Tough Duty at City Hall: Passing Out the Report

At 8:07 a.m. Wednesday, Ted Goldstein wheeled a cart loaded with documents into Mayor Tom Bradley’s office and delivered the first copy of the city attorney’s report on his unprecedented probe into the embattled mayor’s financial affairs.

“It was a regrettable task for me personally,” said Goldstein, who handed over a heavy box of papers to the mayor’s legal adviser without a word. “I’ve supported the mayor for years. I’ve walked precincts for him. It was ironic that I had to do this.”

But as a spokesman for City Atty. James K. Hahn, Goldstein was charged with delivering--first to the mayor, then to others--the four-volume report that touched off a frenzy of activity and interest at City Hall.

“I was so very interested in this I decided to see it all first-hand,” said Janice Kamenir-Reznick, an attorney who had come to City Hall on business and ended up at Hahn’s press conference to witness his announcement that a civil lawsuit had been filed against Bradley.

Throughout the morning, City Council members and aides frantically read through some of the 1,165 pages, attempting to interpret the findings. Council members were snagged in ornate dome-shaped City Hall corridors for impromptu press conferences. More than 200 reporters and onlookers jammed into Hahn’s morning press conference, prompting the Fire Department to send in inspectors to tame the pushy crowd.

“Everyone is trying to figure out what this all means,” said one council deputy an hour after the report was released.

Bradley did not accept any public appearances Wednesday morning in order to keep his schedule clear, and was not seen in public in City Hall until his 5:02 p.m. news conference.

An aide to the mayor said Bradley sequestered himself in his office reviewing the Hahn report with his legal and political advisers and preparing his response.

Bill Chandler, the mayor’s press deputy, said Bradley managed to conduct some city business, drafting a veto message to the council. He refused to identify the issue.

For Goldstein, public release of the documents ended five days of intense security to prevent information leaks.

Fearing that a city employee might sneak out a copy of the report, Hahn hired a private downtown Los Angeles firm, Ready Reproduction, to print 250 copies for $17,000.

Three hours after the report was disseminated, a throng of reporters and City Hall staffers crowded into the meeting room of the Los Angeles City Fire Commission as Hahn declared that the mayor is being sued for allegedly failing to properly disclose several stock transactions.

The event was a fire inspector’s nightmare.

A tangle of extension chords were strewn on the floor. Hahn and his chief deputies sat beneath the hot lights of 19 television cameras at a press conference attended by reporters from as far away as New York and Washington, D.C., who pushed and surged forward to get close to Hahn.

When Battalion Chief Mike Fulmus saw that the room was filled to more than twice its legal capacity of 98, he called out five uniformed inspectors to enforce a few fire regulations. Those in the room were told to stand against the walls and keep aisles clear.

“It was the largest news conference that I can recall” at City Hall since former Mayor Sam Yorty announced the arrest of Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Goldstein said.

After the press conference, something of a calm spread over City Hall. Aides said that City Council members were reading the documents in advance of the final special event of a historic day at City Hall: Mayor Bradley’s speech.

The scene inside the oak-paneled mayoral conference room was markedly different from that of the Hahn event six hours earlier. Only reporters were allowed inside. According to a pool arrangement, a single camera taped Bradley as he proclaimed, “I did not engage in conflicts of interest. I did not violate the public’s trust.”

Outside the mayor’s office, City Hall was virtually empty. But through the doors of several council member’s offices, Bradley’s words echoed.