Bradley Ends Up on the Grill at Chamber Luncheon

The waiters were dishing out melting parfaits and the audience was serving up soft questions Wednesday as Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley stood before 300 San Fernando Valley business leaders at a Sherman Oaks luncheon.

Bradley easily fielded inquiries about potholes, police protection and after-school care for children. Then with a smile, he recognized the president of the Encino Chamber of Commerce for the last question of the day.

Dessert spoons fell idle across the Valley Hilton dining room as Benjamin M. Reznik asked about the mayor’s “errors of judgment” in serving as a paid director of a bank that does business with the city. Bradley’s Far East National Bank role is being reviewed as part of a series of investigations into the mayor’s financial affairs.

“The question is not what you did or didn’t know,” Reznik said, looking Bradley straight in the eye. “But why did you choose, as mayor of this city, to sit as a paid member of the board of directors of that financial institution?”

Bradley stiffened. Some of those sitting at the head table, reserved for presidents of other Valley chambers of commerce, shifted uncomfortably.

The mayor stepped to the microphone. His voice had an edge that had been missing earlier.

“There is nothing illegal or improper about serving as a director of any financial institution,” Bradley said, his voice rising. His only “error of judgment” was his judgment of what the public’s perception would be after “the press whipped up a frenzy” about his bank position, Bradley said.

“Ten years on one board and there was never a question asked and never an improper action taken. It is . . .--I won’t use the barnyard term. It is without merit.”

The mayor said he stopped answering questions from reporters about the controversy after separate investigations into his business dealings were launched. Probes by the U.S. Department of Justice, the city attorney’s office, the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the city treasurer’s office are continuing.

Soon “the headlines will be over, the 30-second sound bites will be done, and I’ll be running this city as I always have: fairly and soundly,” Bradley said. He stepped away from the microphone and the meeting ended.

As the crowd drifted away, there were murmurs of discontent from those who were embarrassed that the guest of honor had ended up on the luncheon grill.

Others were pleased, however. “I don’t think I’d have asked it. But it was one of the big subjects on everybody’s mind,” said John Kelly, a data-processing company owner and former president of the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce.

“It was the question uppermost on most people’s minds,” said Reznik, a lawyer. “I was disappointed it hadn’t arisen earlier from the floor. People were afraid to ask it.”

Reznik wasn’t afraid to admit dissatisfaction with Bradley’s response.

“He still didn’t tell us why he did it. Was it for financial gain or for some other reason? He still owes us the answer.”