bradley a letter stating that the CRA had $525,000 deposited in the bank. The deposit was later withdrawn as part of the agency’s effort to consolidate its accounts in a smaller number of banks.

Bradley’s decision to move ahead on policy matters despite the risk that his proposals will be lost in the flare of publicity over his finances illustrates the strategic dilemma that has faced the mayor’s office in recent weeks.

To project a forward-moving image, Bradley’s aides have consistently described the five-term Democrat as untroubled by the raft of investigations. Rather, they said, he has been concentrating, along with his aides, on business at hand. Bradley has maintained a routine public schedule.

Behind the scenes, however, the policy machinery in the mayor’s office has been affected by the investigations. Gage said Friday that two or three staff aides have spent a “major chunk” of their time gathering information for the various probes. Mark Fabiani, the mayor’s legal counsel and an integral part of his policy team, has focused solely on the probe.

For his own part, Gage characterized the Bradley troubles as “just a distraction.” Others at City Hall, however, suggest that the toll has been higher on the deputy mayor, said to exert extraordinary influence in the Bradley Administration.

“There’s a general perception that the city’s government--to the extent it ever had any direction--that it came from (the mayor’s office),” said former city Planning Commission member Dan Garcia, a Bradley ally. “That process has been clearly and perhaps naturally distracted . . . “The wheels have come off.”

Bradley aides have been frustrated because earlier attempts to announce what they perceived as important proposals were ignored in the ruckus over the mayor’s troubles.

John Stodder, the mayor’s adviser on environmental matters, recalled that twice in one week recently, policy announcements--one on a tree-planting program and another on methanol--were ignored or played down in favor of stories on the mayoral investigations.

Announcements Put Off

Gage said those circumstances prompted his initial decision to hold back several policy announcements in the hope that the controversy would die down.

“We’re going to lose public awareness of what we’re doing but we still have to continue doing it,” he said.

“Because if we don’t (news media) will say, ‘Well, the mayor’s office is paralyzed.’ ”

The first of the issues to be unveiled this week is the mixed-use development policy, which Gage said had been held back for three weeks. The policy follows by several months Bradley’s initial proposal that the city encourage the construction of joint commercial and residential buildings.

Jane Blumenfeld, the mayor’s planning adviser, said the policy will recommend changes in planning and zoning standards and will include a citywide symposium for architects and developers and lenders.

Another long-touted Bradley objective, a wide-ranging program to curb illiteracy, will be announced within two or three weeks, Gage said. Others, he said, will be laid out in future weeks.

With a more assertive strategy, however, the mayor faces not only the potential that his proposals will be ignored, but also that they will be seen as a contentious referendum on his leadership. And an abundance of proposals would also be looked at skeptically in the City Council, where Bradley’s staff has earned a reputation as passive on many issues.

Indeed, questions about whether the Bradley policy machine has been slowed drew laughter from many council aides, who contend that Bradley’s staff has always been reluctant to follow up its press releases with detailed proposals.

“I haven’t seen any initiatives come out of the (mayor’s) office,” said one council aide, who declined to speak for attribution. “That’s been a problem, following up press conferences with details. . . . It’s a lot harder to slog through the details.”

Times staff writer Dean Murphy contributed to this report.