Job Promotions

Seeking to spread the workload after the abrupt departure of two top assistants, acting Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson on Tuesday temporarily elevated a captain and a civilian to his command staff. Capt. John B. Davis, who was overseeing the department's Central Jail Complex, will be in charge of investigations, filling the vacancy left when Assistant Sheriff Steve Bishop retired last week.

Irvine officials have tapped Michael Ellzey, a recently hired deputy executive, to be promoted to top administrator of the Orange County Great Park. Ellzey was promoted Thursday during a closed-door meeting of an executive search committee. The decision has yet to be approved by the park's governing board.

As Helen Jo worked her way to the front of the room to receive her new badge last week, a stream of colleagues, family and friends crowded and cheered around the freshly promoted deputy chief -- the first woman and the first Asian American to achieve such a rank in the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Jo, who assumed her new position in April, joined the Fire Department in 1998 as a budget officer and became chief of the financial management division in 2002.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 11 to 0 Wednesday to approve a $650,000 lawsuit settlement for a police officer who alleged that ex-Police Chief -- now Councilman -- Bernard C. Parks denied him a promotion as a form of retaliation. Parks recused himself from the discussion and vote. The tentative settlement, which now goes to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, was with Jim Tatreau, one of three Los Angeles Police Department officers who brought the case.

Allegations of doctored evidence and cover-ups have enveloped the reverse discrimination lawsuit targeting Orange County Assessor Webster J. Guillory, the only African American holding countywide elected office. The assessor is accused of promoting a black employee over a more experienced white worker, who alleges that he was passed over for the job of managing auditor even though, he says, he received a higher score in interviews.

Police Chief William J. Bratton announced one of the largest reorganizations of his command staff on Thursday, promoting and reassigning 23 officers, many to fill vacancies caused by an increase in retirements. Four of the promotions complete changes begun after the shake-up in Central Bureau in the aftermath of the May 1 melee in MacArthur Park.

Vice President Dick Cheney blocked the promotion of a Justice Department official who had raised questions about the legality of a secret administration surveillance plan during an unusual standoff with the White House in 2004, Senate investigators were told Wednesday.

Rich Gonzalez has everything he needs to fulfill his dream of becoming a major league umpire. He has the skills, the character, the intelligence, the passion. "It's what I want to do with my life," he says. What he may never get, however, is the opportunity. That's because the big league umpire roster has only slightly more turnover than the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, between 2004 and last season the Supreme Court actually got more new justices (two) than baseball did new umpires (one).

Struggling to retain enough officers to lead its forces, the Army has begun to dramatically increase the number of soldiers it promotes, raising fears within the service that wartime strains are diluting the quality of the officer corps. Last year, the Army promoted 97% of all eligible captains to the rank of major, Pentagon data show. That was up from a historical average of 70% to 80%.

The Police Department has failed to meet goals for promoting women, African Americans and Latinos to detective and other posts as required by a consent decree entered into in 1992, according to a report released Tuesday. The LAPD report said African American promotion goals for Sergeant II, Detective II and Detective III were not met last fiscal year. Promotions of Latinos to Sergeant I, Detective I and Detective III also fell short.