Council to Subpoena Africa Task Force’s St. John

A frustrated Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to subpoena Juanita St. John, head of a city-funded Africa trade task force, to account for nearly $180,000 of the group’s money that auditors say is missing.

“The only way we’re going to be able to find out what happened to the taxpayers’ money is to hear from Juanita St. John,” said Councilman Michael Woo. “The next logical step is to issue a subpoena.”

Also Tuesday, the city attorney’s office said it expects to file a lawsuit against the Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations, and possibly St. John, to recover city money.

‘Hard to Ignore’

“I think we are duty bound to go against the (group),” said Assistant City Atty. Thomas Theis. He added that it is “pretty hard to ignore” recent official findings about the group’s apparent mishandling of city funds.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who had requested that the city attorney’s office explore suing individual task force members, raised the possibility that Mayor Tom Bradley could be one of those personally liable.

Bradley has told city investigators that he was a “member of the board” at the task force. But Theis said Tuesday it appears Bradley would have no personal liability for the task force because he was not a member of the Board of Directors, but instead was a member of the group’s Executive Committee. However, he said it remains unclear what positions various officials held.

Bill Chandler, Bradley’s press secretary, said Tuesday there has been no finding that the mayor acted improperly as a task force official. “The mayor can’t and won’t be found liable,” Chandler said. He said the mayor’s exact position with the task force is unclear.

City auditors and investigators have found that the task force violated its contract, had no written policies to control expenditures and owes the city more than $260,000.

The group, founded to explore trade opportunities between African and Los Angeles businesses, has received nearly $400,000 from the city since 1985, largely because of Bradley’s personal support. Included in that amount is $180,000 in unexplained withdrawals made by St. John, who has a history of personal financial problems, including two bankruptcy filings since 1986.

Los Angeles police and the district attorney’s office’s major fraud unit are conducting a criminal investigation of possible misuse of public funds, focusing on alleged commingling of task force and personal funds in St. John family checking accounts. They also are investigating the transfer of at least $5,100 from a task force account into the checking account of the Riverside land venture in which Bradley and St. John are partners with several others.

First Subpoena in 15 Years

The issuance of a subpoena, the first by the council in 15 years, was approved in a 10-0 vote after a brief debate in which Woo and Yaroslavsky led the push to bring St. John before a committee investigating the finances of the task force.

“She has proven elusive,” Yaroslavsky said during the debate. “I won’t ascribe any intent.”

Later, speaking to reporters, Yaroslavsky said: “Talk about ingratitude. This is a person who got $400,000 in city money. What reason could she possibly have for not wanting to answer questions . . . unless she did something wrong?”

The subpoena apparently will have little effect in getting information from St. John. Vicki Podberesky, St. John’s attorney, said Tuesday she has advised her client not to answer the council’s questions.

“If the subpoena is properly served and properly issued, she will appear,” Podberesky said. “But we are advising her at this time, because of the pending district attorney’s investigation, to invoke her 5th Amendment right.”

Council President John Ferraro said he would ask Bradley to intervene and use his influence with St. John to persuade her to answer questions voluntarily.

“There was a closeness between the two of them and they were involved in business transactions together,” Ferraro told reporters. “I might make a call to the mayor. If the committee doesn’t want to do it, as president I will do it. I will probably talk with him today if I can get him on the phone.”

Bradley said Tuesday he will contact St. John through her lawyers and urge her to cooperate, according to Chandler, his spokesman.

Bradley has denied any wrongdoing in his business and personal ties to the task force. Those include the hiring of his daughter, Phyllis, by St. John as an $18,000-a-year secretary immediately after city funds began flowing to the group.

In addition, St. John’s daughter, Kathy, works in the mayor’s office and has handled the books for the Riverside real estate partnership in recent years.

Last week, City Atty. James K. Hahn, concluding his five-month investigation of the task force, expressed “serious concerns” about the potential conflicts of interest in Bradley’s links to the city-funded group. But Hahn said his investigators had found no violations of conflict laws by the mayor.

Appear Oct. 10

In its vote Tuesday, the City Council directed the city clerk’s office to serve St. John with a subpoena to appear on Oct. 10 before a joint meeting of the Governmental Efficiency and Budget and Finance committees. City officials have the authority to serve the subpoena only within city limits; St. John lives in San Marino.

St. John already faces criminal misdemeanor charge for failing to produce documents subpoenaed by the city controller’s office. She had pleaded not guilty and faces a court hearing in October. She was first served with that subpoena at her home, but after a dispute arose over the city’s authority, police served her a second time within Los Angeles city limits. “We’re not going to go out of our way to make it difficult for them,” Podberesky said Tuesday. “We would, in fact, like to cooperate with them.”

Earlier Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to authorize the hiring of an additional staff member in the city clerk’s office to monitor more closely the finances of organizations receiving city money.