KTLA Bradley: "Tom Bradley and Sam Yorty on land swap deal with Occidental Petroleum" (1973)

[Tom Bradley] Seems to me that the grand jury should take a further look into this entire matter. They now have before them a document containing a number of allegations of some questionable conduct and possible illegality on the part of the lobbyists for the Occidental Oil Company as well as some of the Yorty administration officials. It seems to me that we may have another Watergate or Watergate West on our hands. [Sam Yorty] It's a pretty reckless accusation and a lot of 'em are being made. I see that some innuendo was used on even Bill Fredrickson, who has been a long, long time city employee and certainly devoted to improving recreational facilities. But you gotta remember that this matter of the Occidental swap down there, of course had nothing to do with my office. The whole thing was negotiated through the deceit  and the fraud of various Yorty administration officials. A failure to disclose to the state the fact that they wanted to trade this land for Occidental Oil Company drill site. A failure to disclose to the Commission and the City Council the fact that the provision in there, restricting it for oil drilling purposes was actually promoted by the city not the state. Bill Frederickson of the Recreation Parks Department told me that it was a very good deal for the city. But the fact remains that the Council voted for that land swap knowing that that land transferred to Occidental could only be used for drilling. That restriction was in there. And certain items which appeared in the news  media. It appears that the Occidental oil drilling application at the Pacific Palisades has raised  a number of questions that I think need to be answered. And I would suggest that here's a job  that not only the grand jury might perform, but some strong investigatory reporting might help to disclose even more information, because I think we've only scratched the surface on this matter. Let me give you some examples. 1967, the Yorty administration department head Mr. William Fredrickson, along with Arthur Spalding, the oil administrator, had some negotiations with officials from the Occidental Oil Company. And in these discussions they talked about the trade of some land that Occidental would prefer to have in order to drill, to test for oil, and to drill for it. A year later, 1968, Mr. Fredrickson, general manager of the Recreation Parks Department, began negotiations with the state to acquire that area that has been called the "killer slide" because that's where one of the state employees was killed in 1958 when that slide occurred. I.e. in these negotiations, sought to get  this land which was appraised for $800,000, for a purchase price of something like $37,000. And he failed to disclose that there been some negotiations between him and the city and the Occidental Oil Company on the trade of this land. First of all, I think that he ought to begin taking action to rescind this land swap between Occidental Oil Company and the city. The fact that they withheld from the City Council and other officials, the fact that that Building and Safety Report which did, in fact, go to the state, indicated that that land was unstable, unsuited for building. And yet they proposed to build an oil rig right on that spot. I believe that... That is that I think we need a stronger conflict of interest set of guidelines here for the city as they relate to commissioners, as they relate to lobbyists. And I propose that we again open that whole series of recommendations which I have made, that we prohibit lobbyists who are serving as commissioners from... prevent lobbyists who've been former commissioners from serving in that capacity for two years after they left their activity. Prohibit any commissioner or department representative from serving as a lobbyist for two years after he leaves that position. Require the lobbyist to file an annual statement detailing any contributions made to any candidate running for municipal office. And to appoint a Blue Ri- a Blue Ribbon committee to recommend ways of ensuring that conflict of interest are eliminated. These are only some of the things that I think, [Reporter] Was this completely done by the mayor's office and staff without any approval by the Council? This land swap. [Bradley] The... [Reporter] The land swap. [Bradley] The action was initiated by the Yorty administration officials. [Reporter] Was the approval of the Council needed to...? [Bradley] Yes, finally it came to the Council and the entire Council unanimously approved the land swap ultimately. I among them, because we were deceived by these officials. That Building and Safety Report was not a part of it. There was no indication of the earlier discussions and negotiations between these officials and the state, and I think that there this whole set of deceitful withholding of information that I believe is the basis now for our rescinding that whole land swap arrangement. [Reporter] Well the Council went along then without making any study of it, to uncover these things undoubtedly, huh? [Bradley] Well, as I indicated to you, I think we were deceived by these officials. Not at any point where these matters brought to our attention and they should have been. [Reporter] Bradley, do you have any... [ambient sound] [Yorty] Hi. [...] I don't suppose it'll get any attention in the media but [chuckles] we have and you have... [Reporter] ...connection with the Occidental land