State Drops Inquiry in Racism Charges Against Elks Lodge

A state civil rights investigation into allegations that the Van Nuys Elks Lodge discriminated against black applicants has been dropped because the lodge’s secretiveness hindered the investigation and because it admitted two blacks, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.

The state attorney general’s investigation found no evidence of racial discrimination, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Louis Verdugo, who conducted the nine-month investigation of the 260-member fraternal organization.

Officers of the Elks Lodge say the result vindicated the lodge, but Verdugo said the probe was severely hampered by the organization’s secretiveness.

“Nobody would talk to us,” he said.

Fewer than half a dozen lodge members agreed to talk to investigators, and the group would not provide a membership list, Verdugo said.

“They take an oath of secrecy as to what goes on when those doors are closed. That’s part and parcel of who they are: a secret society. It’s hard to even get names of members,” Verdugo said.

State investigators could have used subpoena power to compel lodge members to talk. But that probably would have been a time-consuming process, he said, and it would have been moot after the club admitted its first black member, Ben Harvey, in January.

A second black man, Clarence Reese, was admitted later.

The admission of the two men would have made it difficult to prove a pattern of discrimination as required by state law, Verdugo said. “The bottom line is, you have two blacks that got in.”

In addition, the state was unable to find evidence that the group was a business organization, which is needed to give the attorney general’s office jurisdiction. The Unruh Civil Rights Act, passed in 1959 by the California Legislature, prohibits discrimination in business practices.

“We were unable to get that kind of information. The people we did contact said there was no business transacted. They call themselves a private club,” said Verdugo. “We’re talking about a lot of older people, not the Who’s Who of the business community of Van Nuys,” Verdugo said.

The lodge was accused of racism in September for refusing to admit two other black applicants--the Rev. Jules S. Bagneris III, 29, an unsuccessful Los Angeles City Council candidate, and Thomas J. Montgomery, 68, a retired state Department of Motor Vehicles examiner. Montgomery was again rejected in two subsequent efforts to join the group.

At the time, some lodge members blamed the rejection of the two men on the involvement of state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), who nominated them.

“We are not a racist organization. We’re an organization of male American citizens that believe in God,” said the lodge’s former exalted ruler, John Pulskamp, when asked about the dropped investigation.

“There was nothing there for them to find. The result is what would have been expected by any reasonable person.”

But Bagneris, reached by telephone Wednesday, said: “This does not vindicate the lodge. There is still a strong tide of racism that runs deep, and it is going to be many years before it is done away with.”

“It’s too bad that the wall in Berlin can come down, but the wall of bigotry in Van Nuys is still standing,” Montgomery said.

“I think there wasn’t very much effort on the part of the AG’s office. I think racism is rampant in the Elks in Van Nuys. I think they handpicked two blacks that really are not interested in integrating that lodge, they simply were handpicked to be a cover-up, protecting racism in that lodge.”

“The result of the investigation doesn’t make anybody real happy--except maybe the Elks,” Verdugo said, adding, “If people are able to provide us with more evidence, we’re certainly willing to go forward.”