A Los Angeles City Council effort to overturn a Police Commission policy requiring officers to disclose personal financial information seemed destined for failure Tuesday, as civic and reform leaders warned that the council's intervention was undermining the commission's authority over the Police Department.
For the second straight week, Councilman Jack Weiss, who has publicly called for a veto of the policy, held a lengthy committee meeting on the issue Tuesday and failed to secure a vote recommending the council reject the commission's plan.
Despite the setbacks, Weiss insisted that the council's decision to get involved had produced results; Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has agreed to seek a federal court order that, if granted, would add greater protections against the release of officers' personal information.
Pressure on council members to abandon the veto increased this week as former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and others warned that any such move "would seriously undermine the confidence of the people" in the city's willingness to fulfill a broad set of reforms imposed on the Los Angeles Police Department in 2000 after the Rampart corruption scandal. The LAPD has been under federal oversight ever since.
"The interests should be weighed by the expert body, by the people dealing with this day in and day out," Christopher said. "It would be unfortunate to have someone else substitute their opinion instead."
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President Gary Toebben, who also signed the letter, echoed Christopher, saying, "We just have to move forward."
Along with Christopher, who led a major reform campaign after the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King, and Toebben, 15 other prominent civil rights leaders and reform advocates signed the letter, including many who have closely followed developments at the LAPD for years. Los Angeles Urban League President Blair Taylor, United Way Chief Executive Elise Buik and George David Kieffer, who helped write the City Charter, were among the council's critics.
Tim Sands, president of the Police Protective League, which opposes the commission policy, rejected the letter's message, saying that Christopher and the others were more concerned about ending the federal oversight of LAPD than the merits of the plan.
"Nowhere in their letter do the well-intentioned civic leaders suggest that the financial disclosure plan under discussion should be implemented because it will be effective at rooting out or preventing corruption," he said in a prepared statement.
