Bradley to Urge Probe of Cash Offer to Official
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said Friday that he would “encourage the appropriate legal agencies” to investigate the circumstances surrounding a $3,000 gift given to one of his top aides--who immediately returned the money--by a group with ties to a company that does business with the city.
Rose Ochi, head of the mayor’s criminal justice planning office, received $3,000 inside a scarf given to her by a Japanese/American friendship foundation, said Bill Chandler, Bradley’s press secretary. A vice president for the Nippon Electric Corp., which has sold millions of dollars of computers to the city, is president of the friendship foundation.
Ochi was on vacation in Japan last spring when she received the gift, Chandler said. But she did not inform the mayor until earlier this week, after a Virginia newspaper reported that the foundation had attempted to make cash gifts to others on the trip.
The Los Angeles Police Department has not yet determined whether to launch an investigation, Lt. John Dunkin said. Ochi could not be reached for comment.
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