Tuite Denies Conflict of Interest in Backing Project

John Tuite, the departing head of the Community Redevelopment Agency, said Wednesday that there was no conflict of interest in his sending letters to the City Council and the mayor’s office on behalf of a CRA project for which he had once been a lobbyist.

Tuite said he removed himself from any involvement in decisions on the project “in order to make sure there wasn’t a hint of favoritism.”

“It was all out on the table,” he added.

The Times reported last week that during his tenure as head of the CRA, Tuite sent letters to the council and the mayor’s office urging approval of the Sheridan Manor housing project along with a $600,000 CRA loan.

Tuite, who was appointed director of the huge urban renewal agency in mid-1986, is stepping down in April. He recently negotiated a controversial $1.7-million retirement package that prompted the City Council to rein in the agency with stricter council controls.

Tuite said Wednesday he was paid about $9,000 between December, 1984, and January, 1986, by Harold Washington, developer of the Sheridan Manor project. Tuite said the $9,000 was for work he did on behalf of Sheridan Manor and a number of other projects Washington was developing.

According to a Los Angeles Police Department affidavit filed in Municipal Court, informants have alleged that bidding on Sheridan Manor was rigged and that city officials were given campaign contributions for their assistance in moving the project through the city bureaucracy. Investigators have declined to say whether Tuite or any other officials mentioned in the affidavit are targets of the investigation.

Tuite said Wednesday that he did not involve himself in CRA decisions regarding Sheridan Manor and that he last worked for Washington six or seven months before joining the CRA.

“The record is very clear that there is no conflict of interest in any of the actions which I took in relation to the Sheridan Manor project,” Tuite said.

By January, 1987, Tuite said, “there wasn’t legally a conflict of interest” because a year had passed since he last worked for Washington.

Tuite said the letters he sent in April, 1988, “were strictly ministerial” and “not part of the decision-making process.”

“It was quite evident to everyone that I was not influencing this project,” Tuite said.

The letters obtained by The Times describe the project in detail and spell out the actions that Tuite and the agency requested of the council. Tuite concluded the letter to the council by saying: “We respectfully request that this important project receive your earliest consideration and approval.”