Hayden Seeks Answers on Riordan Role in Hiring of Whitewater Figure

Call it “Whitewater West.”

On the eve of Los Angeles city attorney candidate Ted Stein’s testimony before a federal grand jury probing the notorious land scandal, mayoral challenger Tom Hayden on Wednesday questioned Mayor Richard Riordan’s role in hiring former Assistant Atty. Gen. Webster L. Hubbell as a lobbyist for Los Angeles International Airport.

Stein, an Encino lawyer-developer running against City Atty. James K. Hahn in the April 8 election, traveled to Little Rock, Ark., on Wednesday and is scheduled to testify today about a $49,500 contract for Hubbell he approved while president of the city’s Airport Commission.

Back in Los Angeles, Hayden delivered a Public Records Act request to Riordan’s office querying what the mayor knew, and when, about the hiring of Hubbell by Stein, who was also serving as senior policy advisor to the mayor at the time the contract was issued. Former Deputy Mayor Mary Leslie has also said she recommended Hubbell for the lobbying work, which focused on the city’s effort to hike landing fees.

“It’s inconceivable to me that Mayor Riordan was not involved in approving this stealth contract,” Hayden said during a lunchtime news conference on the steps of City Hall. “This was the mayor’s No. 1 priority, to get somebody in Washington to grease the wheels for his airport deal. If the mayor was unaware of this, he is truly Mayor Out of Touch. The mayor had to know about it.”

Offering an oft-cited comparison between Whitewater and Watergate, Hayden added: “This would be like Nixon saying that he didn’t know what Haldeman or Ehrlichman were doing.”

Riordan did not respond to requests for interviews submitted to his mayoral press office as well as his campaign staff. Campaign manager Julio Ramirez and press secretary Todd Harris refused to answer specific questions, including whether Stein asked Riordan’s permission to hire Hubbell, or whether Stein informed Riordan after issuing the contract.

Both also declined to answer questions about when Riordan learned about Hubbell’s airport contract. Instead, they repeated a one-line statement: “The mayor had nothing to do with the hiring of Webster Hubbell.”

Stein said Wednesday that Riordan learned of Hubbell’s contract “sometime after he had been hired,” probably within a week or 10 days. In any case, Stein said, it was well before Hubbell’s conviction on federal fraud charges and long before questions were raised about whether Hubbell did the work he was paid for.

The Los Angeles City Council has asked city Controller Rick Tuttle to investigate Hubbell’s work here, including why he was hired in the first place. The city has full-time lobbyists in Washington and Sacramento, and spent $5 million on separate private lawyers to handle the airport’s litigation with its airline customers.

Among other things, the controller’s office and the federal grand jury are looking into whether Hubbell ever performed the work at the airport for which he was paid about $25,000 before he pleaded guilty to defrauding his former clients and partners while working at Little Rock’s Rose Law Firm.

Hubbell is in a halfway house finishing his federal prison sentence for the fraud charges, but could face further prosecution. Besides the Los Angeles airport, special prosecutor Kenneth Starr is looking into two other projects Hubbell worked on about the same time.

“It goes to the heart of the nature of the Riordan administration, which is pulling strings behind the scenes, using taxpayer money for dubious purposes, wheeling and dealing, and never coming forward to answer questions or take responsibility,” Hayden charged Wednesday. “I think it was a gift of public funds to provide assistance to Webster Hubbell. The question now is, why?”

Seeking answers, Hayden tried to hand-deliver to his opponent a two-page letter requesting access to all documents relating to Hubbell’s city contract, including items stored in “computers, reports, interoffice memos or any other form of communication.” But he was stopped in the hallway by a security guard who greeted him by name.

“I can see that [Riordan] gets it,” the officer said of Hayden’s missive.

“Don’t give it to his campaign manager,” Hayden cautioned. “Give it to him.”

Wednesday’s accusations put an interesting squeeze on campaign consultant Bill Carrick, who is working for both Riordan and Hahn. While Carrick and his staff are trying to drum up publicity about Stein’s connection to Hubbell, they certainly do not want the dirt to stain Riordan’s reputation.

“It’s not a part of the mayor’s race,” Carrick said of the Hubbell situation. “Mr. Stein is the only one responsible for the hiring of Webb Hubbell.”