Discretion seen as better part of stance when under suspicion.

Sitting quietly in the center of the swirling investigations of city contracting practices, two allies of Mayor James Hahn have opted to stay away from any public engagement of the probes.

Airport Commission President Ted Stein, reported to have been contacted by federal prosecutors, has declined to speak with the press. His sole public comment came late last year in a commission meeting in which he denied an allegation that he had solicited a campaign contribution from a potential contractor.

And until his resignation was announced last week, outgoing Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards had avoided any engagement of the circumstances that resulted in his subpoena by the district attorney's office.

Their silence may be their best legal strategy.

"You've never been in a position of being investigated, but it's an intimidating and scary proposition," said John Vandevelde, a partner at Lightfoot Vandevelde Sadowsky Medvene & Levine. "For a person in the public spotlight, they have this pressure on them. People who are totally innocent are often best advised to wait to say something when it's meaningful and important to say something, which is in a court proceeding, not a newspaper."

Public comments can be used by prosecutors, a fact highlighted by a recent ruling in the widely followed trial of Scott Peterson, accused of killing his wife, Laci, and unborn son. Peterson appeared in a televised interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer and admitted having had an affair. The judge in his murder trial ruled that the interview should be allowed as evidence.

"Now his statements when talking to the media are being used against him," said Steven Cron, a partner at Cron Israels & Stark, of Peterson.

Still, Cron said he was surprised that none of the lawyers representing city officials in the local investigations have spoken publicly about their clients. Many defense lawyers will speak on behalf of their clients in order to balance the allegations and information often leaked by investigators and government officials.

"You need to be focused not only on protecting the client in the courthouse but on protecting the client's reputation in the court of public opinion," said Stephen Mansfield, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. "You have to have a media strategy to deal with highly publicized investigations. And it's not really an effective media strategy to engage in issuing 'no comment' statements. That looks defensive and is ineffective."

Harland Braun, who resigned last year as the defense attorney for murder suspect Robert Blake after the actor did a television interview with Sawyer, said the circumstances are different in this case because the allegations so far lack enough specificity.

Further, he said, the city officials involved in the investigations are not publicly well known. "They haven't given up on being human beings," he said.

Recently, Hahn defended Stein and Edwards in a general way. He has repeatedly said he would wait for the facts of the investigations before making specific comments. Most legal experts say that Hahn, a former L.A. City Attorney, has no political or legal reason to defend his city officials without knowing all the facts.

"If it were Mayor Hahn himself, I'm confident he'd have a spokesman out there deflecting or explaining what the apparent circumstances were and how it didn't indicate any wrongdoing on his part," said James Walsh, of counsel with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. "I couldn't pick up a commissioner out of a line-up. I don't know Mr. Stein. I don't think anybody else does, either."

Following his resignation announcement last week, Edwards did agree to a telephone interview, responding simply to questions involving his role in the investigations.

"I have been called purely as a witness, not as a subject or target, and I happily went and answered questions for a short time, a period of time ago," he told the Business Journal.

Stein, however, has continued to decline to comment. In December, when the Airport Commission voted to approve a $5.6 million extension to a contract for the LAX expansion plan, Stein recused himself. He issued a statement saying, "I have chosen to disqualify myself from any action involving this firm so there is no appearance of conflict or prejudice on my part."

A month earlier, the Business Journal had reported Stein asked the contractor, URS Corp., to give political contributions. Stein, who was recently asked by federal prosecutors to turn over documents regarding the URS contract, has made no comment about the allegations.

In February, Stein spoke again after an internal investigation by Kaiser Permanente alleged that Leland Wong, a former commissioner for the airport, harbor and water and power departments and the HMO's former director of government and community relations, purchased $250,000 worth of sporting and cultural event tickets from Stein. Stein, who said he consulted with legal experts before selling the tickets, said he did nothing wrong because the tickets came from his Chatsworth law office. Wong has also denied wrongdoing.

Now that they have lawyers, city officials who have answered questions or testified in the ongoing investigations are unlikely to talk again.

"Going out there at the beginning of an investigation and making a public statement that explains in detail what happened is not something you're required to do and is usually very unwise," Vandevelde said.