Hawthorne Councilman Pushes for Probe of a Colleague’s Vote

Hawthorne Councilman Charles (Chuck) Bookhammer has asked city staff to recommend an outside agency to consider investigating Councilwoman Ginny Lambert’s role in the city’s 1986 decision not to purchase a proposed site for senior citizen housing.

Lambert was one of three council members who voted against buying the property on 147th Street near Lemoli Avenue. Her husband, real estate agent Olin Lambert, later helped negotiate the sale of the site to a close business associate.

The councilwoman has denied any wrongdoing, saying she did not know her husband’s associate was interested in the property. Olin Lambert has said he received no commission for the sale.

Ginny Lambert--who was absent from Monday’s City Council meeting--declined to comment on Bookhammer’s request.

The land decision was the subject of a Feb. 9 article in The Times, which Bookhammer said prompted several residents to ask him to look into Lambert’s involvement.

Bookhammer said he hopes an investigation will determine whether Lambert’s role represented any wrongdoing. “If she did nothing wrong, then she should be cleared,” he said.

According to state law, public officials are prohibited from participating in any government decision in which they know they have a financial interest. The law says a financial interest exists if the decision would have a material financial effect on the official or a member of the official’s immediate family.

Bookhammer asked city staff to return at the council’s March 12 meeting with a recommendation on which state or county agency would be most appropriate to conduct an investigation. The City Council has not decided whether to request an investigation.

In an interview Tuesday, Bookhammer said the agencies the staff would probably consider include the district attorney’s office, the state attorney general and the Fair Political Practices Commission.

City Manager R. Kenneth Jue said in an interview that he is not certain whom he will recommend. “It’s not going to be myself or anyone who works for me,” he said. “It should be an outside agency or investigating firm.”

The other council members did not address the issue during Monday’s meeting. In an interview Wednesday, Councilman Steven Andersen said he will wait for the staff recommendation before deciding whether to support an investigation. Councilman David M. York and Mayor Betty J. Ainsworth could not be reached for comment.

Robert Hollis, a Rancho Palos Verdes real estate broker who owned the land, said in a January interview that Batta Vujicic, a Hawthorne real estate broker, initially offered $340,00 for the land on Oct. 3, 1986. Hollis said a document that spells out the terms of that offer was signed by Olin Lambert, who works for a company owned by Vujicic.

But Hollis said he wanted $390,000 for the land. After learning that Hawthorne was looking for property to build senior citizen housing, Hollis said, he asked Jue if the city was interested in the lot.

According to Jue, the council considered buying the 1.7-acre lot on Nov. 24, 1986. In the closed session, he said, Ainsworth and Bookhammer voted in favor of buying the land, while Lambert, York and Andersen voted against it.

In an earlier interview, Lambert said she argued against the purchase because she thought the crime in the neighborhood made the site unsuitable for a senior housing project.

In December, 1986, Olin Lambert negotiated the purchase of the land for Vujicic, who paid $350,000 for the lot. Olin Lambert and Vujicic both say Lambert received no commission on the sale.

Vujicic eventually built a 30-unit apartment complex on the site. In December, he began to rent the two- and three-bedroom apartments for $850 and $1,085 a month.