Kelly Mullens, the girlfriend of recently-resigned L.A. Times opinion chief Andres Martinez, helped promote the special Brian Grazer edition of the paper's Sunday opinion supplement, according to Allan Mayer, Mullens' boss at the public relations firm 42 West.

In a phone interview yesterday, Mayer said that he was out of town the day the press release about Grazer guest-editing the section was issued, and Mullens, who is second-in-command at the firm, stepped in to make sure the release made its way to reporters.

Martinez, who was the editor of the LAT's opinion page until he resigned yesterday amid accusations of conflict of interest, has asserted on the paper's opinion blog that his girlfriend played no part in his decision to tap Grazer as guest-editor of the section. (Whoever is now running the LAT opinion blog has since referred to Martinez's posts as a "daffy duck routine.")

Mayer confirmed yesterday that Mullens was not involved in the arrangement, saying that he was the one who first floated the idea of getting Grazer to Martinez back in December. Mayer said that Grazer was not one of his clients at the timne, though the two did start working together in a professional capacity in February. Mayer added that he still does not count Grazer as a full-time client, but he does advise his production company, Imagine Entertainment, on matters of "strategic communications."

For that reason, Grazer asked Mayer for his input when the L.A. Times drafted a press release to promote this week's issue of "Current." (The issue was axed by publisher David Hiller in the wake of the scandal and redone by the opinion staff after Martinez's departure.)

"The L.A. Times drafted the press release, sent it to me; I had some comments, they made a few changes," Mayer told Gawker. "[Kelly Mullens] was not even involved in that part of it. But the day the release was put out, I happened to be traveling. I had to go to New York. So, Kelly, who is my number two, helped out a little in servicing the wire services and making sure that they were getting a copy of the release. Because I wasn't available to help them get it to some reporters, Kelly made a call to the AP to make sure they got it." —LEON

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