Sales Job Helps Hahn’s Choice Win OK for Post

Conflict-of-interest questions were raised last week about Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s appointment of a new general manager for the city Information Technology Agency.

But the last-minute challenge did not derail Thera Bradshaw’s confirmation by the City Council.

The council voted unanimously to confirm Bradshaw to head the agency overseeing city computer and telephone systems, but not before one councilman confronted her about having several investments in technology industry firms.

Councilman Jack Weiss questioned whether Bradshaw, who has been acting general manager since July 2002, had a conflict by holding stock investments worth $10,000 to $50,000 in tech firms Dell Inc., Oracle Corp., Nokia Corp. and Automatic Data Processing, and telecommunications giant SBC Communications.

After all, the city uses Dell computers and Oracle software.

Faced with Weiss’ concern, Bradshaw said she asked her husband to sell the technology stocks and he agreed. The investments were held by a managed stock fund, she said.

“It was my decision to sell those investments,” she said.

Weiss also questioned Bradshaw’s receipt of concert tickets and a lunch worth $115 from Sprint, a firm that supplies some of the city’s phones. Bradshaw said she would not accept gifts from the company in the future.

“It was an important issue, and I’m pleased she handled this,” Weiss said.

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Villaraigosa and Labor Have Their Differences

How times have changed.

Three years ago, and again last year, Miguel Contreras, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, threw his considerable weight behind electing Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, first in his unsuccessful run against James K. Hahn in 2001 and then in his successful race for the 14th District Council seat.

But last week, Villaraigosa openly defied Contreras when he cast one of three votes against Hahn and Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski’s $11-billion plan to modernize LAX.

Contreras ominously said that anyone who voted against the plan would be “asked to explain their vote.”

But he said later that he already understood Villaraigosa’s position. “All of us assumed it was mayoral politics,” he said.

Contreras said he was not unduly put out by recent Villaraigosa votes that have gone against labor’s wishes. Another one came last month when Villaraigosa voted against the Playa Vista project.

“Antonio has been a great supporter of organized labor,” Contreras said. “He’s been a longtime friend of ours.”

Villaraigosa said that he bore no ill will, either. “My record for fighting for working families can’t be legitimately questioned by anyone,” he said. But he added that he did not believe the LAX plan would necessarily be good for labor and could actually “employ more lawyers than workers.”

Still, Contreras added, Villaraigosa is unlikely to get labor’s unqualified support for his mayoral bid this time around.

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Pro-Bush Fliers Were Paid for by Taxpayers

Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) is getting a chilly response from some voters in Minnesota, and it has nothing to do with the weather.

The California lawmaker, who is chairman of the House Resources Committee, sent more than 175,000 fliers at government expense to residents of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana and Wyoming, touting a Bush administration decision to keep Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks open to snowmobilers, according to Associated Press.

Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, said she shares the anger of several of her constituents, noting that the brochure mentions Bush in flattering terms five times.

“It’s clearly to me an improper use of taxpayer dollars to campaign for George Bush. It’s a clear violation of the rules,” McCollum told The Times, noting that Minnesota and Wisconsin are key battleground states for the presidential election.

Pombo did not return calls for comment, but he may soon have some explaining to do to a higher authority.

McCollum said she supports plans by some of her constituents to file a formal complaint over the taxpayer-funded mailing with the House Franking Commission.

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Dr. Garthwaite to the Rescue of Fainting Aide

Los Angeles County supervisors were grilling Health Department Director Thomas Garthwaite at their board meeting Tuesday when a dull thud echoed through the chambers.

A deputy to Supervisor Don Knabe had fainted, toppling over near the dais. As sheriff’s deputies and political aides scrambled to assist her, someone called for help.

Good thing there was a doctor in the house.

Garthwaite, a specialist in internal medicine, abandoned his administrative mien at the podium and rushed to the woman’s side. “Are you all right?” he asked with a soothing bedside manner rarely exhibited in his daily skirmishes over plans to resuscitate the ailing King-Drew Medical Center in Willowbrook.

Paramedics were summoned, and the woman was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital (not, incidentally, a county-owned hospital) for observation.

“She’s fine. No big deal,” Garthwaite said later. He noted that his medical skills are a bit rusty -- he has not practiced clinical medicine in nine years -- but hastened to add: “I certainly could do CPR if I needed to.”

The display had a few female aides swooning over Garthwaite’s heroics. “I want Dr. G to come to my rescue,” one said.

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Points Taken

* Noelia Rodriguez, who was press secretary to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan before serving three years as director of communications for First Lady Laura Bush, has been appointed vice president of corporate communications for Univision Communications, where she will report to Chief Executive A. Jerrold Perenchio. “Her proven track record both in Los Angeles and in Washington, D.C., will serve Univision well as we build on our record of quality programming for U.S. Hispanic households,” Perenchio said.

* A group with some Los Angeles-area musicians has released a CD titled “The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld & Other Fresh American Art Songs,” which uses statements from the hard-edged U.S. Defense secretary as lyrics set to music by composer Bryant Kong. The texts, which were arranged into poems by columnist Hart Seely, include the memorable quote: “As we know, there are known knowns. There are the things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns.” The discs were produced and recorded at UCLA.

* Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss said the presidents of 18 homeowner associations, including those in Sherman Oaks, Westwood, Cheviot Hills and Laurel Canyon, have endorsed him for reelection in his Westside district. Weiss strategically announced this less than two weeks before the nominating period opens for candidates who might want to challenge him in the 2005 election.

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You Can Quote Me

“They were lucky. They only had to do it three times. I have to do it every morning over breakfast.”

-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, commenting on how President Bush and Democratic rival John F. Kerry had fewer debates than the Republican governor faces with his wife, Maria Shriver, a Democrat.

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Contributing this week were Times staff writers Sue Fox, Noam N. Levey and Jessica Garrison.