Bradley Condemns Racist ‘Hysteria’ of Green Line Debate : Transit: He denounces politicians for stirring an anti-Japanese furor. Two councilmen respond that the mayor is the one who injected race into issue.

Mayor Tom Bradley on Thursday lashed out against local politicians who “fueled dangerous hysteria” against Japanese during the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission’s debate over Sumitomo Corp.’s contract to build trains for the Metro Green Line.

In a speech before about 100 community leaders from diverse ethnic, religious and civil rights groups, Bradley said “media hungry” politicians “descended to the gutter level of politics with their mindless criticism of Japanese companies.” The mayor called on Los Angeles residents to stand against all forms of racial hatred.

Bradley’s speech drew immediate and angry replies from Los Angeles City Councilmen Joel Wachs and Zev Yaroslavsky, who strongly opposed giving the $121.8-million contract to Japanese-owned Sumitomo Corp. of America and successfully urged the commission to cancel it.

“What the mayor did this morning was despicable,” Wachs said during a press conference after the speech. “The Sumitomo contract is not about racism. It’s about keeping desperately needed jobs in Los Angeles, and the only elected official who has really made this a matter of racism is Tom Bradley himself.”

Calling Bradley “hypocritical” and “disingenuous,” Yaroslavsky, a potential mayoral candidate, said he has been falsely accused of racism for challenging the Green Line contract.

Although Bradley did not directly name Wachs and Yaroslavsky in his speech, the mayor singled out a hot line, which Wachs set up on the issue, as a receptacle for “bigoted responses.” Wachs said only a fraction of about 500 calls were racially insulting.

Bradley said he is “deeply saddened” by anti-Japan comments made in Los Angeles during the debate and said “some have turned frustration over the national recession into tirades against another country and its people.”

Last month’s reversal of plans to have Sumitomo build the trains came amid a national and local political climate that included President George Bush’s trade trip to Japan, the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and a plunging local economy.

An American firm supported by Bradley, Morrison-Knudsen, had made a lower bid, but lost because it was deemed by transportation officials to be less experienced.

The commission not only canceled the Sumitomo contract, but decided to re-examine its overall decision to use driverless cars. That was a blow to Bradley, who has long supported such technology.

Wach and Yaroslavsky were leaders in the campaign against the costlier Sumitomo contract and argued that contracts should be awarded to a firm that would provide local jobs. They were also critical of the panel’s decision to use driverless cars because of their high cost and complex technology.

The two councilmen viewed Bradley’s speech as an attempt to defuse public criticism of his support of the driverless technology.

“The mayor is trying to inoculate himself for a horrible, embarrassing decision by accusing his critics of racism,” Yaroslavsky said.

In his speech, Bradley described himself as a man “who has suffered racism.” He said he was deeply saddened by the anti-Japan comments made in Los Angeles during the Green Line debate and had received numerous racist letters and phone calls.

As an example, the mayor held up a drawing by a schoolchild that said, “Americans, yes! Japanese, No! Vote Again! Before the Japanese Bomb the U.S.A. again!” The letter was sent by an elementary teacher who asked children to express their thoughts on the controversy. Many of the letters, Bradley said, expressed anti-Japanese feelings.

“I am determined that the world not view the termination of Sumitomo’s contract as an endorsement of prejudice,” Bradley said, reading from his six-page speech titled “Uncovering Bigotry: Fighting Racial Hatred in Los Angeles.”

He also spoke out against the “callous Japanese politicians” who “slandered American workers,” a reference to comments by Japanese leaders, including House Speaker Yoshio Sakurauchi, who said American employees are lazy.

Speaking of local jobs and the rail contract, Bradley said “the real question must be: What company will transfer its technology to local firms, so that our companies can compete around the world?”

Japanese-American community leaders in attendance praised the mayor’s stance and said it will have a healing effect on a recent upswing in Japan-bashing.

“It’s an important step for a major official in this country to make such a statement and take the position he did,” said Jimmy Tokeshi, regional director of the Japanese-American Citizens League, a civil rights group. “I hope this is a first unifying step.”