Taxpayers Get Stuck With Bill for Politicians’ Bad Behavior : Spending: Legal doctrine holds the government responsible for conduct that occurs in the course of an employee’s duties. And that means the county ends up paying when they are sued.

There was the state senator who insulted attorney Gloria Allred. She sued--and the taxpayers paid.

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden was accused of harassing staff members. They sued--and taxpayers are paying for his defense.

Now there’s Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who telephoned a judge handling a lawsuit against a campaign contributor. The other guy sued and Thursday won just over $1.2 million from the county and the other defendants in the case.

Guess who could wind up paying the tab?

County taxpayers, of course, much to the ire of the supervisor’s political foes.

“I can’t believe that Supervisor Antonovich is going to make the taxpayers pay $1.2 million for what was essentially a personal phone call on behalf of his friend,” Supervisor Gloria Molina said Friday, adding that she plans to raise the issue at Tuesday’s board meeting. “He should offer to pay it out of his political fund.”

“Not only does he take campaign donations and do something unethical, but the taxpayers are going to pay the bill?” asked Lynne Plambeck, one of six challengers who ran against Antonovich last year. “That money could fund the entire nature center system they’re always trying to shut down, or keep libraries open.”

A spokesman for Antonovich said the supervisor believes that the other defendants in the case should pay the damages and he is hoping county attorneys will succeed in overturning the judgment. Antonovich has acknowledged calling the judge, but denies any impropriety.

The reason taxpayers get stuck paying the bill for behavior that seemingly has nothing to do with politicians’ elected duties lies in a legal doctrine that protects government employees and elected officials, county attorneys said.

The doctrine holds the government liable for any conduct that occurs within the course and scope of an employee or politician’s official duties.

So, when former state Sen. John Schmitz called Allred a “slick butch lawyeress” in a 1981 press release, the government paid her $20,000. Allred called the settlement of the libel suit a “state subsidy for bigotry.”

In Holden’s case, taxpayers could end up paying any damages assessed against the city councilman for allegedly sexually harassing three former aides. The city is paying his legal fees, but if he loses the case, he will become responsible for them. Holden vehemently denies the accusations.

Even in egregious cases--for instance, if an off-duty sheriff’s deputy were to rape someone, flashing his badge beforehand--the county could be held liable, according to case law on the issue.

The doctrine “is a very liberal, broad-based concept,” said Principal Deputy County Counsel J. Patrick Joyce, who represented the county and Antonovich in the civil suit that resulted in an award of $1,205,000 in compensatory damages Thursday to the plaintiff, Avedis Kasparian.

The suit names the campaign contributor, Krikor Suri, Jak Sukyas, Western Jewelry Mart Joint Venture and its partners. It alleges that Antonovich telephoned Judge Eric Younger almost five years ago on behalf of Suri and his partners, whose jewelry business was being sued by Kasparian.

A Superior Court jury last week found in favor of Kasparian.

By legal agreement among the parties, all the defendants in the case, except Antonovich, are responsible for paying the compensatory damages. In exchange for assuming Antonovich’s liability for compensatory damages, the county, which is self-insured, is exempt from any punitive damages.

Joyce said the county agreed to assume Antonovich’s liability because it would have been forced to do so anyway under the “course and scope” doctrine. Punitive damages could have been in the millions because they would have been based on a reasonable percentage of the county’s net worth.

During the fiscal year 1992-93, the county spent $39.8 million to settle litigation and pay damages.

Joyce said the county may wind up owing nothing to Kasparian because the county plans to appeal the case and ask the judge to reduce the damages. And if the judgment stands, the county plans to sue the other defendants--including Western Jewelry Mart--to force them to pay the damages, he said.

“I’m going to try to prevent the taxpayers from paying a single dollar,” Joyce said.

But Joyce acknowledged that the county could wind up footing the bill because Western Jewelry Mart declared bankruptcy earlier this week.