Business Partner Cuts Ties to Former Building Commissioner

The longtime business partner of the former president of Los Angeles Business and Safety Commission severed their relationship Friday, one week after the commissioner quit his post because he is under criminal investigation for allegedly soliciting an underage prostitute and impersonating a police officer, and for conflict of interest.

Mark S. Armbruster, who also serves in Mayor Richard Riordan’s administration as head of the Environmental Affairs Commission, wrote in a letter to local politicians that he has decided to break off his ties to Scott Z. Adler, the embattled former building commissioner.

Armbruster and Adler, both longtime City Hall activists, formed a law partnership in 1982 and launched a land development firm four years ago. Their Bel-Air firm has collected $325,000 over the past year for lobbying city officials, and they have donated $21,000 to 22 different political candidates since 1991.

“What I have valued most in life is my honesty, credibility, ethics and relationships with my family, friends and clients,” Armbruster wrote in a three-paragraph letter faxed Friday to City Council members and others.

Saying he does not believe the “unfortunate” accusations against his partner, Armbruster said that his work recently has diverged from Adler’s and that he had been pondering a breakup.

“With this unfortunate set of circumstances, I have decided to make the change now and end the professional relationship,” Armbruster wrote.

Armbruster and Adler did not return telephone calls Friday. Adler’s attorney, Gerald Chaleff, declined to comment on the split or the allegations against his client.

Riordan ousted Adler, 40, last Friday after police searched him in connection with a prostitution case, seizing his commissioner’s badge, badge holder and business card. In addition to the vice case--in which Adler is suspected of soliciting a 17-year-old prostitute in Van Nuys and using his city badge to assure her he could help if she ever got arrested--the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating him for conflict of interest in connection with his representation of a Koreatown bar manager fighting building code fines.

The city attorney’s office is considering whether to file charges in the prostitution case, and detectives expect to present the conflict-of-interest case to the district attorney next week.

As outrage over the charges against Adler spread at City Hall on Friday, council President John Ferraro introduced motions that would limit the issuance of city badges to elected officials and peace officers, and require all commissioners to take annual ethics training.

“City commissioners provide great service to the city. However, the authority which is entrusted to them should not be taken lightly,” Ferraro, a former police commissioner, said in his motion.