An Opinion Piece by Mark Kenyon and Daniel Wright

Los Angeles is about to witness the reckless brinkmanship of the

Autry Board of Directors and its management. Autry will play

political hardball in its effort to extract from our City govern-

ment the permits it needs to literally destroy the institution of the

Southwest Museum, the first museum in the city. If allowed to

carry out its plan, there is little doubt that the Southwest’s col-

lection will be “absorbed” into the Autry and in short order the

separate identity and independence of the Southwest Museum

institution, will vanish.

Preservation of separate identity of the Southwest was a core

promise of the Merger Agreement that could have been imple-

mented by either Autry continuing to use the Southwest Museum

site, which was found to be feasible by Autry’s own experts, and/

or constructing a separately identified Southwest Museum build-

ing next to the Autry Museum. Autry refuses to do either of these

things choosing to seek permits to construct one massive build-

ing so that the separate existence and identity of the Southwest

will be morphed into the “Autry National Center” brand name.

Ever since Autry ignited a community and political fire storm over

its failure to abide by its Merger Agreement promises made to the

former Southwest Museum Board, Autry’s management, under

the supervision of CEO John Gray, has assembled a team of slick

public relations, EIR consultants, architects, and corporate/lob-

byist attorneys to help override the overwhelming public outcry

against its misconduct. If the incredible “press conference”

conducted in September 2007 by Mr. Gray, Mayor Antonio Vil-

laraigosa, Councilmember Jose Huizar, and certain members of

the Board of the Mount Washington Association is any measure,

the dirty politics of Autry may exceed the actions of Home Depot

in its recent strong-armed efforts to avoid environmental review

of its Sunland-Tujunga store at City Hall. Home Depot’s highly

politicized effort failed because the community protested loudly

and the Councilmember for the area, Wendy Greuel, stood up

for her community.

In the City’s public input process conducted in 2006, only

16 letters out of hundreds of personal letters and thousands of

postcards and petitions supported Autry’s “plan” to remove the

Southwest’s collection from its own Mt. Washington campus

and convert the building to an “education and cultural center.”

When confronted with this fact by the press, Autry CEO John

Gray’s quoted reply was: “I think we have enough support.”

Perhaps Gray was not thinking about his lack of any credible pub-

lic support but the kind of support that only lots of money can

buy: City Hall lawyer-lobbyists, public relations mavens, a few

Native American supporters with existing financial relationships

with Autry, an EIR consultant willing to write documents that

skirt the true impacts of its project, and an architect now denying

the essential truth of her own professional report that the South-

west Museum can be reused.

Or perhaps Mr. Gray was thinking of purchased “support” at

City Hall. Will our Mayor and Councilmembers Huizar and

LaBonge be convinced to ignore the demands of their own

constituents, friends, and neighbors in exchange for campaign

contributions from Autry Board members and supporters? The

contributions are there in black and white on the

MuseuM Rushes for PeRMits

in GRiffith PaRk

—continued

City Ethics Commission’s website. And we think other

promises have been made to support future political

ambitions of some elected officials.

To save the Southwest Museum institution from cer-

tain destruction at the hands of the Autry, Los Angeles

needs to know who is a paid shill for the Autry:

This public relations firm is headed by Steve Suger-

man, a former communications aide to Mayor Richard

Riordan. Mr. Sugerman therefore once worked with

Robin Kramer, Riordan’s former Chief of Staff. Ms.

Kramer is now the Chief of Staff to Mayor Villarai-

gosa. Public information suggests Mr. Sugerman was

put on the Autry payroll as a consultant in early 2005.

Sugerman’s most notorious claim to fame was he pled

guilty to three counts of federal wire fraud as part of

the Fleishman-Hillard overbilling scandal at the Wa-

ter and Power Department. By pleading guilty to these felonies,

Sugerman avoided jail after testifying against his supervisors who

were sentenced to jail upon their convictions. Sugerman con-

fessed to knowingly submitting falsified invoices to DWP. His

employer later repaid $6 million to the City of Los Angeles, a

portion of which Sugerman was responsible for. For his coopera-

tion, Sugerman was sentenced last year to three years probation.

So, a confessed liar and convicted felon was hired by Autry as its

public relations and City Hall lobbyist. CEO John Gray likely

asked Mr. Sugerman to use his contacts at City Hall, the Los

Angeles Times and Daily News, and his “talents” to spin the de-

ferred maintenance problems of the Southwest Museum as mak-

ing the building unusable.

This corporate lobbyist/law firm often represents some of the

most reviled real estate developers in Los Angeles. William Del-

vac and George Milsten was hired by Autry to assist it through

the environmental review and land use entitlement process at

City Hall. Milsten is known to be one of the most influential cam-

paign contribution bundlers at City Hall. Delvac, who once was

a darling of the Los Angeles Conservancy for leading the charge

to save St. Vibiana’s Cathedral from Roger Mahoney’s wrecking

ball, since joining Latham, has so undermined his historic pres-

ervation credentials as to be widely referred to as “the Darth Va-

der of Preservation.”

We believe Delvac was retained to figure out how to get Autry its

permits to expand in Griffith Park and sell at City Hall an argu-

ment that removing the collection from its historic building on

Mt. Washington will not impair its significance on the National

Register of Historic Places. Latham’s record shows it can be beat

in court: court of appeal recently overturned all of Playa Vista

permits due to faulty environmental documents and court of ap-

peal recently ruled Latham’s client violated the law by evicting

poor and elderly tenants of

the historic Lincoln Place

apartments. Latham’s con-

troversial

representation

resulted in political defeat at

City Council over the Sun-

land-Tujunga Home Depot

battle.

PCR is an environmental

consulting firm that spe-

cializes in writing EIRs for

corporate developers. It was

PCR who wrote the Autry

EIR that claims the expansion

in Griffith Park has “nothing

to do” with the Arroyo Cam-

pus of the Southwest Museum. The EIR also denies that Autry

has any plan for the Southwest Museum’s future. These denials

are intended to avoid having to disclose the negative impacts on

the Southwest Museum. The Autry’s EIR, in our opinion, fails to

disclose negative impacts of the Griffith Expansion on the South-

west Museum and worsens Park traffic.

Ms. Levin is an accomplished historic preservation architect

who headed the team of experts that concluded in 2004 that the

Southwest Museum campus could be successfully rehabilitated

and returned to service as a museum. Levin’s team estimated the

cost to be about $22 million. Ms. Levin, a close friend of Autry

CEO John Gray, was later elevated to architect for the expansion

project in Griffith Park after Autry quietly fired its first architect,

Overland Partners. Since getting the contract to design the ex-

pansion in Griffith Park, Levin suddenly has been telling officials

and the public that it is not feasible to rehabilitate or reuse the

Southwest Museum as a museum. These new claims of Levin are

not supported by her own 2004 report.

These key players will lead the effort at City Hall to obtain the

permits to expand in Griffith Park. Does John Gray have “enough

support” for his “plan” to remove the Southwest’s collection to

Griffith Park? Los Angeles will unnecessarily lose a huge piece

of its early history if John Gray’s support team overrules the po-

litical outcry. Will the Los Angeles community allow the Autry

to pillage the Southwest Museum’s collection? You can help

change this outcome by joining the thousands objecting to Autry

breaches of fiduciary duty owed the Southwest.