Harassment Claims Against Holden Met With Skepticism : Politics: Defenders raise some of the same issues cited by backers of Clarence Thomas against Anita Hill’s accusations.

Muhammad Mubarak read about the latest sexual harassment charges against Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden Thursday over a plate of eggs and rice at the Boulevard Cafe, a popular restaurant in the Crenshaw district.

“It seems like everybody is trying to tear his reputation apart,” Mubarak said as he shook his head in weariness and disgust. “The message to me is they are trying to undermine his election for mayor.”

A few tables away, Clinton Madison, a 52-year-old clergyman who used to live in Holden’s 10th Council District, had similar thoughts.

“They’re ganging up on him,” Madison said, referring to Holden.

Neither Mubarak, a 40-year-old artist, nor Madison considers himself a Holden fan, but both found themselves defending the embattled councilman, who since last fall has been accused by three women of repeatedly making improper and lewd advances toward them while they worked for him.

The latest allegations came this week in a $3.1-million claim against the city filed by a former aide who contends that Holden groped her and promised her job advancement in exchange for sexual favors. Holden, who has vehemently denied the allegations, is among a large field of announced candidates who hope to replace Tom Bradley when he retires this year.

Of nearly two dozen people interviewed about the sexual harassment allegations Thursday, many agreed that Holden has been attacked unjustly to undermine his bid for mayor. Others said they will suspend judgment until the allegations are resolved in court.

The responses gave credibility to the view that the accusations against Holden may not be a significant political liability in his campaign for mayor.

“I think its wrong to assume that he’s got to drop out of the (mayoral) race and withdraw,” said Kerman Maddox, a prominent community activist. “I haven’t heard of any movement that is saying ‘He’s got to step down. He’s got to go.’ ”

One woman who was interviewed Thursday acknowledged that Holden might be guilty as accused, but she nevertheless contended that sexual harassment charges, even if proved, should not bar him from public office.

“Some of our best leaders cheated on their wives or chased women,” said Michelle Jones, 31, a television writer from the Wilshire district. “It doesn’t affect his ability to run for office.”

Among African-Americans in particular, Maddox and others said, there are questions about the timing of the accusations against Holden, who is black, about the credibility of his accusers and about why they waited months before coming forward with their stories.

Carla Cavalier, 32, made the first allegations last October. She said she waited six months after she resigned as a Holden field deputy because her case was repeatedly rejected by lawyers who she said were afraid of offending a city councilman.

After Cavalier filed a $500,000 complaint with state Fair Housing and Employment officials and Holden attacked her as a liar, Connie Collins, 30, another former aide who had left his office months earlier, also filed a complaint with the state.

The woman who filed the $3.1-million claim this week, Marlee Beyta, 28, left Holden’s office four months ago. She filed a $10-million suit Thursday claiming Holden had defamed her by stating that she and her lawyer, Jack O’Donnell, had tried to extort a $250,000 settlement from him in exchange from dropping the claim, O’Donnell said. Los Angeles police said they investigated Holden’s claim and found that it was not true.

“They should have a statute of limitations on (sexual harassment claims),” said Armistice Clemons, 62, a retired auto worker from the Westside, “and if they haven’t filed charges in six months from the time they were harassed, they shouldn’t be able to.”

The same sort of issue was raised about Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill, who came under attack in some quarters in 1991 when she accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who also is black, of sexually harassing her when she worked for him 10 years earlier.

Bishop E. Lynn Brown, an official of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and a vocal defender of Holden, has described the allegations against the councilman as a “high-tech lynching.” Thomas used the exact phrase to describe Hill’s allegations against him and the investigation they spawned.

It is partly because of the bitter controversy over the Hill case that some seem reluctant to condemn Holden and why some refuse to believe women who make sexually related accusations, contended Denise Fairchild, an urban planner who ran against the councilman for the 10th District seat in 1987.

Fairchild said that when Cavalier’s allegations were made public, she tried unsuccessfully to form a group of women to support those who made the accusations and to provide an atmosphere of fairness for Holden and Cavalier.

Melanie Lomax, the lawyer who represents Cavalier and whom Holden has accused of spearheading a politically motivated campaign against him, contended that sympathy for the councilman is not the chief reason some people do not side with his accusers.

“Our whole experience in this case has been that because we are dealing with a city councilman who is still in office, the fear level is high,” Lomax said. “There is an intimidation factor and (an) unwillingness to say things.”