Investigation of Cunliffe Goes to State

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner has handed off to state prosecutors a seven-month criminal investigation into former city General Services Department head Sylvia Cunliffe following conflict-of-interest charges made against Reiner by Cunliffe’s lawyer.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay said Wednesday that the state attorney general agreed to take over the investigation “on an assistance basis” without conceding that a conflict of interest actually exists. Livesay said, however, that to avoid “any appearance of impropriety,” Reiner was referring the case to the attorney general.

The basis for the conflict-of-interest charge was that Reiner served as Los Angeles city attorney during part of the time Cunliffe was General Services Department head. As such, his office advised Cunliffe’s department, creating an attorney-client relationship in the process.

Inquiry in Limbo

Reiner’s decision throws the lengthy criminal investigation into limbo.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Edward T. Fogel would say only that the Cunliffe matter “has been referred to our office and we have it under review.”

Cunliffe attorney Mark Beck, who had raised the conflict charge originally, greeted Wednesday’s development as a victory and predicted that once the state attorney general reviews the evidence, there will be a decision against prosecuting his client. Beck said he will now ask state prosecutors to halt any further action against Cunliffe.

“We will attempt to persuade the attorney general . . . that there was no intent to commit any criminal offense and that no offense was committed,” Beck told The Times after learning of the decision.

Last spring, the district attorney’s special investigations unit began looking into charges that Cunliffe illegally steered city contracts to one friend and rented a Pacific Palisades home at less than market value to another. The most serious allegation leveled against her is the use of sensitive criminal records to discredit a departmental critic.

Paralleling the district attorney’s criminal investigation was an administrative investigation into the same allegations. After that inquiry, Mayor Tom Bradley last October took the unprecedented step of asking the City Council to fire Cunliffe, whom Bradley had named to the post in 1979.

A bitterly divided council, however, balked at ousting the 30-year employee. The council instead reached a settlement with Cunliffe in which she agreed to begin an unpaid leave of absence until she formally retires on her 55th birthday March 4.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Healey, who headed the Cunliffe investigation, said Wednesday that at about the same time Beck filed his challenge against Reiner in late November, “we had completed our investigation and legal analysis. So this (Beck’s challenge) was our final hurdle.” He refused to say whether local prosecutors were actually going to file charges against Cunliffe.

Reiner personally ordered an extensive analysis of Beck’s conflict-of-interest charges. Livesay said Wednesday that it was generally agreed in the office that a conflict did not exist because Reiner left the city attorney’s office long before Cunliffe engaged in any of her questionable activities. He indicated, however, that if a criminal charge were filed, Beck could possibly make a persuasive case that a conflict did exist, thus causing even further delays in a prosecution.

Livesay said that Reiner’s office will cooperate with the attorney general, but stressed that state prosecutors “will conduct their own investigation.”