Harbor Dept. Trip Pared After Criticism

The city’s Harbor Department has scaled back a marketing trip to San Francisco and Honolulu after the controller’s office raised questions about all five members of the Harbor Commission attending just five months before the end of their terms.

“It looked like a boondoggle to me,” said Controller Rick Tuttle. “It was a surplus of commissioners. I’m glad they decided to be reasonable.”

Tuttle said he did not question the trip itself--which he deemed part of the department’s effort to generate port business--but took exception to the number of people taking it.

The trade mission began Monday in San Francisco and will go to Honolulu on Thursday and Friday, officials said. In all, 10 city employees, including Mayor Tom Bradley and Harbor Department Executive Director Ezunial Burts, went to San Francisco; seven of those will go on to Hawaii.

Initially, all five harbor commissioners and the board secretary were scheduled to go. After Tuttle raised questions last week, the department decided to send only two of the commissioners, Ronald S. Lushing and Reynaldo P. Garay.

The purpose of the trip is is to thank companies that use the Port of Los Angeles for their business and reassure anxious customers about the recent transfer of $44 million from the harbor budget to city coffers. Matson Navigation Co. of San Francisco and its parent firm, Alexander & Baldwin of Honolulu, will be among those on the list.

The controller’s office has questioned other Harbor Department expenses. In 1991, Tuttle criticized a $220-per-person dinner at the Alaska Prince Hotel in Tokyo. He put a $40-per-person limit on dinners in the United States and a $170 limit per person in Tokyo under most circumstances. Liquor expenses are not reimbursed by the city.