LOS ANGELES : AQMD Official Reiterates Denial of Bias Charges

James M. Lents, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, has denied job discrimination and political spying charges filed with three federal agencies against the district.

“These accusations can only be viewed as a deliberate and malicious attempt to discredit and undermine our agency, its goals, its management and staff, and all we have worked so hard to accomplish for the good of the environment and public health,” Lents wrote in a memo to employees Thursday.

Lents said he had always insisted on “an aggressively proactive stance in support of affirmative action and will continue to do so.” He also dismissed as “ludicrous” charges that the nation’s largest smog agency engaged in political espionage.

The charges were filed by the district’s former affirmative action officer, Doris Wright, in a job discrimination suit and reported by The Times on Wednesday, along with the AQMD’s denials. Lents called on AQMD employees to support one another amid the controversy.