Los Angeles Government Officials

Somehow, somewhere along the line, connections had been frayed and confidence lost. Conceived in the ashes of Watts, this was supposed to be a municipal administration built to absorb ethnic shocks. In a city of so many colors, of so much wealth and poverty, it was expected to keep the peace. But on a single evening in late April, the flames that lighted the Los Angeles sky revealed that despite its multiracial hues, Mayor Tom Bradley's model City Hall was powerless to keep the lid on.

In a record settlement, Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla has agreed to pay $2,500 in fines and repay the city $76,821 in matching funds after the city Ethics Commission found he exceeded spending and contribution limits in his 1999 election, officials said Monday. Padilla issued an apology to his colleagues and constituents Monday.

The Los Angeles City Council is parochial and dim, its members occasionally thoughtful but more often preoccupied with personal political advantage. The mayor is smart and well-intentioned, but he misses opportunities to lead. Civic services are reliably available, but undermined by inefficiency and waste. Residents are poorly represented and disconnected from one another.

Voicing strong concerns over Los Angeles' term limits law, members of the City Council agreed Wednesday to ask voters to lengthen the amount of time they and other elected officials could spend in office. The council members say they will seek a March ballot measure to overturn a 1993 referendum that limited city officials to two four-year terms. The move is being made by a council that has been dramatically affected by term limits.

How many deputy mayors work for Los Angeles? Could it be four? Maybe six? Nine? Did someone say 12? Ask around at City Hall, and the answer is all of the above. Or, depending on whom you ask, none of the above. "What do we have, four?" Mayor Richard Riordan wondered. "Plus the chief of staff? Well, no, let's see. You have Ann D'Amato, Jennifer Roth, Bill Violante, Rocky Delgadillo. That's right. We have five." Sounds a little like four, but who's counting?

It's just a typical meeting at the Los Angeles City ethics commission: Beleaguered bureaucrats loudly plead their cases, begging to rehire former employees who have retired, or arguing--loudly--that such employees have been tainted by post-retirement work and should never be hired again. Street people show up to voice their opinions--very loudly.

As Police Chief Daryl F. Gates fights to regain the helm of his besieged department, Police Department investigations of Mayor Tom Bradley and the Police Commission president are becoming a new legal and political battlefront. Knowledgeable sources say the chief in recent days has made pointed--even threatening--references to ongoing probes of the mayor and Police Commission President Daniel P.

Daniel P. Garcia, former president of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, was explaining why he became a land development lawyer-lobbyist--one of the most successful at City Hall. "When I had my heart attack or whatever it was, I was in the hospital," he said. "It occurred to me that leading the two lives of doing litigation on the one hand and running the Planning Commission was too much. "It had taken too big a personal toll.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Gloria Molina said Friday that she is cooperating with a criminal investigation into allegations that the bookkeeper of her 1986 reelection committee embezzled more than $9,800 of her campaign funds. Molina said she notified the district attorney's office soon after learning from state auditors late last year that nine checks totaling $9,811.50 were not disclosed in the committee's campaign statements.

Gilbert W. Lindsay, the flamboyant politician who worked his way up from city janitor to become Los Angeles' first black City Council member and one of its most powerful local elected officials, died early Friday. Lindsay, who helped fashion downtown Los Angeles into a major metropolitan center, was 90. Left speechless and nearly motionless by a massive stroke on Sept. 2, the veteran politician died shortly after 2 a.m.

Newly elected Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge took the oath of office in a public ceremony at the Griffith Park Observatory on Thursday, promising to make public safety a priority. LaBonge, who joined the council Tuesday after a private swearing-in, told more than 500 supporters and city leaders at Thursday's ceremony that he will work hard to protect the quality of life in city neighborhoods.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn was due to arrive at the El Sereno Senior Center any moment. But before the mayor walked through the door Monday morning, City Councilman Nick Pacheco issued a warning to the lively gathering of senior citizens. "Now remember what I said," Pacheco urged. "Just be nice." The center, after all, lies blocks from the Eastside neighborhood where former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa grew up.

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said Monday that he spent his first 100 days in office completely reviewing the municipal law office and has begun implementing his reorganization plan. He said the changes reflect his main priorities: keeping neighborhoods safe, conducting "meaningful" police reform and saving taxpayers' dollars from high judgments and settlements. His moves also reflect a subtle criticism of Mayor James K. Hahn, who was city attorney for 16 years.

One hundred days into Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn's administration, he has kept several of his campaign promises: He expanded after-school programs, helped lighten the tax burden for small businesses and moved to ease congestion at dangerous intersections. And as Hahn enters the next phase of his leadership, the mayor and his administration are moving on one of his most debated promises.

Amid a swirl of controversy over his fund-raising activities, Los Angeles City Councilman Nick Pacheco has shut down his nonprofit organization, which raised money from City Hall lobbyists and others. Pacheco's group, CAL (Community Action and Leadership) Inc., also is considering selling the phone bank that it purchased with $125,000 in donations, according to the councilman's attorney.

The president of Los Angeles' North Valley Planning Commission violated the state open-meeting law by discussing a controversial housing project by Airport Commission President Ted Stein during a panel meeting even though it was not on the agenda, prosecutors said Thursday.

On at least three occasions last year, campaign contributions to Los Angeles Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. were brought to his San Pedro district office despite a ban on such political activity in city offices, five former Svorinich aides have told The Times. Further, one of the aides says that last year he saw Svorinich with an envelope of campaign checks--from Ft. Worth, Tex., contributors--totaling thousands of dollars.

Siun Park was scrubbing office floors in 1973 when he first tried to see the new mayor of Los Angeles. A secretary politely informed Park that Tom Bradley had no time for a private visit with a janitor. "I said, 'No, I want to talk to mayor,' " recalled the 50-year-old Park, who said he called the mayor's office at least three times, making the secretary "a little bit mad." But his persistence paid off.

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission gave final approval Wednesday to proposed rules that would bar elected officials from voting on issues involving lobbyists who also serve as their political consultants or fund-raisers. The new regulations, which will be considered by the City Council, also would apply to issues involving lobbyists who have made donations to nonprofit organizations at the officials' behest.

With angry words of protest, nearly 300 African American leaders and community activists packed the Los Angeles City Council chambers on Tuesday to urge Council President Alex Padilla to reverse his decision excluding the council's three black members from two key committees. After more than an hour of listening to complaints, Padilla assured the audience that he would meet with Council members Nate Holden, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Jan Perry to reach a resolution.