Holden Wants L.A. to Pay for Defense Lawyer : City Council: He says city should cover his costs in sex harassment case because alleged incidents stem from official duties. Colleagues say they don’t like the request but aren’t sure they can deny it.

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden has asked the city to provide him with a lawyer, at taxpayers’ expense, to defend him against sexual harassment charges.

Holden told the City Council in a private session Wednesday that the city is obligated to hire a lawyer for him because the harassment allegations, leveled by former aides, stem from his employment with the city.

Several council members said they are troubled by the request but that they are uncertain whether they legally can deny it. After failing to reach a decision, the council authorized the city attorney’s office to try to work out an arrangement with the privately funded lawyer who has handled Holden’s case so far.

An attorney representing one of three women accusing Holden of sexual harassment called the councilman’s request “an absolute outrage.”

“This is an effort on the councilman’s part to have the citizens subsidize his wrongdoing,” said Melanie Lomax, who is representing former Holden aide Carla Cavalier. “He alone has to be responsible for his defense.”

Holden was accused in 1992 and early this year by three former aides of sexual harassment for incidents that allegedly occurred at City Hall and elsewhere. Cavalier and former aide Marlee Beyda have filed lawsuits against the councilman, while a complaint by a third aide, Connie Collins, is pending before a state agency.

The women have cited a variety of unwanted advances by Holden, ranging from ogling and suggestive comments to lewd acts.

Holden has denied the allegations and said they were politically motivated. He said Lomax had helped trump up the cases to thwart his bid for mayor because she was angry that Holden missed a council vote in which she failed to win confirmation to a city commission.

Holden’s attorney, Tim Agajanian, said the state Government Code requires government agencies to provide legal defenses for employees who are sued as a result of on-the-job activities.

Holden declined to comment Wednesday but Agajanian said: “This is a routine issue the city faces and they have a duty to defend their employees.”

“Sexual harassment would certainly not be within the scope of his responsibilities but that is not the question,” Agajanian said. “The question is, did this happen because he was performing his duties as a councilman? And it did.”

Because the city was named as a co-defendant in the Cavalier lawsuit, it is in the interests of the city to help mount Holden’s defense, Agajanian said.

The city attorney’s office declined to discuss the matter but one attorney in the office said, “We defend the vast majority of our employees when they get sued.”

Exceptions can be made, however, if it is determined that the employee’s actions were “conduct beyond the scope of employment” or involved “malice, corruption or fraud,” the attorney said. Some police officers have been denied legal representation, for example, when the city determined that they committed particularly egregious acts while on duty.

Several council members expressed displeasure during Wednesday’s closed session at the notion of having to pay for Holden’s defense.

“There is an intense aversion to being involved in something like this,” said one member, who asked not to be identified. “It was clear from the discussion there are a number of people who are going to have a hard time defending him under any circumstances.”

Council members said they are concerned that Holden’s defense could be costly because he is being sued by the two women and by one of their attorneys, who has accused Holden of slander.

But several lawmakers who oppose paying for Holden’s lawyer said that they are in a quandary because they have no independent method of determining whether Holden committed acts outside the scope of his job. Unlike the police and other employees, council members are not subject to disciplinary reviews that might provide the facts needed to deny legal representation.

Some of the lawmakers recommended that the council in the future be given the power to investigate members accused of wrongdoing.

In the meantime, the council is seeking a compromise. It might offer, for example, to pay Holden’s legal fees only if he is cleared of improprieties.