Bradley Overruled Guidance of Most Aides, Who Urged Opposition to Bird

In deciding to stay out of the fight over California Chief Justice Rose Bird, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley went against the advice of a majority of his advisers, who wanted him to oppose her.

And now that the mayor has decided neither to support nor oppose Bird and the other justices on the November ballot, advisers are deeply concerned over the political consequences of this action on his campaign for governor against the Republican incumbent, George Deukmejian, a strong Bird critic.

William Robertson, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and others said they are concerned that Bradley will be accused of being indecisive and weak, a portrayal they feel is undeserved because, one supporter said, “The mayor stood on principle.”

“I don’t think the press is going to let it go,” Robertson said.

Bradley himself conceded in a private meeting with advisers last week “that it may be a dangerous political move,” according to Maureen Kindel, president of the Board of Public Works and a Bradley confidante.

The decision-making process was revealed Tuesday in interviews with advisers, some of whom commented on the condition that they not be named. The process showed divisions in the Bradley camp over an issue that has preoccupied the mayor and his staff, diverting their attention from mounting a campaign against the governor.

In the final analysis, Bradley’s friends said, he insisted on making the decision himself, reflecting his belief that he listened to too much bad advice when he lost to Deukmejian in 1982. “He believes that if he had followed his own mind and own advice before, he’d be governor now,” said one associate.

The process of confronting the Bird issue reached a climax last week when Bradley held a final, closed meeting with his advisers before announcing a decision that has dogged him for months.

“He asked everybody in the room what they thought,” Kindel said. Then Bradley announced his decision.

“It was a very dramatic moment,” Kindel said. “He said there was no other way, he had read the cases (on which Bird had ruled), he even talked to people leading the campaign against Bird. . . . Then he said it was a matter of principle with him. . . . People started taking notes and that was that.”

“He didn’t ask for a vote,” said campaign chairman Tom Quinn. “As a matter of fact, at one time he joked it was like Abraham Lincoln at a Cabinet meeting. They (Lincoln’s cabinet) went around, everybody expressed his views and Lincoln allegedly looked up and said, ‘Well, it’s 11-1 (against him). I win.” Quinn added, however, that the feeling in the meeting was not that one-sided, “yet it wasn’t unanimous.”

Those closest to the mayor had been urging him for weeks to take a stand, as Deukmejian hammered away at him, accusing him of indecisiveness and lack of leadership.

In the end, according to one long-time adviser, Bradley took the route that “hurt him the least and causes the issue to be forgotten the fastest.”

The advisers were divided into three camps--those who counseled him to oppose Bird because public opinion polls were overwhelmingly against her; those, such as Robertson, who favored her reconfirmation, and those who suggested a middle course, which Bradley finally adopted.

Quinn, the top adviser, declined to say what he told the mayor. When asked if he agreed with Bradley’s decision, he said, “Look, it’s what he believes. When he made that plain, I encouraged him to speak from his heart.”

Among those advocating the course finally adopted by Bradley were two respected Los Angeles attorneys, Warren Christopher, the former deputy secretary of state who headed the negotiations that led to the release of the American hostages in Iran, and Shirley Hufstedler, a former federal appeals court judge and a Cabinet member under former President Jimmy Carter.

Among the city’s leading Democratic lawyers, Christopher and Hufstedler have been conspicuous by their silence on the issue of Bird’s reconfirmation. However, Hufstedler has endorsed Associate Justice Joseph Grodin and Christopher has backed Associate Justice Cruz Reynoso. Grodin and Reynoso also have been targeted for defeat by some of the conservative groups opposing Bird.

Christopher Viewpoint

Quinn called Christopher last week. Christopher told The Times Tuesday, “I thought it was important to avoid having the court becoming a political football and get kicked around in the governor’s campaign. I said it was better to avoid politicizing the issue. I was picking up on what the chief justice said recently when she urged political figures not to get involved in her campaign when she said she was not asking for their support.”

Christopher said Bradley called him Monday and said he had decided on the position advocated by Hufstedler.

Hufstedler said she told Bradley on the telephone last week that “for him to say yes or no would be an inappropriate thing for him to do because it would inject partisan politics into a nonpartisan judicial election.”

Both Quinn and campaign manager Mary Nichols made a point of encouraging reporters to call Christopher and Hufstedler, clearly eager to publicize that the mayor’s position was supported by two such prestigious attorneys.

Looking to the Press

As for the political fallout, Bradley’s advisers seemed more concerned about how the mayor’s decision would play in the press than of Deukmejian’s expected attacks.

During Bradley’s press conference, his aides watched reporters’ insistent questions with anxious expressions. Nichols wrung her hands anxiously.

“My concern was with the press,” said long-time aide Fran Savitch, who watched from the back of the room. “I don’t know how it will be dealt with. There is a certain cynicism.”

Supporters hope Bradley’s campaign can now proceed without the constant questions about Bird, although the repeated questioning by reporters on Tuesday did not indicate that will happen.

“It’s going to remove some of the baggage,” Robertson said. “There has to be a good feeling among the campaign workers that this is settled.”

Times staff writer Frank Clifford contributed to this story.