In a move that gave his administration an in-house tie to Washington, Mayor Richard Riordan has hired the wife of a prominent Democratic congressman to assess the hundreds of suggestions for bettering Los Angeles that are pouring into City Hall.
Janis Berman, wife of Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), has been appointed to a newly created post handling public affairs or intergovernmental relations, William McCarley, Riordan's chief of staff, confirmed Thursday.
He called Berman, who lives in Sherman Oaks, "an interesting and energetic woman" who "offered her services to us."
Berman, 47, has been active in Democratic politics as well as in her husband's career for more than 15 years. She served as president of the board of directors of the California Museum of Science and Industry in the early 1980s and has worked with gang and former gang members in a much-praised program in Howard Berman's northeast San Fernando Valley district in recent years.
"I love Los Angeles and want to see it get back to being a leading innovator and on the cutting edge of the country," Janis Berman said Thursday, while en route to California from Washington. "Mayor Riordan was very open to my ideas."
Berman's appointment--which is not subject to City Council confirmation--was widely seen by political observers as part of the new mayor's effort to include a cross-section of the city in his administration, in addition to the Valley and Republican figures who backed his campaign and have dominated his early appointments. Howard Berman is a prominent liberal and has long been a leader in the Jewish community on the Westside as well as in the Valley.
Others saw it as an example of Riordan paying back campaign-related debts. During the hard-fought, nominally nonpartisan race between Republican Riordan and Democrat Michael Woo, Howard Berman did not follow the example of his longtime liberal ally, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who actively backed Woo.
Instead, Berman remained publicly silent about the mayor's race, although some political observers say the Panorama City Democrat privately aided the Riordan campaign with advice and introductions to the Jewish community. Berman said he communicated with both candidates.
Shortly after Riordan's election, Berman offered to lend his support at the congressional level to Riordan's plan to use city airport profits to pay for more police--aid that the mayor may greatly need to get Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration to go along with the plan. Berman has been outspoken since the Los Angeles riots about the need to bolster the Police Department.
