Documents Sought in Corruption Probe

In the last few weeks, federal and local authorities investigating Los Angeles city contracting have asked for information about a trip Mayor James K. Hahn took to Asia in 2002 that led to a controversial agreement with a Taiwanese air carrier.

In a detailed letter sent to the airport, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office on March 21 asked for contracting documents and communications between airport officials and EVA Airways, a Taiwanese carrier that Hahn wants to relocate from Los Angeles International Airport.

The district attorney’s office and the city Ethics Commission also requested information on travel expenses for Hahn, his deputies and Leland Wong, who served on the Airport and Department of Water and Power commissions under Hahn. Federal investigators have also asked for documents related to Wong’s tenure on the Airport Commission , which ended in 2003 when Hahn moved Wong to the DWP Commission. Wong resigned the next year amid controversy over alleged misuse of his employer’s funds for political purposes.

The requests, which were obtained by The Times on Monday, were made just two months before the May 17 mayoral election and could complicate Hahn’s bid for another term. Challenger Antonio Villaraigosa has made a top campaign issue of the year-plus investigations into Hahn administration contracting.

“It’s the last thing he needs,” said Republican strategist Allan Hoffenblum. “It’s the corruption issue that has put Hahn in the position he is in ... and it is the single issue that could cost him the race.”

Hoffenblum, who backed Hahn in 2001, said the news could put the mayor on the defensive after several weeks in which Hahn has aggressively attacked Villaraigosa.

The investigators appear to be focusing on a controversial arrangement spearheaded by the mayor’s office that would have awarded space at the Los Angeles port to Evergreen Marine, a shipping company, and also moved EVA, an affiliate, to Ontario International Airport from LAX.

The latest demands began March 18, when the city Ethics Commission asked the airports department, known as Los Angeles World Airports, for Airport Commission resolutions approving the payment of travel expenses for a 2002 Asian trip by Wong, Hahn and several of Hahn’s top aides.

In November 2002 Hahn led the 10-day trip to East Asia, which he trumpeted as an important campaign to boost tourism and strengthen business ties to the Pacific Rim.

The trip featured a visit to Taiwan, during which Hahn and the EVA Airways chairman signed a tentative agreement to have EVA move the airline’s cargo operations to Ontario, where the city has been trying to shift air traffic to alleviate congestion at LAX.

On March 21, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and Lt. Brian Hale of the district attorney’s Bureau of Investigation sent a letter to the airport agency requesting the same information as sought by the Ethics Commission, as well as EVA Airways lease contracts, staff recommendation letters and all correspondence between commissioners and airport staff about EVA Airways from January 1998 through April 2003.

Head Deputy Dist. Atty. David Demerjian, who is chief of the Public Integrity Division, and Ethics Commission Executive Director LeeAnn Pelham both declined comment Monday.

Also last week, federal investigators from the U.S. Department of Transportation asked the airport for information about Wong’s tenure as an airport commissioner, according to a source familiar with the request.

Airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said the airport is cooperating with investigators. Hahn spokeswoman Shannon Murphy said the mayor’s office would also cooperate.

The requests are the first to come to light since federal prosecutors last August subpoenaed the e-mails of Hahn and three aides.

The Times reported in May that the State Lands Commission was looking into whether aides to Hahn improperly interfered on behalf of Evergreen Marine in negotiations for a lease at the city’s port to curry favor with its affiliate, EVA Airways.

Evergreen had expressed an interest in 2002 in expanding its port operations in Los Angeles and was competing with two other firms for 43 acres on Terminal Island.

In 2003, the Harbor Commission considered a proposal by two commissioners to lease that land to P&O; Nedlloyd, but an aide to Hahn intervened to stop it because the mayor’s office wanted to “build a long-term relationship” with Evergreen and EVA, Liu said last year.

The Harbor Commission has since solicited new bids, and the panel voted to enter negotiations with P&O; in December.

Liu denied that the city broke any rules in linking the airport and harbor deals, because the city has an interest in both.

Curtis L. Fossum, senior counsel for the State Lands Commission, said at the time the inquiry was aimed at making sure the port, which is operated under a state trust, was not shortchanged to benefit the airport agency.

The Times reported last year that Wong, while serving on the Airport Commission in 2002, was also working as a consultant for Evergreen Marine.

Shortly after he informed the Ethics Commission about that job in an October 2002 report, Wong accompanied Hahn to Asia, where city officials signed agreements between Evergreen Marine and the Port of Los Angeles, and between EVA Airways and the airports department.

Port contracting was harshly criticized in a 2003 audit by City Controller Laura Chick, and auditors’ notes obtained by The Times indicated that Wong played a role on both deals.

E-mails obtained by investigators, as well as The Times, confirm that Wong was in the loop about the talks with EVA, even requesting to review documents involved in the agreement a month before the Asia trip.

Wong’s role as a paid consultant for Evergreen Marine shortly before he was involved in city talks on Evergreen and EVA could be a conflict of interest, according to Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.

Records released by the airport agency to the Ethics Commission indicate the airports department paid $25,600 for Wong’s travel expenses for three Asian trips in 2002.

Hahn’s expenses included $4,500 for airfare for the mayor’s travel to South Korea, China, Japan and Hong Kong from Nov. 16 through Nov. 26, 2002.

Accompanying Hahn were several mayoral deputies, City Council members and a number of business leaders who had donated to Hahn’s 2002 campaign to defeat the secession of the San Fernando Valley.