EDITORIAL PAY-TO-PLAY PAYOFF CORRUPT CONTRACTING PRACTICES AT FAULT FOR VAN NUYS FLYAWAY FIASCO.

THE bungling of the Van Nuys FlyAway construction project by contractor Tutor-Saliba could have easily been avoided.

All Mayor James Hahn and his airport stooges had to do was to consider the company's record rather than its $100,000 contribution to the anti- secession campaign, as well as thousands more to individual political campaigns, and awarded the contract to a company with a first-rate record.

But that isn't how Hahn and his commissioners and appointees work. All they know is that when contractors pay, they get to play.

And Tutor-Saliba paid heavily to Hahn's campaign and made sure it offered the lowest bid even though L.A. airport officials noted when the contract was being considered in January 2003 that the company was notorious for underestimating costs and upping the bill once work gets under way.

Considering how the Sylmar-based company had bungled projects and misled government agencies in the past, the honest thing to do would have been to disqualify it.

No one could have faulted Hahn for putting a stop to the contract with a company that just the year before was found by a jury to have mismanaged the building of the Metro Red Line subway tunnels so badly it was ordered to pay back $30 million. The company's reputation of fraudulent billings and using fake minority contractors would have justified that decision alone, and the lawsuit by the city of San Francisco for bungling an airport project only solidified the concern.

Before Tutor-Saliba came out as such a staunch supporter of keeping the city whole, Hahn himself had put the brakes on a previous bid. As city attorney, Hahn had expressed concerns over Tutor-Saliba's participation in a city sewer construction project to the point that the firm dropped out of competition.

What a difference a political campaign contribution makes.

These tanker-size warning signs may have been enough to justify the city turning to another contractor for the FlyAway project. But they were ignored. So the Airport Commission, headed by Hahn crony and fund-raiser Ted Stein, awarded the $33.8 million contract to build a bus terminal, parking lots and other amenities for the shuttle service to Los Angeles International Airport.

Now, the project has been botched and the city is belatedly threatening action against the company. With county and federal corruption investigations under way, Hahn and airport officials appear to be regretting their decision.

The contract with Tutor-Saliba to build the Van Nuys FlyAway - already months behind - was never about making the city a better place for citizens. It was political payoff pure and simple. The fact that Hahn is raising the alarm now means about as much as his recent flip-flop in support of tougher city ethics laws.

Hahn has got a re-election campaign to worry about along with some investigations of whether he and his pals were shaking down contractors and rewarding those who paid off.

The public ought to be worrying too about whether City Hall will ever deliver on its promises to make Los Angeles a better place for the people who live, work and pay taxes.