Several on Council Avoid Session Honoring Retiring City Clerk

Citing years-old accusations of sexual harassment that were never proved, several members of the Los Angeles City Council refused to sign a resolution honoring retiring City Clerk Elias “Lee” Martinez and boycotted the meeting at which it was presented Friday.

The impromptu protest made for an embarrassing end to Martinez’s long career with the city and triggered cancellation of Friday’s normal council meeting--postponing 40 regular business items--for lack of a quorum even before Martinez arrived to receive congratulations.

“I was not comfortable publicly participating in a ceremony honoring a city employee around whom so much controversy still exists,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who was sitting in her office waiting for the Martinez presentation to conclude before attending the council meeting.

Councilwomen Jackie Goldberg and Ruth Galanter sat in the hallway outside the council chamber in order to exempt themselves from the official send-off; Councilwoman Rita Walters was on vacation and excused from Friday’s meeting, along with three other members who had business outside City Hall. Councilman Richard Alarcon was not officially excused, but had said he would be late.

Only four of the 15 lawmakers--Richard Alatorre, Hal Bernson, Mike Hernandez and Nate Holden--signed the calligraphy scroll that called Martinez an “extraordinary public official” and commended him for “loyalty and outstanding work habits . . . commitment [and] professionalism.” Normally, such a high-ranking official garners a full roster of signatures. Alatorre, the resolution’s author, called his colleagues’ behavior “rather childish.”

“I think people are trying to make more to it than it is,” he said.

Martinez, 58, started at City Hall in 1960 as a garage attendant and worked his way up to one of the bureaucracy’s highest posts. He was fired by the City Council in 1993 after three employees accused him of sexual harassment, but was later reinstated by the Civil Service Commission and given a $215,000 settlement by the city.

“None of us appreciate that the thing got turned over,” one lawmaker confided. “So you may have won that one, but no one wants to celebrate a dubious career.”

Galanter said she, too, was uncomfortable with how the situation had been resolved.

“I did not want to come in and make any sort of objection or say anything unkind,” she said. “I just didn’t want to sit through congratulating a man, essentially saying things I didn’t believe.”

Martinez said he was sorry that a mix-up about timing made him miss his congratulatory moment, but said he could not imagine why he had become the target of a protest.

“I went through the whole hearing process and they found nothing,” he said. “I’ve been back over two years, I’ve worked with them day after day in the council chambers, I’ve gotten along well with all of them. I don’t know if somebody’s trying to stir up something.”