‘He Would Never Quit’ : Mrs. Bradley Defends Husband

While acknowledging that Mayor Tom Bradley has been personally bruised by the controversy over his financial dealings, Ethel Bradley said Thursday that her husband is determined to remain in office regardless of the damage to his political career.

“The mayor is too strong a man, too big a fighter,” Mrs. Bradley said during an interview. “He would never quit. He is not a person who would lie down like (Jim) Wright,” the Texas Democrat who announced Wednesday that he was resigning as Speaker of the House and leaving Congress after a long ethics investigation of his finances.

“The mayor thinks that what he did is nothing.”

‘Error in Judgment’

Bradley has publicly admitted making “an error in judgment” by accepting paid advisory positions from private firms that had business dealings with the city. He faces investigations by the city attorney’s office and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a preliminary probe of his relationship with the troubled investment banking firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert.

The investigations--and the publicity surrounding them--have troubled the mayor because for the first time the level of honesty and integrity he established during 47 years of public service has been called into question, according to his wife of 48 years.

“He is very hurt over . . . this,” Mrs. Bradley said. “He has worked so hard to make himself perfect. . . . He is very disciplined. He is a perfectionist. He works hard at it.”

The mayor is so concerned about his reputation that he has refused to drop a nickel in a slot machine during the few occasions when the couple spent time in Las Vegas, Mrs. Bradley said. She added that Bradley “would never gamble.”

The 30-minute telephone interview Thursday is the first time that any member of the Bradley family has discussed publicly the mayor’s reaction to the controversy over his actions. Since making his public statement admitting an error in judgment, Bradley has declined to comment to reporters. He has pledged through a spokesman to answer “any and all questions” but only after the investigations are complete.

Mrs. Bradley said she is upset that her family finances, including her husband’s paid relationships with Far East National Bank and Valley Federal Savings & Loan Assn., have been subjected to such intense scrutiny and criticism. She pointed out that Bradley long ago could have earned substantially more than his $97,654 annual salary had he not remained in public service.

“The mayor is an attorney. He could tell people to go to hell, go out on the street and make a lot of money,” Mrs. Bradley said. “He is a very highly intelligent man. There are a whole lot of people making a lot more money than the mayor.”

Despite the controversy, Bradley continues to devote seven days a week, 17 hours a day to his job, his wife said.

“The mayor will keep on doing what he is doing. The mayor is that kind of person. He will do just what he wants to do. He loves people. He will never stop working. This hasn’t stopped him one second. He hasn’t changed his routine around here one bit.

“The only thing I feel sorry about for him--and it upsets me--is that I look at this man do all this stuff and what for? He puts up with all that crap. He doesn’t have to. They will never find another man like Tom Bradley. I’m the one who doesn’t have a husband (because of the hours he spends on the job). These people don’t appreciate him.”

Mrs. Bradley also blamed the media for playing out the controversy “like a broken record” in daily stories rehashing the mayor’s political and legal woes.

She said the media have given Bradley “nothing for the 16 years of positive things he has done, but they spend two months on this. . . . You’d think he stole the bank. Charles Manson didn’t get this kind of publicity. This is ridiculous.”

Mrs. Bradley said she resents the criticism directed at the mayor for refusing to grant interviews, provide further documentation about his personal investments or tell his side of the story.

“You’re not supposed to tell people things when you are being investigated,” she said.

She agreed with black community leaders who last week portrayed newspaper coverage of Bradley’s financial dealings as part of a nationwide attempt to discredit black leaders.

“The black community is very upset about it,” Mrs. Bradley said. “(Critics) are picking on him because he is a black man. It is political, too. He is strong politically. Politics is that kind of game.”

Bradley rarely discusses the investigation at Getty House, the 19-room mansion in Hancock Park that is the mayor’s official residence, Mrs. Bradley said. He has assured her that he will be exonerated by the pending investigations.

“He says, ‘Nothing to it, Ethel. There’s nothing to it.’ That’s what he tells me. He means that. I can’t see nothing to it, either. All I’m reading is a bunch of junk about my personal business.

“All they are out to do is to try to tear down his reputation.”