Job Training Chief in L.A. Is Target of 4 Inquiries

The president of the Los Angeles Private Industry Council is under fire for allegedly mishandling a $160,000 marketing contract with a public relations firm, soliciting political campaign contributions from his employees and using government dollars to purchase a new 1986 Lincoln Continental, The Times has learned.

Dominick J. Ramos, 50, who earns $76,572 annually as head of a nonprofit agency that controls $42 million a year in federal job training grants, has been the target of inquiries by the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the special investigations unit of the city’s Community Development Department, according to City Hall sources.

Although no agency has yet to initiate a formal investigation, the allegations against Ramos pertaining to the public relations contract and the contributions are contained in a complaint filed with the city by one of his vice presidents. The allegation that he misused funds for the automobile appear in a city-ordered financial audit.

Deputy City Mayor Grace M. Davis said that the Private Industry Council (PIC) is so riddled with mismanagement problems that its board of directors should consider replacing Ramos.

“It should be obvious to the Private Industry Council that he probably doesn’t belong there,” Davis said in an interview.

Wrongdoing Denied

Ramos, in an interview Wednesday, denied any wrongdoing and blamed the allegations on the “disgruntled” PIC vice president, Arthur P. Lawson, who filed a harassment complaint against Ramos. Ramos said he has not seen the complaint or any other documents alleging impropriety.

“The city is keeping it away from me,” Ramos said. “They’re blindsiding me, so to speak. In my opinion, there is nothing here. These things come and go. This is not a big deal.”

Because of the questions surrounding the Private Industry Council, the City Council’s Grants, Housing and Community Development Committee has not yet approved the agency’s proposed $1.3 million staff budget for the current fiscal year, which began in July. The PIC requested a 14% budget hike this year for additional staff and increases in rental space, travel expenses and marketing funds.

Federal legislation established the council four years ago to replace programs under the Comprehensive Employment Training Act following instances of widespread fraud in the handling of millions of dollars in job training funds. Under the new arrangement, the federal government distributes funds to local elected officials who have formed a partnership with private industry to provide job training for the unemployed. In the last year, the PIC trained and found jobs for 8,000 Los Angeles residents, Ramos said.

The council’s annual budget is approved by the City Council and managed by the local PIC staff, which reports to a board of directors made up of business volunteers.

In Los Angeles, the PIC directors are nominated by the mayor and approved by council members. Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council currently are conducting an extensive review of the city’s partnership with the Private Industry Council. A recent management audit of the nonprofit agency’s budget has identified at least $25,000 in questionable expenditures that will have to be repaid to the U.S. Labor Department out of city general funds, according to City Councilman Robert Farrell.

Farrell Speech

Farrell, the chairman of the council’s grants committee, charged in a speech Monday that the PIC board has remained “resistant, uncooperative, uninformed” to attempts over the past three years by city officials to standardize the agency’s handling of government contracts.

” . . . we have begun to glean information that clearly demonstrates to us that the PIC is not able to operate independently and separately from the city with regard for the public trust,” Farrell said.

At least one PIC director, Frank Velasco, agreed with Farrell that the board was to blame for not keeping tabs on Ramos, his staff or the agency’s contracts.

“We didn’t have the slightest idea what we passed or why we passed it . . . “ said Velasco, who is a program administrator for the state Department of Rehabilitation. “We never had performance standards for the PIC president. He had a free rein to do whatever he wanted . . .”

The allegations against Ramos first became public record when Lawson, 54, the PIC vice president in charge of operations and marketing, filed an inch-thick complaint with the city on Oct. 14. Lawson, who has been interviewed by Los Angeles police detectives, charged that Ramos repeatedly harassed and threatened him in retaliation for his whistle-blowing activities.

Phone Time Cited

In his complaint, Lawson said that Ramos spent numerous hours at work on the telephone soliciting campaign contributions on behalf of City Council members. Ramos also frequently asked his staff and PIC board members to donate to political campaigns, Lawson wrote.

Records of campaign contributions reveal that nine PIC board members contributed a total of $2,365 within the past two years to Mayor Bradley, City Council members Farrell, Richard Alatorre and Michael Woo, and unsuccessful candidate Larry Gonzalez.

Ramos acknowledged that he asked staff members and Velasco to contribute to the Alatorre campaign because he wanted to get a Latino elected to the council. He said he never conducted fund raising during work hours.

“No one has ever been pressured or retaliated against because they did not (contribute),” Ramos said.

If the allegations are true, Ramos may be in violation of the Hatch Act, according to an official in the city attorney’s office. The Hatch Act prohibits public employees who are in charge of federal funds from organizing or participating in political fund-raising drives.

Lawson’s complaint also contains official documents and memos which show that the Los Angeles public relations firm of Fouch-Roseboro Corp. received a $160,000 contract extension last year in violation of the firm’s contract with the Private Industry Council. The apparent violation occurred when Ramos failed to get the necessary authorization from the PIC board, according to a June 15 private memo to Ramos from PIC board Chairman Robert Clark.

Ex-Dodger Catcher

Fouch-Roseboro is run by Barbara Fouch, a prominent businesswoman who has close ties with the mayor’s office, and her husband, former Dodger catcher John Roseboro. They have received more than $500,000 in PIC contracts since 1985 to produce radio and television commercials, billboards and slide presentations to attract employers and residents who are out of work to participate in PIC job training programs. Hollywood celebrities Ed McMahon, David Wolper and Mayor Bradley have been featured in some of the spots.

As a result of his handling of the Fouch-Roseboro contract, the PIC board stripped Ramos of his authority to approve contracts or sign any checks to a contractor, according to the June 15 memo from Clark.

Ramos insisted that the Fouch-Roseboro contract extension was discussed by the PIC marketing committee, but said he is unable to locate any record of the meeting. Ramos said that Lawson, the vice president who handled the Fouch-Roseboro account, was responsible for documenting the committee meeting.

“I released the money . . . “ Ramos said. “It was my mistake, clearly. I would have to answer to the board if this lady (Barbara Fouch) did not pay us . . . All the work is finished and we’re not contracting with her anymore.”

Frustration Told

When city officials learned how the Fouch-Roseboro account had been mismanaged, they urged Clark to conduct a thorough investigation. Deputy Mayor Davis said she grew frustrated when Clark refused to inquire about the contract.

“Bob (Clark) kept saying we can’t go into that kind of detail,” Davis said. “There seemed to be confusion among board members on whether they wanted to hear anything. I blew my top.”

When the board failed to act, city officials decided to have a private firm conduct a financial audit of the Private Industry Council. The audit, shown to The Times by a City Hall source, found that Ramos used government funds to purchase his own private luxury car, a new 1986 Lincoln Continental, instead of leasing an automobile as called for in his contract. The Continental is registered jointly to Ramos and his wife, Janet, who is a Los Angeles deputy city attorney.

When Ramos was hired in 1984, the PIC board agreed to pay him $400 a month to operate a leased vehicle and provide all fuel, maintenance, repair and insurance expenses, according to a copy of Ramos’ contract. He initially leased a 1984 Mercury, which Ramos said was made available to his staff during office hours.

William Bruce, director of the Community Development Department’s Training and Job Development Division, said that if his department had known of the auto purchase, “we would have said that raises a whole new question about whose car it is if it is purchased with (federal) funds.”

City authorities are now investigating what to do about the vehicle, Bruce said.

Refusal to Buy Car

Ramos said that when he was hired he wanted the PIC board to purchase a car for him, but city officials refused. He said he believed he could spend the $400 monthly car allowance however he pleased.