LOCAL ELECTIONS / 10TH CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT : News Conference Turns Into Argument Between Sanders and Holden

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden and his main political rival, J. Stanley Sanders, heatedly argued Friday on topics ranging from unpaid bills to Daryl F. Gates and sexual harassment in an impromptu verbal brawl in a City Hall corridor.

Sanders, a lawyer and unsuccessful mayoral candidate in 1993, is challenging Holden in one of the city’s most competitive races this year. Also on the April 11 ballot for the 10th District seat is prosecutor Kevin Ross.

Friday’s brawl began as Sanders held a news conference outside Holden’s City Hall office on the fourth anniversary of the police beating of Rodney G. King. Sanders chose the date and site to spotlight what he said had been Holden’s backing of Gates, the former police chief, during the furor that followed the King beating.

But Sanders’ news conference quickly turned into a shouting match when the boisterous Holden emerged from his office and accused his foe of being financially irresponsible.

“They’ll call you ‘Jailhouse Stan Sanders’ before this is over!” Holden shouted at the challenger as one of his City Hall aides videotaped the confrontation.

Holden went on to charge that Sanders was under investigation by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission for possible misuse of campaign funds when he ran for mayor.

The Times has confirmed that the FPPC is investigating whether Sanders improperly used $53,490 in mayoral campaign funds to settle a protracted rent dispute with the real estate company that was leasing space to Sanders for his law office.

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But Sanders has denied that the campaign money was wrongfully used. His law office was transformed into his campaign headquarters in 1993, and thus it was not inappropriate to use campaign funds to pay the rent, Sanders has said.

Holden also attacked Sanders as being irresponsible because of a separate rent dispute the lawyer had with the same landlord, Mid-Wilshire Associates, which ended with a judge ordering Sanders to pay the firm $186,928 in back rent.

“You were evicted from your office!” Holden shouted at Sanders. “You’re a Rhodes scholar and you can’t even pay your rent!”

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Sanders said he would pay these bills out of his own pocket, and then chided Holden for not paying his own bills. He noted that the city has been charged about $300,000 by a lawyer hired to defend Holden against charges he sexually harassed three former female city workers.

Instead of putting these legal costs “on the back of taxpayers,” Holden should be paying them himself, Sanders said.

Sanders also accused the incumbent of being the recipient of laundered campaign contributions, including thousands of dollars illegally given to him by officials for the Los Angeles Marathon.

Although Holden--and a number of other council members--have gotten campaign funds that were later proved to be illegally reported to disguise their true origins, none of the lawmakers have been accused by authorities of wrongdoing.

In his prepared remarks, Sanders said Holden “stood up for the politics of hatred and bigotry . . . stood up for Daryl Gates.” Sanders added: “If Nate Holden had his way, Daryl Gates would still be chief.”

To support his charges, Sanders referred to a 1991 Holden vote to settle a lawsuit brought by Gates against the Police Commission for placing him on a leave of absence during the King controversy.

Holden insisted Friday that his vote “was not a vote of support for Gates, but a vote to settle a lawsuit that the city attorney recommended we settle because he said Gates would win it” if the case went to court.