Outside Review Sought in Chamber Bias Inquiry

Representatives of three community and employment groups want an outside review of a Chamber of Commerce investigation of the chamber’s chief executive officer.

Representatives of the local chapters of the NAACP and the YWCA, as well as the 225-member Pasadena Black Municipal Employees Assn. and some independent business managers, questioned a chamber decision to use its own counsel to look into charges of discrimination and sexual harassment against chamber director Bruce Ackerman.

Attorney Carolyn Carlberg, the chamber’s counsel, is looking into allegations that Ackerman bypassed contract employee Allison Bedell, who is black, instead promoting a less experienced white woman to a management job at the chamber.

Bedell and others also have charged that Ackerman has displayed favoritism toward a close circle of friends on the chamber staff--mostly young, attractive women--and that he sexually harassed employees. Ackerman has denied the charges.

“While the community has every hope that Ms. Carlberg will live up to her excellent reputation, we believe it is imperative that the chamber ask one representative each from the YWCA and the local chapter of the NAACP to be included in review of her findings and in framing recommended action,” businesswoman Katherine Luna said at a press conference last week.

A review of the findings will ensure that “the issue isn’t swept under the rug,” Luna said.

But chamber Chairman Steve Ralph said the executive board of the 1,700-member organization has no plans to open Carlberg’s investigation to public scrutiny.

“This is an internal personnel matter, not an open investigation,” he said.

Carlberg, who has been working on the investigation for more than two weeks, said her ongoing business relationship with the chamber would not affect her objectivity. “Facts are facts,” she said. “I can’t change them.”

She added that the controversy that has arisen around the issue will prolong her investigation, which she now expects to conclude by the end of October. “The list of witnesses has grown considerably since I was retained,” she said.

Bedell has filed a grievance charging that she was denied a promotion for discriminatory reasons. She charged that Ackerman had promoted a personal friend, a white woman, as the chamber’s membership manager, despite Bedell’s superior qualifications.

Bedell and others said that Membership Manager Kary Garner had stayed briefly at Ackerman’s home and that her experience before coming to the chamber was as a cocktail waitress.

But Garner and Ackerman said last week that she had never stayed at his home. Garner also said she had extensive experience in recruiting new members to the chamber, including 3 1/2 years as a contract salesperson, before being promoted last year.

Current and former employees have charged that Ackerman coerced female employees to share hotel rooms with him on business trips and that he has caressed and massaged some women in job situations. Most of those making the charges have asked that their names be withheld.

Ackerman denied the allegations, although he said he could not comment fully because they involved personnel matters. “There have been some absolutely false statements,” Ackerman said. “I wish I could talk about it further.”

Representatives of the community groups said they would not pass judgment until the investigation is concluded. “We just want to make sure the chamber is aware that this won’t simply go away with a mere investigation and no action,” said Prentice Deadrick, head of the black city employees.

“Decisions need to be made by people who are a bit more removed from the chamber,” added Carol Bridges, executive director of the Pasadena-Foothill YWCA. “We feel we can help to facilitate that.”