Bradley Political Carnivals Raise Legal Doubts : Campaigns: State laws and city policy may have been violated by the mayor’s fund-raising activities. He refuses to answer questions about 1987 and ’88 events.

A series of fund-raising carnivals for Mayor Tom Bradley’s 1989 reelection campaign may have violated state campaign laws as well as a city policy that prohibits the use of public land for political purposes, officials said Tuesday.

City and state officials said the staging of the carnivals and the handling of the proceeds could pose a number of problems for the mayor’s campaign.

At least two carnivals were held on city-owned property in South-Central Los Angeles before proper permits were issued and without the required approval of the City Council, records show. Also, the Bradley campaign may have failed to disclose the true source of the carnival proceeds on campaign reports, said Jules Glazer, the mayor’s campaign accountant.

A spokeswoman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission declined to comment on the Bradley carnivals. But, she said, if the sources of political contributions are concealed, that could constitute “laundering” of funds and a violation of state law.

The Times reported Tuesday that the carnivals were coordinated by two Bradley political supporters--Mary Anne Singer, a contact lens technician who runs a small public relations firm out of her Beverly Hills apartment, and her one-time client, Long Beach businessman Allen Alevy. The carnivals were held on inner-city lots in 1987 and 1988.

At the same time that the carnivals were generating money for his campaign, the mayor was personally intervening at City Hall to help Alevy purchase city property, where at least two of the carnivals were held.

Bradley walked out of a news conference Tuesday when he was questioned about the carnival fund-raising operation. Later, Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani said Bradley had not known that the carnivals were run on city property.

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said the mayor on Tuesday ordered an overall review of the fund-raising carnivals by his staff. Chandler said the office would have “no further comment” on the carnivals. Alevy and Singer also have declined to comment.

Fund-raising officials for the mayor were unable to say how many carnivals were held or how much money they produced for the mayor’s campaign, in part because money raised by Alevy and Singer were handled outside normal campaign reporting channels.

The carnival contributions will be examined by the city clerk’s office as part of an ongoing audit of the mayor’s political fund-raising, said City Clerk Elias Martinez.

The city attorney’s office said it will wait for results of the audit before deciding whether to take action.

Under a written policy, the city has not allowed political fund-raising on city property because “once you open it up for anything, you open it up for everything,” Senior Assistant City Atty. George Buchanan said.

Two council members criticized the Bradley campaign for holding fund-raisers on city property.

“I would think we ought to look into it and find out who gave them permission to use city property,” said Council President John Ferraro, who was defeated by Bradley in 1985. “You’re not supposed to use city property for political things.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said, “Clearly, it is inappropriate . . . That’s no different than holding a fund-raiser in a City Hall office.”

City records show that 11 carnivals were sponsored by “The Committee to Re-elect Tom Bradley.” The Times has obtained copies of money orders totaling $20,000, which represent a portion of the total gate receipts funneled to the mayor’s campaign.

Singer served as a liaison between Alevy, Bradley and the mayor’s reelection campaign, according to four sources. The sources said, among other things, that Singer helped coordinate the scheduling of the carnivals.

Alevy arranged the carnivals through Ross Phipps, a Wilmington-based carnival booking agent. Alevy solicited Bradley supporters to donate land for his events, including Boys Markets, developer Wayne Ratkovich and parking lot operator Joe Sanchez.

“He was pretty strongly indicating he was connected to the mayor,” said Neil Torrence of the downtown architectural firm of Albert C. Martin and Associates. Torrence said he allowed a vacant lot northwest of downtown to be used three times for Bradley carnivals.

One landowner said he received a call from Alevy about two years ago to host a carnival that would raise funds for the mayor. Alevy said he was “a friend of the mayor” and, “If you’d like me to have the mayor call you, I will,” said the landowner, who supports the mayor and asked not to be identified.

That night, the owner said, he received a call from Bradley, verifying that Alevy was arranging carnivals for the campaign. The carnival was canceled.

At least two of the carnivals were conducted without proper approval on land owned by the city near Avalon and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards, according to city records.

Alevy said “he owned the lot,” according to Phipps. In fact, Alevy was attempting to acquire the narrow vacant lot, records show, but it was still city property when the Bradley carnivals were held in September, 1987, and February, 1988.

City records also show that permits for several of the mayor’s carnivals were not approved by the Police Commission until weeks after the events were held.

Detective Richard Rudell said he cracked down on a number of carnival operators, including those putting on Bradley’s events, because requirements to ensure public safety and give advance public notice were bypassed.

The Bradley campaign received a 20% share of the income from the rides, or between $3,000 and $5,000 for a typical five-day run, said Phipps. Cashier’s checks would be made out to the Bradley committee and delivered to Alevy, Phipps said.

Alevy, in turn, would send money orders and cashier’s checks directly to Bradley.

“He did not come through the normal fund-raising operation,” said Glazer, the mayor’s campaign accountant.

Glazer said Bradley instructed his staff to report the carnival contributions as miscellaneous small donations in the amount of $5 and $10, meaning the names of donors did not need to be disclosed under the law.

For such small donations, the campaign must prove that those individuals knew they were contributing to a political campaign, said Sandra Michioku, spokeswoman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

However, people buying tickets at the Bradley carnivals would not have known they were benefiting the mayor, said several carnival operators and employees. “Not unless they had some connection to the (Bradley) committee,” said Sharie Davis, one of the carnival operators.

Beverly Kirstensen, a manager for Davis, said there were no Bradley signs at an October, 1988, carnival which city records show was a Bradley fund-raiser.

At first, Phipps also said the carnivals were not identified as Bradley fund-raisers.

Later, after The Times questioned Alevy about the lack of identification, Phipps said he “forgot a couple of things” and volunteered that he had placed Bradley signs on ticket booths at Alevy’s insistence.

Glazer acknowledged in an interview last week that the campaign could have erred in the accounting of the carnival contributions.

If the Bradley carnivals were not properly identified as fund-raisers, the landowners and the carnival organizers would be the donors, Michioku said.

Chandler said Tuesday that the carnival funds were reported properly. He also said that, according to a campaign official, signs were placed on ticket booths indicating the carnivals were for Bradley. He declined to name the official or say how the official knew the signs were posted.

The carnival fund-raisers came at the same time Bradley was working behind the scenes to help Alevy acquire two block-long parcels of surplus city land on East Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.--without competitive bidding. Alevy wanted the land to build two small shopping centers.

One carnival in March, 1987, for example, was held only days before Councilman Gilbert Lindsay--at the mayor’s request--introduced a motion recommending that Alevy be sold one of the parcels. Thirteen months later, Alevy bought the land for $185,000.

On another occasion, Alevy met with Bradley at City Hall on the day one of his four-day carnivals ended, according to the mayor’s appointment calendar. Within a week, records show, the second vacant city parcel was put up for sale, eventually leading to a recommendation by city real estate officials that it be sold to Alevy. City financial analysts last May rejected the sale, however, saying it was not in the public interest because a higher price could possibly be obtained by putting the property up for auction.

Times staff writers Cathleen Decker, Joel Sappell and Tracy Wood also contributed to this story.