Subpoenas Issued to City Atty. Staffers : Inquiry: Grand jury will question several in Hahn’s office about ‘ghost employee,’ payroll irregularity allegations.

Grand jury subpoenas have been issued to several employees in Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn’s office as part of a criminal investigation of alleged “ghost employees” and payroll irregularities, officials said Tuesday.

The subpoenas are part of a fast-moving city Ethics Commission probe of workers who drew city pay but allegedly failed to show up for work or did political tasks, law enforcement sources said.

Mike Qualls, Hahn’s spokesman, confirmed that a number of employees, whom he declined to identify, had received subpoenas. Hahn, who has not commented publicly on the probe, was not among those called to testify, Qualls said.

“He is cooperating fully and is perfectly willing to voluntarily appear, if that’s (the grand jury’s) desire,” Qualls said. Hahn is not a focus of the investigation, according to Qualls and the district attorney’s office, which is assisting in the investigation.

Also subpoenaed Tuesday were payroll records for two of Hahn’s employees, Charles P. Fuentes and Anthony C. Roland, said Tim Lynch, a spokesman for City Controller Rick Tuttle.

The Times reported last week that the probe was focusing on Fuentes, a top Hahn aide and vice chairman of the state Democratic Party, and Roland, a computer specialist in Hahn’s office who operates a campaign consulting business for prominent Democrats on the side. Investigators armed with search warrants raided Fuentes’ and Roland’s City Hall offices last week, as well as Roland’s West Hollywood home, law enforcement sources said.

Fuentes and Roland have not responded to The Times’ requests for interviews.

The 1-year-old ethics panel has confirmed that it is conducting a criminal investigation--believed to be its first major probe. But the agency has declined to provide specifics, citing a requirement that its investigations remain confidential.

Ethics Commission Executive Director Ben Bycel on Tuesday declined to comment on “the existence or non-existence” of grand jury subpoenas, although the district attorney’s office confirmed that the ethics agency was using the grand jury “for investigative purposes.”

A special prosecutor hired by the Ethics Commission--Santa Monica attorney David Alkire--also has been deputized to conduct the grand jury inquiry, said Steve Teichner, a spokesman for Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. Alkire is a Yale Law School graduate and former prosecutor in the district attorney’s office.

Law enforcement and City Hall sources told The Times the investigation is revolving in part around a small “Research/Public Liaison Unit” in Hahn’s office. The group, which includes Roland, handles a variety of special projects, including community relations work and responding to Hahn’s constituents, Qualls said.

It operates directly under Fuentes, Hahn’s chief administrative officer and a top aide since helping engineer Hahn’s first successful campaign for public office in 1981.

The three-man unit is based in Hahn’s suite on the 18th floor of City Hall East, Qualls said.

The unit was given a formal structure last year when Roland and two others were drawn from other areas of the city attorney’s office and assigned part-time to Fuentes, Qualls said.

Several sources in the city attorney’s office said there has been resentment of Fuentes and his assistants among career attorneys who see his unit as a drain on limited financial resources.

Also, several sources said, friction developed because of an unusual payroll arrangement. They said Roland and the other members of the Public Liaison Unit were officially carried on the payrolls of other sections--such as automation systems, an anti-gang unit and the investigations staff--while working part-time for Fuentes.

Roland’s supervisor in the computer systems section once refused to approve his time card because the supervisor could not verify the hours claimed, sources said.

Roland would not show up at his City Hall office for weeks at a time, some City Hall sources said.

Roland, who earned at least $53,000 last year, was carried as a full-time employee in the city attorney’s office until October, when he switched to a half-time schedule, Qualls said. Roland also worked part-time for four months in 1990, Qualls said.

The recent switch to part-time was not related to the investigation, Qualls said. Rather, he said, Roland requested the change because he was wrapping up a number of computer projects. Investigators are interested in the political activities of Fuentes and Roland, sources said.

Fuentes, as Southern California chairman of the state Democratic Party, has been a longtime activist and likely contender for the coveted state party chairmanship beginning in 1993, several active Democrats said. Fuentes goes to “all the party functions,” said Jim Wood, a Los Angeles labor leader and Democratic activist. “My impression is that Chuck’s (Fuentes’) activities in the Democratic Party are Chuck’s activities. They are not Jimmy’s (Hahn’s) passions.”

Roland, working as a private consultant, has set up computer systems to track potential contributors and supporters for a number of politicians, including former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Last year, he was hired and paid with political contributions to set up computer systems for campaign committees for Hahn and City Councilman Michael Woo.

Several of those subpoenaed this week worked with or supervised Roland and other members of the Public Liaison Unit, City Hall and law enforcement sources said.

The one-page orders provide no clue about what information investigators are seeking, sources said. “It just says be there,” said one city attorney’s office employee who saw a subpoena.