Pasillas Couldn’t Say ‘No’ : City Hall: She took the job of deputy mayor because she couldn’t find a way to turn down Mayor Tom Bradley, but she never wanted the post, she says.

Diane M. Pasillas, who resigned last week as deputy mayor before taking over the post, said Thursday that she never really wanted the job, but accepted it because she could not find a way to turn down Mayor Tom Bradley’s request.

“I’ve never been able to tell Tom, ‘No,’ ” Pasillas said. “I really respect him. . . . It was just such an honor I had to accept it.”

Pasillas was appointed deputy mayor and liaison to the Latino community on Nov. 22, but backed out last week while she was on a trip to Japan. In a statement released by the mayor’s office, she cited health concerns and a desire to spend more time with her children.

In an interview Thursday, Pasillas, 40, said she did not step down out of fear that her driving record would be disclosed in the press. “I wouldn’t leave over something that petty,” Pasillas said. “I’ve had Tom’s (Bradley’s) support all the way and I still do. When I called him, he encouraged me to stay. Basically, he said he was disappointed I had made that decision, but he respected my decision.”

The Daily News raised Pasillas’ driving record as an issue last week, requesting information about it from Bradley’s office.

Pasillas said Thursday that the problem goes back to early 1985, when she found she was unable to renew both her license and vehicle registration because of unpaid parking tickets.

According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Pasillas was charged in March, 1985, and again in October of that year with driving with a suspended license.

Pasillas, who has three children and was divorced, said she did not have enough money to pay the tickets, but continued to drive because she had to.

“I was a single parent and (the issue) was just money,” Pasillas said. “I continued until I got the money together to take care of the tickets.”

Once she had the money, Pasillas said, she went to a DMV office to straighten out the matter, but learned that it had to be handled in court. The assistant district attorney who handled the case insisted that she do some time in jail for the offenses, Pasillas said.

Pasillas said she understood that she could have avoided jail by negotiating to pay a heavier fine, but could not afford it. A charge that the vehicle registration tag on her car had been altered was dropped, but ultimately, she said, she paid a fine of about $1,200 and spent a weekend in jail.

The situation was made known to the mayor’s office in 1986, shortly after Pasillas was appointed to the city’s Building Advisory Appeal Board, according to Pasillas and her fiance, Dan Garcia, a City Hall lobbyist who at the time was the head of the city’s Planning Commission. Garcia said he was frequently consulted about the appointments of Latinos and gathered the information about Pasillas, who was then just an acquaintance, at the request of then-Deputy Mayor Grace Davis.

The information was given to Davis, who apparently placed it in Pasillas’ personnel file, Pasillas said.

Nothing more was heard of the matter, Pasillas said, until after she was appointed to the deputy mayor post.

Mark Fabiani, Bradley’s chief of staff, said this week that the mayor was not aware of the information until about two weeks ago, when the results of a Police Department fingerprint check were sent to the mayor’s office. That check was done as a matter of routine several months ago when Pasillas was appointed to the city’s Airport Commission.

Bradley said Thursday that Pasillas will remain on the Airport Commission with his full support.

“I didn’t know whether or not being deputy mayor was more than I could handle,” Pasillas said Thursday, adding that she was confident in her competence, but unsure of her physical stamina after neck surgery two years ago.

She also said that she wants to spend more time with her children and Garcia than the deputy mayor position is likely to allow.