Colleagues Ask Holden: ‘But What Have We Done to You Lately?’

A City Hall mystery has been solved. Sort of. During several recent council meetings, Council President John Ferraro bashed Councilman Nate Holden for sending him “a nasty letter.” But it was a mystery to most City Hall insiders what letter Ferraro referred to.

It was not until this week that Ferraro released the “nasty letter” at The Times’ request.

According to the letter, Holden is angry with Ferraro and Councilman Hal Bernson for making changes in a redevelopment plan in Holden’s South Los Angeles district while the councilman was absent.

The letter doesn’t say what the changes were but does say that the changes took place three years ago and Holden only recently learned about it.

“You conspired to make changes in my district without my knowledge or my consent and I am very upset about it,” Holden wrote.

He called the changes “unethical” and a “sneaky, dirty trick and shows contempt and disrespect for me.” He went on to add: “No apology will be accepted.”

Ferraro and Bernson responded with their own letter but offered no apology.

Instead, their response poked fun at Holden for making an issue out of a matter that took place so long ago that no one seems to remember it.

“At this point in time, we have no recollection of the details involved in what took place more than three years ago, but we are researching the situation.

“We anticipate that it should take us about three years to prepare a response to your communication.”

Off to the Races

The surprise retirement announcement by Councilman Marvin Braude Thursday sent his two would-be successors scrambling for the phone.

Both Cindy Miscikowski of Brentwood and Georgia Mercer of Tarzana spent Thursday trying to line up support from Braude loyalists.

“It’s been a busy day for Cindy,” said her consultant, Rick Taylor. “As next week unfolds, I think you’ll see a lot of endorsements.”

Mercer consultant Larry Levine said Braude’s retirement would also free up support for his candidate. Many Braude loyalists have worked with Mercer over the years in organizations such as Planned Parenthood and Women For, Levine said.

Taylor said Braude’s retirement makes Miscikowski the front-runner. “It’s a tremendous boost for us,” he said.

But Levine said it could work to Mercer’s advantage in that it shifts the campaign from a feud between Braude and his former chief of staff to a race that can be run on the issues.

“We no longer have a family feud and all the bitterness that would bring,” Levine said. “Now you have one candidate lugging around a lot of insider, developer baggage and one candidate who is not.”

Levine is referring to Miscikowski’s hubby, developer/attorney Doug Ring, who gave up being a registered city lobbyist in an attempt to avoid stories about potential conflict of interest.

There’s also the possibility of more candidates jumping into the 11th District race, now that Braude is no longer in the picture.

“We’ll have to see who comes out of the woodwork,” Taylor said.

Lien Times

For days, the campaign of GOP congressional candidate Rich Sybert tantalized reporters with news of an upcoming press conference--one that promised to change the course of his campaign against Democrat Brad Sherman.

Those who took the bait found themselves on a curb in Chatsworth watching Sybert sign a pledge not to raise taxes if he is elected to succeed retiring Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills).

Also signing the pledge, taken annually be anti-new-taxes Republicans around the country, were Reps. Howard “Buck” McKeon of Santa Clarita and Ed Royce of Santa Ana.

As is usually the case in events staged for the media, the no-new-taxes pledge was enlarged so that it would show up nicely on camera, should any television crews attend. None did.

Then Sybert segued into the news that his opponent, Sherman, once had a property tax lien on a Culver City condo he sold in 1989.

Two documents provided by Sybert showed Sherman owed taxes of $367.79 in 1993 and 1994. A third document said that he owed $739.38 to the Tara Hill condominium association in Culver City.

Sybert denounced the liens as evidence that Sherman “violated the public trust” and is unfit to hold public office. “Whatever the reason is [for the delinquent property tax bill], it won’t be good enough,” he said.

Sherman responded that the county, unbeknownst to him, reassessed the condo’s taxes after it was sold in 1989. The county did so because Sherman’s father, who died in 1987, was listed on the deed.

A death triggers a reassessment if the deceased person had a financial interest in the property, Sherman explained. His father was listed on the documents because Sherman, buying his first property a decade earlier, needed a co-signer to get a loan.

The reassessment bills never reached Sherman because he moved and changed jobs, and property tax bills are not forwarded.

Sherman said he discovered the liens while doing research on his own background before the primary election last spring.

He said he paid $367.79 to clear up the bill, rather than appeal them as an error. Sherman said fighting the county would be time-consuming. That way, if the issue had been raised in the primary, he could say, “I paid the fees as soon as I knew they were outstanding” instead of the less definitive “I don’t owe the money and I’m appealing the assessment.”

Sherman said he owed no money to the condo association and has proven that to the county, which purged that lien from its books.

“All it comes down to is I paid $300 I didn’t owe,” Sherman said.

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QUOTABLE: “Dole who?”

--A Republican political consultant on how

his party’s local candidates are distancing

themselves from the GOP presidential nominee

* MAIN STORY: A1