Urban League to Sue Cawthorne in Fund Dispute : Civic Affairs: The attempt to reclaim allegedly mismanaged league money may at last reveal why he left the helm so suddenly.

Seeking repayment of allegedly mismanaged funds, the San Diego Urban League has decided to file a civil lawsuit against former President Herb Cawthorne, a move that is likely to reveal the circumstances behind Cawthorne’s mysterious June 7 resignation from the black service organization.

The Urban League will attempt to recoup about $13,000 that its officials believe Cawthorne owes the agency, plus $16,000 more to cover the cost of an audit of the League’s books and legal fees, according to sources familiar with the decision. Robert Baxley, Cawthorne’s attorney, earlier this month confirmed that the Urban League has demanded repayment from Cawthorne but denied that Cawthorne owes the agency money.

The sources, who demanded anonymity, said the nearly unanimous decision to sue was made Wednesday night at the monthly meeting of the Urban League’s board of directors. A lawsuit could be filed within 30 days, the sources said.

The legal papers promise to clear up the enduring question of why the charismatic Cawthorne suddenly quit his post at the Urban League last summer, leaving behind a position that had made him perhaps the city’s most visible black leader.

Cawthorne reportedly resigned after an audit questioned his use of Urban League funds, but neither Cawthorne nor the agency has ever made public the circumstances behind his resignation. Reports have cited funds used for purchase of Super Bowl tickets and a painting as part of the money that Cawthorne allegedly owes the Urban League.

In addition, a lawsuit would keep the spotlight on Cawthorne as he leaves the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce to join the Black Federation of San Diego, a move that some political observers have speculated could presage a Cawthorne candidacy for City Council against incumbent 4th District Councilman Wes Pratt in 1991.

Cawthorne and Baxley did not return telephone calls to their offices Friday and Monday. Urban League Chairwoman Deborah Brady-Davis also did not return telephone calls. The agency’s attorney, Beatrice Kemp, and other board members declined to discuss the lawsuit, referring all calls to Brady-Davis.

Cawthorne resigned as a vice president of the Chamber in a Jan. 3 letter, just four months after he took a half-time position there at a salary of $40,000 a year. The resignation was to be effective “in about 30 days.”

Less than six weeks before joining the downtown business organization, Cawthorne had announced the formation of the Cawthorne Co., a for-profit development firm “with a social philosophy” that is developing housing in largely black Southeast San Diego, according to Chamber President Lee Grissom.

Cawthorne will join the Black Federation in a capacity yet to be determined, according to the social service agency’s executive director, Vernon Sukumu.

The articulate, energetic Cawthorne inherited a financially unstable Urban League in 1987 and was credited with substantially increasing fund raising. He was frequently in the spotlight with the agency, leading well-publicized marches of mourning for victims of gang violence.

Just three months into his job with the Urban League, Cawthorne called for a boycott of San Diego as a convention site after voters stripped the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s name off a major downtown thoroughfare. The boycott was called off a little more than two weeks later, after Cawthorne said he had negotiated with local corporate leaders a plan to raise money for a monument to King. That statue remains unconstructed.

Cawthorne headed the unsuccessful campaign to win voter approval of City Council-sponsored growth-control ballot measure in 1988, and is co-chairman this year of an organization working for passage of another growth initiative written primarily by the building industry.