Council Panels Move to Subpoena St. John

Two key City Council committees on Wednesday agreed to seek a subpoena to force Juanita St. John, the embattled director of the Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations, to appear before them and explain what happened to nearly $200,000 in city funds for which she has not accounted.

The move to subpoena St. John came after she failed to appear Wednesday before a rare joint meeting of the council’s Finance and Revenue and Governmental Efficiency committees, holding hearings on a critical city audit that found St. John had commingled city funds with her family’s checking accounts.

‘People Deserve Answer’

The task force has been a favored project of Mayor Tom Bradley, and has been funded through the $5.5-million General City Purposes Fund. Since 1985, the task force has received about $400,000 in city funds. Bradley withdrew his request for funds for the current fiscal year after the task force lost its tax-exempt status.

“The people of Los Angeles deserve an answer,” said Councilman Marvin Braude in agreeing to ask the full council to issue the subpoena. The City Council has the authority to issue subpoenas to compel testimony, but it is a rarely used power.

St. John’s attorney has previously said that if she is subpoenaed she will refuse to answer any questions under her constitutional protection against self-incrimination.

St. John already has refused to comply with a subpoena issued on behalf of the city controller, who sought financial records necessary to complete a special audit of the task force’s finances. The city attorney has begun criminal proceedings against St. John for failing to comply with that subpoena.

Controller Rick Tuttle and other officials from the controller’s office testified before the joint committee Wednesday, focusing on poor supervision of the general purposes fund. During the hearing, blame for the administrative shortcoming was spread over several city agencies, including the city clerk, the mayor’s office and the council itself and the controller’s office.

Woo Assails Oversight

Councilman Michael Woo called oversight by the city clerk and the city controller “incompetent management.” Woo also faulted Bradley for not notifying city agencies of financial problems with the task force after the mayor was alerted to unpaid bills as early as 1985.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi said the council itself should share the blame for mismanagement of the general purposes fund. He and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said that city bureaucrats are reluctant to look too deeply into the varied civic projects funded through the city program and that that is an invitation to abuse.