Ministers Sever Relations With Group’s Adviser : Politics: The activist was paid to work for Bernardi’s reelection, but the fellowship wants to avoid a conflict of interest.

Citing a conflict of interest, the Ministers’ Fellowship of the Greater San Fernando Valley has severed its ties with a key member after learning he was paid to work on Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi’s 1989 reelection campaign.

Fred Taylor, a well-known community activist, will no longer serve as political adviser to the fellowship because the organization was worried about perceptions that its political support could be “bought and sold,” said the Rev. James V. Lyles, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Pacoima and president of the group.

The group had endorsed Bernardi in the 1989 campaign. Bernardi’s campaign paid Taylor $3,000 for campaign work, campaign records show.

Some members of the fellowship, which represents 40 predominantly black congregations in the Valley, also were concerned that they did not know Bernardi’s campaign had hired Taylor, Lyles said. Taylor and Lyles both said the money went to Taylor and had nothing to do with the ministers group.

The fellowship learned of the payment in the last two months as allegations spread that the group had been paid for its endorsement. The accusation was used as ammunition by community members critical of the fellowship.

The ministers are in a bitter dispute with the lawmaker over what they say is his failure to live up to a campaign promise. Fellowship members contend that Bernardi promised to hire a black staff deputy based upon recommendations made by the group in exchange for their support during the last election. The ministers say without their support the councilman, who was facing a runoff, would have lost.

Instead, Bernardi selected Richard Packard, head of the Valley chapter of the Black Americans Political Organization, who was not recommended by the group and who was hired as a field representative, not a deputy.

Bernardi has said he promised only to give “consideration” to any candidates put forward by the group.

At a meeting last Saturday, the fellowship was criticized by some community leaders for attacking Bernardi. The message of that meeting was that the “ministers should stay in their pulpit,” said Marie Harris, head of the Pacoima Property Owners Assn. and a staunch Bernardi backer.

The question of Bernardi’s payments also was addressed at the session, Harris said. After the meeting, the fellowship met privately and “Taylor agreed to step aside as assistant to the president,” Lyles said.

Lyles and Taylor said the break was not acrimonious and that they will continue to work together.

“There’s not a conflict” of interest, Taylor said. “There’s a perception of a conflict. I’m glad that it’s being done. I think it will be better for everyone in the long run.” Taylor also said he never made an announcement about his role in the Bernardi campaign, but many ministers were aware. Taylor joined the ministers’ group in 1984. Since that time he had served as a non-voting adviser on political and community issues. He also heads his own organization known as Focus 90 and serves on the board of directors of the Northeast Valley Improvement Assn. In the past, Taylor has worked on the campaigns of Mike Antonovich, Bob Thurnson and is well known for his political activities.

For his work on the Bernardi campaign, Taylor’s firm, Taymac Creative Communications, was given $3,000, with $2,500 of that amount being paid on May 30, according to Bernardi’s campaign reports and a canceled check Bernardi showed The Times.

Taylor said the fellowship voted to endorse Bernardi five to six weeks before the June 6 election.

Taylor said Friday that his role with the ministers was to provide information about each of the candidates and not to influence their endorsement. Last winter, however, Taylor told The Times he was responsible for gaining the group’s endorsement for Bernardi by convincing the ministers that they needed to support a candidate with seniority.

Bernardi said his campaign payments to Taylor were not intended to buy the endorsement. Instead, he told The Times the money was paid in return for Taylor’s agreement to print and distribute 25,000 flyers boosting his candidacy. A May 26, 1989, letter from Taylor to Bernardi outlines the agreement.

“That’s the only thing we were buying as far as I am concerned,” Bernardi said.

Bernardi said the initial contact came from Taylor. “Fred Taylor came to us, we didn’t go to him,” Bernardi said. Taylor said he “could deliver the black vote” and that it was expected the flyers would “target the black community,” Bernardi said.

The councilman said Taylor initially requested “$3,000 and no strings attached” on how the money would be spent to help his campaign. Bernardi said he rejected Taylor’s proposal, telling him that if he wanted no strings attached he should raise pro-Bernardi money himself and run an independent campaign.

Taylor said he did not ask for the money with “no strings attached.” He said he supplied an itemized list of activities he planned to carry out on behalf of the candidate.

“I’m a political consultant and have been since 1968,” Taylor said. “That was a fee that was paid to do certain things for the Bernardi campaign.”

Taylor also said Bernardi was using the money issue to undercut the fellowship’s claim that Bernardi owes it a voice in the appointment of a black deputy.

Taylor and Lyles said they believe Bernardi said at a meeting July 27 that he donated money to the ministers group in exchange for their support. But neither Taylor or Lyles said they heard Bernardi make the statement.

Bernardi could not be reached Friday to respond to the charge. But Harris, who attended the meeting--held to discuss the dispute over the appointment of Packard--said she heard no such statement.

Bernardi’s campaign reports also show a $250 contribution to the Greater Community Baptist Church for a dinner during the 1989 campaign season. The pastor of Greater Community is the Rev. D.D. Chatman, a fellowship member.