Rose Parade Group Gets a New Look : Tournament: The organization brings in new recruits, 48% minority and 46% female.

The besieged Tournament of Roses this week moved to counter charges that it runs an exclusive club for white men, while the Pasadena City Council unanimously voted to hire a former California Supreme Court justice to lead an investigation into the tournament’s operations.

Under fire for alleged exclusionary membership practices, the tournament on Tuesday presented 107 new members in a welcoming ceremony at the Tournament House. The group of new members--48% minority and 46% female--is the largest and most diverse in the organization’s 105-year history.

Tournament officials said they do not know the ethnic or gender makeup of the total 935-member organization, which includes the new members. The private organization runs the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl Game.

“It’s going to be a much better organization, with the feeling in the community that all these people are working together,” said Michael E. Ward, the tournament’s vice president. “Hopefully, we can dispel some of the rumors that we are against diversity.”

Ward said tournament officials hadn’t realized until last year that minorities felt excluded from membership and intimidated by the application process. Women and minorities always have been welcome, he said.

But Councilman Isaac Richard, a staunch critic of the tournament’s recruitment practices, said the effort was “too little, too late.”

“A few token members will have to percolate through an archaic, closed system,” Richard said. “The gesture is an insult to the intelligence of my community.”

Said new member S.H. Wen, a Hong Kong native: “Opening up is one thing. Are they going to change is another.”

The tournament has been under attack for its recruitment policies since October, 1991, when a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus was named grand marshal of the 1992 Rose Parade. The choice was widely criticized for being insensitive to American Indians, whose ancestors were killed by disease and violence with the arrival in the New World of the Spanish conquistadors. Tournament officials hastily added a second grand marshal, then-Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.), an American Indian. Campbell has since been elected to the U.S. Senate.

The grand marshal issue sparked a barrage of criticism, much of it directed at the largely white, male makeup of the tournament’s members. In response, the tournament’s Membership Diversity Committee launched a recruiting drive for the first time this year.

Also, two rules changed: The association dropped a requirement that said prospective applicants must have recommendations from two tournament members, and the association amended its bylaws to expand the membership from 875 to 935, creating 60 new positions. Previously, the tournament had accepted new members to fill vacancies created by retirement or death.

Members must be 24 to 55 years old and live or do business within a 15-mile radius of Pasadena City Hall. Candidates are evaluated on their applications, written recommendations and volunteer activities. Annual dues are $40.

Criticism of the tournament has spiraled beyond its membership practices.

Just four hours before the new members ceremony, the City Council voted to hire Cruz Reynoso to review the tournament’s contracts and leases. A Pasadena law firm will be selected to work with Reynoso, an associate state Supreme Court Justice from 1982-87 and now a UCLA Law School professor.

Reynoso is also expected to look at the tournament’s hiring practices. Minority leaders have charged that the city allows the tournament to ignore minority hiring and subcontracting requirements. Tournament officials have agreed to accept an affirmative-action clause to its contract with the city.

The council hired Los Angeles accountants Simpson and Simpson to review the financial structure of the relationship between the city and tournament.

The tournament is in the ninth year of a 25-year contract with Pasadena that outlines how profits and costs for the New Year’s Day activities are shared with the city. Critics have charged that the city provides free services to the tournament without getting a fair share of the New Year’s Day profits.

This year, the tournament turned over $1.2 million in profits to the city, while the city contributed $921,158 in expenses, tournament Assistant Executive Director William Flinn said. In addition, the tournament donated $800,000 for a refurbished press box at the Rose Bowl stadium, which is owned by the city, he said.

The council voted to ask the tournament to help pay for the investigation, which is expected to cost about $40,000.

Ward, the tournament’s vice president, said he was unaware of the council’s request and could not respond yet. But he said the tournament welcomed the audit.

“We feel that it will help clear the air,” he said.

Reynoso, who was appointed recently to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said he is looking forward to the investigation.

“I have followed the evolution of the Tournament of Roses since I was a youngster,” said Reynoso, an Orange County native. “I would hate to have (its reputation) jeopardized.”

Reynoso said it is too early to discuss the scope or direction of his investigation. No deadline has been set yet.

Councilman Chris Holden excused himself from the vote and discussion on the tournament, at the advice of the Fair Political Practices Commission. Holden said he mistakenly had accepted about $450 in free parade and football games from the tournament this year, $200 more than the legal limit. City Attorney Victor Kaleta called his attention to the matter, Holden said.