swap? [Yorty] Well, I believe that's the case. I know she has no conflict of interest. Mrs. Morton has never been accused of any kind of wrongdoing. Of course, [Reporter] She was accused this morning. [Yorty] What? [Reporter] She was accused this morning. [Yorty] Well... ...sent the whole file on that. I had the city administrative officer make up a whole file, so I thought I could put an end to these innuendos and false accusations. And I sent that file to every member of the Priola [?] Committee. I sent it over to the Grand Jury. Everybody has looked at it. And nobody can find anything wrong in that. Bill Fredrickson tells me that they never called him to testify and he says the city got a very good deal. But the fact of the matter is that the land swap went through the Council and Bradley voted for it. And it included in there a restriction on that property that it could have only used for oil drilling. So how can they say they didn't know when, when they put it through? [Reporter] Councilman Bradley says [...] the Council did not see a 1968 letter from the city's Department of Building Safety that said that that area was part of an active landslide area that should not involve any type of construction on the land. He says there was such a letter that the Council never saw, at the time they were voting. [Yorty] They saw it? Or they didn't see it? Well I don't know, but anyway he ought to know what's going on and what he's voting on, and not after voting for it and then make these wild charges against other people. [Reporter] Mr. Mayor? [Yorty] He ought to consider the city employee like Mr. Fredrickson and has his integrity impugned and just on innuendo, I mean, it's very clever to ask that an investigation be made, saying that this doubt, and that doubt, but they've - it's been investigated to death. And [Reporter] Were you aware of this letter, sir? [Yorty] Well I know that that area is a landslide area. I don't remember this particular letter. I had nothing to do with this land swap, as you know. [Reporter] Mr. Bradley... [Yorty] And so... I told you that the Police Department was investigating charges by an informer that Bradley was bribed on a zoning case involving a gas station on West Adams and Hoover. Now do you remember that? And remember I told ya I was revealing it at the time so it wouldn't be considered a last-minute campaign charge. The, the whole thing is documented by the Police Department. He quickly changed his mind right after the alleged payment, and he's never explained why he was all against the zoning and then suddenly all for it. But our informer told us that the money was paid in the interim and we checked it out. I didn't even know about his change in mind or about anything about the case till the informer came in. And he told us who made the bribe and the man told him he made it. One of the most prom- prominent ones in the nation. And I don't doubt that he has at some point represented Occidental. And so but, but I'm informed that he was not working for Occidental when she voted on the land swap. Well that's the information. It's easy for you to check that out, why ask me? [Reporter] But his law firm had been retained by Occidental in 1968 for this tax matter according to Bradley. In addition... [Yorty] Well, and why don't you go ask Harold Morton? He would know who his clients - I don't think that he represented Occidental when Mrs. Morton voted on that and... [Reporter] At this press conference held this morning, dealing with Occidental land swap, is not an attack on you. You're not inter- you're not particularly involved in it. Is that what you're telling... [Yorty] Well he would like to try and involve me but he can't because I was not involved in it. And I got the whole file. You can go the CAO, I guess would let you see it. Photostat-ed all the negotiations that went on about it. And I gave it all to the committee so they wouldn't go off on tangents or have to dig for things that can be easily made available by the city. And I sent a copy of that every member of the Priola [?] Committee, and they didn't do anything about the whole case because I'm sure that they realized that it was an honest transaction. ...put on them to, to take their land and give them land limited to oil drilling unless they intended to let them drill. But the fact of the matter is that they have no drilling permit as you know. They're only asking for two boreholes to find out if there's oil there and if there is and they've got all kinds of procedures they'd have to go through before they can extract the oil. And I should think anyone who'd read the newspapers now or listen any of the media would know that we need to get all of the oil we can and not sit on it and be dependent on the Arab nations, who are now threatening us politically because they know how dependent we're getting on them for our oil supplies which we must have to keep the economy going. [Reporter] Mayor, were you aware... no responsibility at all for the Occidental oil and land trade at all? [Yorty] None at all, no. ...make a whole file on it. And he did and I've turned it over to everybody. Now what they do is, they make these charges, they investigate and find they're not true, and then they never say that. Sitting on the Priola [?] Committee for instance. Why didn't they come out and, and say, "Well we've looked into it and there isn't anything to all the charges?" Instead of that they just were quiet about it, after I sent  them the file. I never heard any more from them.