Urban League Asks Cawthorne for Back Funds : Civic Affairs: The group’s charismatic president abruptly quit last June, and his lawyer says the Urban League is now seeking money Cawthorne doesn’t believe is owed.

The San Diego Urban League is seeking to recover money from former President Herb Cawthorne, who suddenly resigned amid unexplained circumstances in June. The group may take legal action against him.

The organization has demanded about $13,000 from Cawthorne, now an executive for the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, according to one source familiar with Urban League affairs.

“I’ll confirm that they’ve made a demand,” said Robert Baxley, Cawthorne’s attorney. “They’ve asked for money, and we don’t believe it’s owed.”

It is not clear when the Urban League demanded the money or how the request is connected to the still-unexplained circumstances of Cawthorne’s resignation from the Urban League on June 7. Baxley refused further comment.

Urban League attorney Beatrice Kemp and the organization’s chairwoman, Deborah Brady-Davis, refused to confirm or deny any demand for a payment from Cawthorne, as did numerous other board members contacted this week. Cawthorne, now vice president of the Chamber’s local government division, could not be reached for comment.

But one source said the Urban League will soon decide whether it is financially worthwhile to file a lawsuit against Cawthorne and whether legal action is the right move for the reputation of an organization that seven years ago endured charges of financial improprieties by another president, Clarence Pendleton.

Pendleton, who died of a heart attack in 1986, resigned his post in 1982 after being ordered to rehire the former controller who claimed Pendleton had misspent $94,000 of a federal grant.

The outspoken, charismatic Cawthorne, perhaps the city’s most visible black leader in nearly two years as head of the Urban League chapter, organized well-publicized marches of mourning for the victims of drive-by shootings and, just a week before his resignation, led a march through downtown with Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Police Chief Bob Burgreen to demand more state assistance in the city’s anti-crime effort.

He was a leader of the bitter, unsuccessful effort to enact a City Council-sponsored growth limitation measure in 1988, and this year is co-chairman of a group sponsoring another ballot initiative on growth written primarily by the building industry.

Cawthorne inherited a financially unstable organization when he took over in August, 1987, and was credited with significantly boosting fund raising as well as forging better ties to the downtown business establishment.

But he mysteriously resigned at a June 7 board meeting, reportedly under pressure after an audit questioned his use of Urban League funds. Neither Cawthorne nor the Urban League has ever publicly explained the reason for the resignation.