Candidate’s Letter to Liquor Panel for Bar Owner Criticized

A letter written to the director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control agency on behalf of a Bellflower topless bar owner is coming back to haunt Evan Anderson Braude, who took a leave as special assistant to Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn to run for Long Beach city prosecutor.

Braude, one of four candidates running in a bruising April 14 primary, wrote the letter in 1995 to assist John D. Morrison, the owner of Fritz That’s It bar and restaurant.

The letter was written on Los Angeles city attorney’s letterhead to ABC Director Jay R. Stroh.

Chief Deputy City Atty. Tim McOsker, speaking for Hahn, said Wednesday that the letter was “inappropriate” and that use of the city stationery was “not authorized.”

“The letter is inappropriate inasmuch as it doesn’t deal with issues related to the city attorney’s office,” McOsker said.

When Braude’s letter was written, Morrison was fighting allegations that his business was violating state liquor law. The ABC said women working in the bar were revealing too much of their bodies and engaging in lewd conduct, according to ABC spokesman Carl DeWing. The case was settled with a 15-day suspension of Morrison’s liquor license, DeWing said.

Stroh, in a statement released by DeWing, said, “The letter positively had no effect on our decision or the penalty.”

Braude, who served as Hahn’s liaison with other Los Angeles city agencies, said Wednesday he was not aware of ABC’s specific action against Morrison.

“I know something obviously happened, but I don’t know the particulars,” said Braude, who said he is a distant cousin of former Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude.

Although the city stationery was used, Braude said in his letter that he was writing as a former Long Beach city councilman and representative of southeast Los Angeles County cities on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Rapid Transit District boards, “as well as on a personal basis.”

Braude said he was “well acquainted” with Morrison “and his business operations at Fritz That’s It,” and described the bar owner as “a scrupulously honest, law abiding and responsible businessperson.”

“He conducts the affairs of his business in strict conformity to any and all legal requirements and standards. In fact, at no time whatsoever has Mr. Morrison’s business operation caused any adverse impact upon the local community nor has it required any undue attention from law enforcement.”

Tom Reeves, a deputy Long Beach city attorney who is running against Braude, calls the letter “an abuse” of Braude’s position. “My boss would have a cow if I did something like this,” said Reeves.

Morrison, who opened Fritz’s in 1973 and describes it as “a first-class gentleman’s club,” called the distribution of the letter “a cheap shot.”

A lifelong resident of Bellflower, Morrison said letters were also sent to the ABC on his behalf by sheriff’s deputies, former Bellflower city officials, representatives of a day-care center, a local church and people active in the Little League.

“The [Braude] letter wasn’t intended to accomplish any special treatment and it didn’t,” said Josh Kaplan, Morrison’s attorney. “All the letter said was John Morrison is an honest guy. Treat him fairly, will you?”

Kaplan said the problems at the bar and restaurant stemmed from a change in state policy and a new interpretation of such things as the size of the bikinis the dancers wore.

The letter enlivens a race for an obscure office that many in Long Beach say is more embarrassing than productive.

Long Beach is the only city in California that has a separately elected city attorney and city prosecutor.

The city paid $750,000 to former prosecutor Lynda Vitale to settle a 1995 sexual harassment suit against lawyers in the city prosecutor’s office.

Controversy over the office has seeped into the primary campaign for the Long Beach city auditor’s office. Accountant William Molnar, running against incumbent Auditor Gary Burroughs, is suing the city to obtain what he describes as a devastating auditor’s review of the prosecutor’s office. Molnar contends that the audit is being deliberately withheld from the public.

Braude and another candidate, former community college board member Gerrie Schipske, have said that the prosecutor’s and city attorney’s offices should be merged. The fourth candidate is Robert R. Recknagel, the Long Beach assistant city prosecutor.

City Prosecutor John A. Vander Lans is retiring.