Panel Criticizes Harassment Probe, Reinstates City Clerk

The Los Angeles Civil Service Commission reinstated Elias (Lee) Martinez to his position as city clerk on Friday and condemned the city for conducting a botched investigation and overzealously firing the longtime employee for unsupported sexual harassment allegations.

But Martinez’s fate remained unclear because two City Council members immediately moved to review the commission vote next week.

As the ruling was handed down, a jubilant Martinez fought back tears and hugged his wife and lawyer. He said he eagerly awaits returning to his $116,000-a-year job in early January.

The commission agreed with an independent hearing examiner who questioned the credibility of several women who accused the clerk of ogling them, making suggestive comments and inappropriately touching one in a sexual manner.

“The last message we want to send is that sexual harassment will be tolerated in any way in this city,” commission President Joe C. Gelman said. “This commission will also not tolerate false, exaggerated claims of sexual harassment that drag a good man through the mud. Who’s going to give him his good name back?”

Martinez’s principal accuser reacted to the news of his reinstatement with resignation and relief. “There’s no hatred,” said the woman, a former clerk’s office employee who has since been switched to another city department. “It’s been going on for years. I’m just glad it’s over. They didn’t believe the women. Life has never been fair.”

Singled out for criticism was Deputy City Atty. Molly Roff-Sheridan, whom commissioners faulted for pressing ahead with a shaky case and inappropriately asking leading questions of witnesses during the 12 days of hearings this summer. Roff-Sheridan’s boss, Senior Assistant City Atty. Frederick Merkin, called that criticism “unfounded and unfair.”

Roff-Sheridan defended the women’s allegations before the commission and sought to have the matter reopened. But the commissioners unanimously rejected her request and voted to overturn the firing. The two other women who filed the allegations could not be reached for comment Friday.

“Welcome back, Mr. Martinez,” Gelman said.

But at the same time, council members Jackie Goldberg and Rita Walters introduced a motion before the council that could bring the matter before that body for review. The council has the authority to overturn the commission’s decision.

“It’s a very serious set of charges that have been made,” said Goldberg, who was not involved in the original decision to fire Martinez. “We have two vastly different interpretations of what happened and we clearly ought to review it.”

The request for a council review of the commission’s action has the potential to further drag out a case that has torn the city’s upper administrators and lingered in the bureaucracy since 1991.

In what Martinez calls an act of political retribution, former Mayor Tom Bradley directed an investigation of allegations against the clerk and later recommended that he be fired. The dispute, according to Martinez, stems from the clerk’s action in 1991 in which he ignored Bradley’s objections and placed a measure on the ballot that reduced the mayor’s power over city commissions. Neither the commission nor its hearing officer addressed that issue in recommending Martinez’s reinstatement.

The allegations against Martinez arose shortly after the dispute with Bradley when a clerk-typist accused Martinez of fondling her on three occasions. Two other women later accused him of creating a sexually charged atmosphere in the clerk’s office by staring at them and asking them suggestive questions.

After months of discussion in closed session, the council upheld the dismissal order in June.

But Martinez appealed, leading to a lengthy hearing before examiner Nancy Lonsdale and Friday’s commission vote.

Whatever the council decides next week, the matter will probably end up in the courts. Martinez has already filed a claim with the city seeking damages, including about $50,000 in legal fees.

Martinez, 55, did not completely escape criticism before the commission.

Commissioner Kerman Maddox said the allegations indicate that Martinez has to improve his management practices, although Maddox said he believed Martinez was railroaded. Commissioner James P. Mulkeen warned Martinez not to seek retribution against any of the accusers.

During his appeal, Martinez acknowledged that he took a clerk-typist into a bar after a staff lunch but he described his intentions as honorable.

The woman charged that Martinez bought her drinks and touched her thigh. Martinez said he took her there to sober up because she had had too much to drink during lunch.

On another occasion, the woman accused Martinez of touching his stocking foot to her leg underneath a luncheon table. Martinez denied the charge and said his legs were too short to have reached her.

The firing of Martinez, a 32-year city employee, was a giant fall for the former City Hall garage attendant who rose through the ranks to one of city government’s most powerful posts.