Mixed Reaction Over Chamber Resignation : Business: Bruce Ackerman says he’s quitting because he became a ‘lightning rod’ for criticism of the group. A reorganization is planned.

PASADENA —  Business and civic leaders had sharply divergent reactions this week to the resignation of Pasadena Chamber of Commerce head Bruce Ackerman, who has been accused by some chamber employees of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.

Ackerman announced last week that he will step aside as chief executive officer at the end of the year, despite a finding by the chamber’s attorney that the discrimination and harassment charges were “without legal merit.”

At a news conference Friday, Ackerman said that he had become a “lightning rod” for criticism of the chamber and that he would resign to deflect controversy from the 1,700-member business organization. Chamber President Steven Ralph said that Ackerman might be retained as a consultant after his resignation takes effect.

Ackerman’s resignation was termed “a good first step” by lawyer Joe Hopkins, who touched off the controversy when he resigned from the chamber in July to protest what he said was a lack of attention and resources devoted to minority businesses.

Chamber leaders said that, in the aftermath of Ackerman’s resignation, they plan to reshuffle the organization and will form a committee to examine “what I believe to be our failures in representing businesses and nonprofit organizations in northwest Pasadena,” Ralph said. Northwest Pasadena has the city’s greatest concentration of Latinos and blacks.

But some chamber members said they would regret the departure of the high-profile chief executive officer. They consider Ackerman to be an innovator who brought credibility and financial stability to the chamber.

“If you polled every member of the board of directors,” said board member Jim Plotkin, president of Pasadena Vacuum and Sewing, “they’d all tell you they loved Bruce Ackerman. He’s got a lot of friends in the city of Pasadena.”

Still others expressed outrage at the possibility of Ackerman’s continued presence as a consultant.

“It’s really a slap in the face to say that nothing really happened and they’re going to bring him back as a consultant,” said mortgage banker Katherine Luna, a chamber member and leader of a group that has demanded Ackerman’s resignation.

Ackerman did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

The resignation followed widely publicized allegations by contract employee Allison Bedell and others that Ackerman, who has led the chamber for almost six years, displayed favoritism in hiring and promotion toward a close circle of friends and that he sexually harassed employees.

Bedell, who is 42 and black, claimed that she was passed over for a management job in favor of a younger, less qualified white woman. She filed a discrimination complaint against Ackerman and the chamber last month in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In her complaint, Bedell charged that Ackerman “maintained a staff predominantly composed of young, white females, many of whom have been subjected to requests for dates, unprofessional touchings, and other sexual harassment and some of whom have engaged in consensual sexual and/or social relationships with Ackerman.”

Some other current and past chamber employees have supported Bedell’s charges in interviews with The Times. Some said that Ackerman has asked female employees to share hotel rooms with him on business trips in order to cut travel costs.

Chamber attorney Carolyn Carlberg investigated and determined that the allegations had no legal merit.

Ralph said the chamber would not release Carlberg’s report, which is based on interviews with 24 witnesses over a period of 10 weeks, because it involves confidential personnel matters.

But Ralph has sent letters to all chamber members, informing them of Carlberg’s finding that there was no legal merit to the harassment and discrimination charges.

Bedell, who continues to work for the chamber selling memberships, reacted angrily to Ralph’s letter to his members. “Essentially, what they’ve done is to send letters to each and every one of their members saying that Bruce quit and I’m a liar,” she said on Tuesday. “I’m very, very upset.”

She said she will continue pursuing her lawsuit.

Members of Luna’s group--which has picketed the chamber’s Colorado Boulevard offices, chanting “Bruce must go!”--have criticized the chamber for failing to appoint an independent investigator, rather than Carlberg, who is the chamber’s counsel.

Carlberg conceded that she had not conducted an “impartial” investigation, but said there was no inherent conflict in her investigative role.

“Anyone standing in my shoes, looking strictly at the legal questions, would have reached the same conclusion,” she said. “I have little doubt about that.”

Ackerman’s critics were openly scornful of his description of his resignation as an attempt to divert protests aimed at the chamber. “If I had a $100,000-a-year job and I hadn’t done anything wrong,” Luna said, “you could picket until your feet fell off, but I wouldn’t quit.”

In fact, sources close to the organization’s board say that Ackerman actually was eased out of his post.

“Everybody in the city knows Bruce was asked to leave,” said a senior city official who asked not to be identified. “But they did it in a dignified way. They didn’t want to be shabby, and they didn’t think what he had done was enough to publicly humiliate him.”

According to board sources, including one member who took part in recent deliberations, the board has taken two votes since Thanksgiving, in effect asking for the chief executive officer’s resignation.

The first vote was on the overall direction of the chamber, which has received some stinging criticism in recent months from the city’s black community concerning lack of attention to minority businesses and failure to advance black employees. That vote was one of “no confidence” in Ackerman’s leadership, sources said.

Then the board voted to accept Ackerman’s resignation, which had not yet been offered, in effect offering him the ultimatum of resigning or being fired.

Chairman Ralph denied that the board had ever directly asked for Ackerman’s resignation. But he conceded that the two votes could have been interpreted as a signal that Ackerman would ultimately be asked to leave.

“You can speculate that, if Bruce had not offered his resignation, he would have been terminated,” Ralph said. “I don’t know the answer to that.”

But others familiar with the deliberations, including the board member who spoke to The Times, said there had been a clear message to Ackerman that he should step aside.