officers - The Black Vault

.,_
FD·~O· (Rev ... 5-8·81 i
(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city end state.)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
Spardng Seen Over.
LAPD Investiga,tioris-
,.., • Politics: Ongoing
: probes of Mayor Tom
'. Bradley and the head of
·. the Police Commission
,, have become political
' weapons, sources say.
: .. BY RICH CONNELL
: and RICHARD A. SERRANO
, 1
.TIMES STAFF WRITERS
A
s Police Chief Daryl F.
"' Gates fights to regain the
1 " helm of his besieged depart­
. ment, Police Department in­
' vestigations of Mayor Tom
Bradley and the Police Commission
president are becoming
a new legal and political battle-
.. front.
_ Knowledgeable sources say
the chief in recent days has
made pointed-even threaten-
- ing-references to ongoing
probes of the mayor and Police
Commission President Daniel
P. Garcia, whose panel ordered
Gates on Thursday to tempo-
. rarily step down because of the
furor qver .the Rodney G. King
beating. On Friday, the City
Council voted to reverse the
action through a legal maneuver.
• Harry G. Melkonian, Gates'
~ lawyer, denies that the chief
: 'made any threats. But he said
;. ·.Gates in a legal challe~ge may
~ argue that Garcia should have
been disqualified from the
; ·commi~sion's vote because he
i .has been under Police Depart­
~ inent investigation for six
.;months.
Investigators are trying to
determine whether Garcia improperly
raised campaign funds
at a 1986 fund-raiser for Brad-
( ley, according to Capt. Doug
Watson. Garcia has denied
-wrongdoing.
Bradley and several other
·present and former members of
his Administration also are be­
·ing investigated. The probes
·range from possible conflicts of
•interest and political fund-
. raising violations to influence
• peqdling. Investigators have
nicknamed the patchwork of
i· inquiries "Chinatown,': after
f. the hit movie's labyfil}thine
portr~yal of Los Angeles·. politics
in the 1930s.
• Watson, who has said he is
retiring in protest over ·;the
commission's action agairrst .,
Gates, said Friday the investi-
- gations have been unaffected
by the political turmoil. "We
,.. .are being absolutely deliberate.
We are being very careful,"· he
said.
No one has attempted to
influence the course of the
investigations :of Bradley. or
• Garcia, Watson said.
: .Bradley's camp is concerned
:< that Gates may use the investi-
·· gation to fight· back, said City
Hall sources. ·
In a tense private meeting
Tuesday, where the mayor
asked Gates to resign, the chief
- made angry ·comments to
Bradley regarding the investigation,
said a source who spoke
on condition of anonymity.
.. "Gates threatened the mayor
·during the meeting, making a
pointed reference to the department's
investigations,'' one
: ·source said. "[He] even went so
far as to speculate that the
; . mayor's call for the resignation
1 ' was based on the investigations."
Gates' attorney Melkonian
-said, "I don't know· anything
about that going·o.n in there." ·
. George Morrison, Police De­
. partment chief of staff, said he
1 had discussed the matter with
:; the chief and it was "absolutely
!' untrue . ·. . there was no threat
whatsoever." Morrison said he
, did not know if Gates discussed
LOS ANGELES TH1ES
Date: SAT APRIL 6 19 91
Edition: FRONT SECTION, PAGE 24
Title:
SPARRING SEEN OVER
LAPD INVESTIGATIONS
CIVIL RIGHTS
Character:
or
Classification: 80-33B
Submitting Office:
l.DS ANGELES
lndexinc~:=---------------.
SEARCHED'---- INDEXED·---!
SERIAUZED.__ __ fiLED·----1
APR 1 0 1991
FBI - LOS ANGELES ~
the investigations with Bradley
during the meeting. ·:~ ··
Bradley spokesman- : Bill
Chandler declined-to comment.
Before the Police Commission
meeting on Thursd~y; · . •
·Gates raised the issue of''the'
'Garcia investigation, according
to Senior Assistant City Atty.
Fred Merkin.
"Gates raised with me an
issue that Commissioner Garcia
was disqualified ... . . because
Garcia wa:;; under investigation
by the Los Angeles P~lice Department,"
he said. "He [Gates]
thought if was a legal conflict."
Merkin said there was no
immediate ·basis to disqualify
Garcia. Garcia concurred in
Merkin's version of events.
Melkonian insisted it was the
city attorney, rather than
Gates, who raised the ·issue of
the Garcia investigation before
the commission meeting.
In any case, Gates aiJd his
supporters . h~ve ·signaled they
may use the ethics ·scandal
surrounding Bradley to fight
back. After Bradley went on
live television to demand the
chief's resignatiQn Tuesday,
Gates held·. a news conference
~ and brought up a 1989 city
• attorney's inve·stigation of
Bradley. That probe resulted in
$20,000 in civil fines against the
mayor, and City Atty. James K.
1
. Hahn criticized the mayor for
I failing to avoid the appearance
.of conflicts of inte11\sts.,/ t;t.a r'"7 1 \
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