Keeping It All in the Family

Let’s say you’re running the family store. The son who’s been helping you--doing most of the work, actually--decides to move on.

You need a replacement. You could go outside. But an outsider wouldn’t immediately understand the nuances of the business, the peculiarities of the family.

So you look within the family. You pick a smart kid. Then, after you give him the job, you pray he’s tough enough to handle relatives who want to run the store their way.

That’s Mayor Tom Bradley’s situation, after his deputy mayor and chief of staff, Mike Gage, tired of all the hassles and wanting to make money, took a job with a developer.

Bradley could have gone outside to replace Gage. But he picked the smartest kid still in the family.

After 16 years in office, the Bradley Administration is really an extended family, with the mayor the patriarch. That is one of its weaknesses. New people remain only if they pick up the ways of the family. Worse, loyalty to the patriarch can preserve the jobs of the incompetent. Creative newcomers have trouble selling their ideas, become discouraged and eventually leave.

This pattern is not peculiar to the Bradley camp. It is typical of any administration in power for many years. It is, of course, one of the main arguments for limiting the terms of elected officials.

To replace Gage, Bradley picked Mark Fabiani, 32, an attorney and Harvard Law School graduate who has been serving as counsel to the mayor. He’s been deeply involved in advising Bradley on how to deal with the investigation of the mayor’s financial affairs.

The old-timers like Fabiani. He’s more polite than Gage. He doesn’t shout or curse, as Gage did. He’s considerate, even deferential, to his elders.

His connections are excellent. His first sponsor was U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt who, before he put on the judicial robes, was the most influential Bradley political strategist. Fabiani had been the judge’s clerk. Another Fabiani fan is Maureen Kindel, Bradley’s star fund-raiser. Kindel and Reinhardt are married, although they are now separated.

One reason Gage is leaving is that he never learned to act in the accepted style. The old-timers tolerated him. But when his tough tactics didn’t stem the tide in the investigation into Bradley’s personal financial affairs, the family turned against Gage.

The family ties were also evident in the appointment of another top staff member.

Deputy Mayor Grace Davis, another Bradley old-timer, was dumped. Gage himself administered the blow, blaming her for the administration’s troubles in dealing with the homeless and the unemployed poor.

Bradley had stuck by Davis. Loyalty is a characteristic of a patriarch. But finally, as Gage was leaving, Bradley agreed to move her out.

To replace her, the mayor chose Diane Muniz Pasillas, executive director of the Latin Business Assn. Pasillas is engaged to Dan Garcia, another Bradley friend and adviser. He was president of the Planning Commission for several years. Since quitting that job, he has become a successful lawyer-lobbyist for land developers. Zoning changes for his clients must go through Bradley’s Planning Department and Planning Commission, be passed by the City Council and signed by the mayor.

After Bradley gave Pasillas the job, she agreed to stay away from zoning and planning, to avoid possible conflicts of interest.

But there remains the larger issue raised by the appointments of Fabiani as the principal deputy mayor and Casillas as the second deputy. That is the question of new ideas.

Will Fabiani be able to rejuvenate a battered administration, dominated by longtime Bradley loyalists? Can he sell his ideas to the stubborn old patriarch? After all, unbeknown to Fabiani, the mayor may be running the ideas past old friends who were in power when Fabiani was a youngster.

All through the mayoral suite in City Hall, there are old pals who can get into see Bradley at any time. Bill Elkins, his boyhood friend; Anton Calleia, his trusted budget and legislative adviser; Phil Depoian, the loyal political adviser and general fix-it man--all of them have their own ideas on how things should be run.

Other pals--the Bradley Administration alumni--are in offices around the city. Maury Weiner, his oldest adviser; Frances Savitch, once a dominant staff power and now in lobbying and public relations; Reinhardt, Garcia--all are just a phone call away.

They are the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, brothers and sisters, waiting for the kid to make a mistake. It is probably not the best way to do things. But in old administrations like Bradley’s, the modus operandi is All in the Family.