Garcetti’s Loose Lips Lead to True Confession

Maybe it’s easier to shush other people than it is to hush oneself. Or perhaps it’s just getting hard to keep track of all the gag orders emanating from the Criminal Courts Building these days.

Whatever, we were amused to learn that Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti recently turned himself in to Superior Court Judge James M. Ideman, confessing in a letter that he “may have inadvertently violated” a gag order in the case of accused Symbionese Liberation Army bomb schemer Sara Jane Olson.

Olson, now living in Minnesota, goes to trial in January on charges that she conspired with the SLA to plant pipe bombs under cop cars in 1975. During her quarter-century as a fugitive, she married a doctor, raised three kids and has been active in her church and local theater.

At pretrial skirmishes in this hotly contested case, Garcetti’s deputies have pushed Ideman to muzzle Olson’s defense--even spying on their opponents at fund-raisers to catch them in unlawful utterances. Garcetti suffered from his own case of loose lips a couple of weeks ago during a chat on National Public Radio. Here’s a sampling of what he had to say, according to a transcript:

* “This is, we believe, a person who attempted to kill police officers. . . . There has to be a just punishment.”

* “Do we excuse her because she lives 20 or 25 great years and now we should just say, ‘OK, we should just forgive you’?”

* “People who are gonna sit on the jury are gonna raise the same questions: ‘Hey, wait a minute, even if she did it, you know, this was 20, 25 years ago. She was a radical then. She’s now, you know, a mother. She’s settled down. You know, we should forget it.’ ”

* “Well, I don’t think there’s any police officer that would forget it, and certainly we can’t forget it. I can’t say, ‘OK, you escaped for 20 years. Now it’s a freebie.’ ”

Garcetti said in his mea culpa memo that news accounts of the case “reminded” him of the gag order.

Well, hush my mouth.

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MAYOR-BY-THE-SEA: That controversial land deal in which Pepperdine University sold some prime Malibu beachfront property to Mayor Richard Riordan’s wife, Nancy Daly Riordan, and a couple of other movers and shakers has wound up in court.

Developer Jeff Greene seeks more than $1 million in damages in his Los Angeles Superior Court suit against Riordan, Daly and billionaire businessman Eli Broad. Greene, who had been negotiating with Pepperdine for nearly two years, charges that they bought the parcel overlooking La Costa Beach out from under him.

He thought he’d all but sealed his deal. Then, Greene alleges, the mayor and his well-heeled pals used their political clout to get Pepperdine to back out of escrow and instead sell to them. Riordan and wife, Broad and television magnate Haim Saban are donating the beach parcel for public use in exchange for the right to build three view-blocking mansions nearby.

Greene filed the suit, court papers say, “to obtain retribution from defendants for their scheming conduct that has frustrated his purchase.”

The suit, by attorney John G. Burgee, features some colorful writing, opening thus: “From the infamous Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s to the Whitewater scandal that has tarnished the Clinton administration, history is replete with incidents of politicians abusing their position for personal gain, especially in the arena of real estate transactions.”

Riordan spokesman Manuel Valencia said his boss is aware of the suit, but has no comment. Valencia said that the transaction involved the Nancy Daly Trust and that the mayor is not involved.

“There’s been no political influence, nothing at all,” Valencia said. Broad was traveling outside the country and could not be reached.

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L.A. UN-CONFIDENTIAL: Nearly three years have passed since actor Jack Nicholson quietly settled a civil assault suit filed by a woman who claims the actor roughed her up after allegedly refusing to pay her and a friend $1,000 for sex. Case closed, right?

Not at L.A.’s celebrity courthouse. The woman, Catherine Sheehan, has re-sued Nicholson in Superior Court in Santa Monica, asking a judge to set aside the settlement. Sheehan claims that she didn’t fully understand the extent of her injuries when she walked away with a paltry $32,500 back in September 1997.

Sheehan backed up her complaint with a doctor’s note saying that since her head was pounded by “a rather large male who is a well-known public figure,” she has suffered from post-concussion syndrome with “deep brain inflammation.” Also attached to the suit is the original confidentiality agreement, in which Sheehan and Nicholson agreed never to discuss the matter or attempt to contact each other again.

Attorney Robert E. Reimer must have found a loophole somewhere. He’s representing Sheehan, who now seeks unspecified general and punitive damages, as well as reimbursement of her medical and legal fees.

The suit alleges that early Oct. 12, 1996, Nicholson invited Sheehan and a friend over to his home off Mulholland Drive, asking them to wear “little black dresses and no stockings.” A fracas is said to have broken out about 7 a.m. when Sheehan, noticing that Nicholson was tired, asked for her money.

“Nicholson became loud and abusive,” the suit charges, “stating that he had never paid anyone for sex as he could get anyone he wanted as a sexual partner.”

When she tried to leave, Sheehan says, Nicholson grabbed her by the hair, pounded her head on the floor and threw her out of the house and nearly over a hedge. Nicholson’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.

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MAKE UP TO BREAK UP: Elizabeth Taylor has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, trying to keep a dispute over her cosmetics company on her home turf.

At issue is the marketing and promotion of the Elizabeth Taylor Cosmetics Co. Taylor says the defendant, Aries Design Management Inc., procured her services unlawfully, in effect acting as an unlicensed talent agency. As a result, Taylor seeks to void her contract with Aries, and has filed a complaint against the New York firm with the California Labor Commission.

Aries responded by suing Taylor in New York, seeking to enforce the contract, Taylor’s suit says.

La Liz, who is represented by Marty Singer, is asking the Los Angeles courts to issue an injunction halting the New York litigation until the California labor issues can be resolved. A spokesman at Aries’ New York offices could not be reached.