Lobbyists Gave the Green Line a Mighty Push : Transit: The heavyweight consultants and lawyers included ex-Gov. George Deukmejian. They swarmed around the high-stakes decision to go ahead with the system.

A heavyweight constellation of lobbyists and lawyers--including former Gov. George Deukmejian--swarmed around the high-stakes decision this week by Los Angeles transit officials to press ahead with driverless train technology on the third leg of the county’s new mass transit system.

Citing limited benefits and soaring costs, the staff of the county Transportation Commission had recommended that officials abandon automated cars on the proposed $886-million Norwalk-to-LAX Green Line--which has been touted as the first system of its kind in the United States.

But Mayor Tom Bradley on Wednesday personally intervened to rally commission supporters of the driverless vehicles; and the panel, by an 8-3 vote, reaffirmed its commitment to the pioneering technology, despite warnings that a $67-million cost overrun could jeopardize construction of other transit lines.

Lobbying hard to keep the driverless system alive with an array of well-connected consultants and law firms were the two finalists bidding for the $120-million rail car contract--Sumitomo Corp. of America and Morrison Knudsen Corp.

First-ranked Sumitomo’s team includes Deukmejian, who monitored the commission debate from the audience Wednesday; consultant-lobbyist Fran Savitch, a former City Hall aide and longtime confidante of the mayor; consultant Barna Szabo, who served 14 years on the commission, and city parks commissioner Dominick Rubalcava.

Morrison Knudsen’s team included lobbyist Maureen Kindel, Bradley’s leading political fund-raiser; attorney George Kieffer, of the prominent Democratic firm of Manatt Phelps Rothenberg & Phillips, and Peter Ueberroth, a Morrison Knudsen director and czar of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

“It was sort of the day of heavy hitters,” said commission member Gerry Hertzberg, representing county Supervisor Gloria Molina.

The meeting was the culmination of weeks of maneuvering by the two firms and their representatives to gain the upper hand in what could be a crucial contract that would give car suppliers an advantage in hundreds of millions of dollars in future contracts.

The phone calls and meetings with commissioners intensified after the staff, several days ago, made a surprise reversal and recommended dropping the high-tech rail car proposals. They also urged the commission to cut costs by seeking new bids for manually operated trains such as those on the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach Blue Line, which opened last year.

Doing so, the staff said, would keep the project within budget.

Among those working the commissioners were Szabo, Kindel and Morrison-Knudsen CEO William Agee. Agee said he believed Ueberroth had been very helpful, although he was not sure whom he may have contacted.

“Clearly there was lots and lots of lobbying,” Hertzberg said.

Deukmejian and Kieffer said in interviews that they handle only legal work and did not lobby any commissioners.

Commissioner Jacki Bacharach said the growing presence of lobbyists and high-powered lawyers in transit politics is an unwelcome trend for the agency, whose multibillion-dollar, 30-year mass transit program is among the largest public works projects in U.S. history.

“It’s becoming more and more intense,” she said. “I don’t think they are needed. . . . I’d like to get back to hearing” from the bidders themselves.

Both of the lawyer-lobbyist teams praised Bradley’s intervention.

“We were very pleased with that,” said Szabo, of the Sumitomo side, who had discussions with Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani before the mayor’s statement.

Agee, of Morrison Knudsen, said he had met Bradley and spoke with him personally.

Bradley’s aides said the mayor was primarily concerned about two issues: creating rail system manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles and preserving the state-of-the-art technology previously approved.

In unusual moves Wednesday, the mayor issued a press release praising an 11th-hour commitment by Morrison Knudsen to set up a rail car assembly plant in Los Angeles, possibly at a closed General Motors plant.

Sumitomo later followed suit with a similar commitment and Bradley, a commission member, made an unusual personal appearance at the Wednesday meeting to lead the fight to keep driverless cars.

In a partial victory for second-ranked Morrison Knudsen, the commission agreed to have another final round of negotiating before the contract is awarded.

Bradley aides said the press release and the mayor’s action, while appearing to boost Morrison Knudsen by giving it a second chance, was not intended to favor either bidder.

Bradley told reporters Wednesday that “it’s a question of having the finest technology. . . . I don’t want people in the year 2000 to be riding the train and wondering what the commission did and why didn’t they get the latest.”

But others, including Hertzberg, said the high costs of the driverless trains are simply not justified.

“To the average Joe Rider who gets on automated or non-automated trains, they will not know the difference,” he said, adding that the trains will not run noticeably faster or more frequently.

As for the increased trend in lobbying, Bacharach said commissioners are discussing ways to control it, including possibly establishing lobbying regulations like those approved for L.A. City Hall.