Melanie Lomax’s Appointment

The purpose of this letter is to point out certain errors and a misimpression which were created in your story on my appointment to the Los Angeles Police Commission (“Bradley Names Activist to Sit on Police Panel,” Metro, Nov. 14).

First of all, I did not “give” $27,000 to Mayor Tom Bradley between 1985 and the present time. I raised those funds by hosting fund-raisers, more than half of which came from many citizens who were very interested in Bradley’s 1986 race for governor and believed in the viability of his candidacy.

I might point out that I was also able to raise the same amount for Dianne Feinstein this year in her race to be the first woman governor of California by hosting two fund-raisers for her.

Second, Tom Bradley does not engage in political payoffs. All of my life I have known him to be a person of unquestionable ethics and integrity despite the political efforts in the last year to characterize him as otherwise.

I did not raise funds for the purpose of seeking special consideration, nor was any special consideration received. My appointment to the Police Commission was the result of Mayor Bradley’s confidence in my abilities, my clear record of community involvement for the last 10 years, my interest in police services (a subject that I have written about extensively) andmy civil rights background and legal expertise.

Third, the statement in the story that I characterized myself as a “shotgun” was inaccurate. I specifically told the interviewer that the statement was made by another in reaction to my appointment to the Police Commission. It was inaccurately quoted as being a self-description. I do not perceive myself as a “shotgun,” nor would I describe myself in that manner.

During the conversation I had regarding my family history with Tom Bradley, I spoke about my mother’s friendship with the mayor that went back 55 years, the fact that my father and the mayor both started second careers and attended law school together in the mid-1950s, and the fact that the mayor wrote letters of recommendations for me to get into college and law school.

Anyone who wants to consider my anecdotal story about my grandfather and the events that took place 10 years before I was born, in the early 1940s, as a negative reflection on me, is simply silly. My grandfather has been dead for 30 years and the events reported in that story occurred not less than 45 years ago. I thought and still think that it was an interesting footnote.

MELANIE E. LOMAX

Los Angeles