Bradley to Pay Fine for Role in Contract : Settlement: Mayor unintentionally violated law in awarding of job to a contributor, FPPC says.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley has agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for illegally participating in a decision to give a contract to a political contributor, state officials announced Friday.

The settlement, which is expected to be approved by the state Fair Political Practices Commission next month, concludes a year-old investigation of decisions involving Bradley when he served as chairman of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission in 1987.

The fine is similar to one levied in July against Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo, who illegally voted to give a political donor a contract while serving on the transit panel.

Bradley’s fine is a result of failing to properly disclose $1,800 in contributions from Gruen Associates, a consulting firm, when he participated in a decision to award the firm a contract to study a controversial San Fernando Valley trolley line.

The FPPC imposed relatively light fines on Bradley and Woo after concluding that their violations were unintentional. The FPPC also found that the transportation commission lacked adequate procedures to alert members to potential legal conflicts involving contractors.

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said that Bradley has “initiated steps to rectify this (transportation commission) oversight.”

The state Political Reform Act imposes special anti-favoritism requirements on commission members, including a ban on voting on matters involving political contributors who have given members $250 or more in the previous 12 months.

The investigation began after The Times reported that Bradley and other prominent transportation commissioners had collected nearly $600,000 in campaign contributions from commission contractors and that, in some cases, the state law was being violated.

Bradley and Woo quickly returned nearly $20,000 in contributions from several contractors after inquiries from The Times.