S David Freeman

The panel that oversees the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power voted Tuesday to name Deputy Mayor S. David Freeman interim general manager, paying him $6,250 per week at the same time the agency retains its recently departed top executive as a consultant. The commission, whose members are appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, voted 3 to 0 to hire Freeman starting Tuesday. Meanwhile, the agency will pay former General Manager H. David Nahai, who announced his resignation Friday, $6,292 per week.

The man chosen by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the city's "jobs czar" three months ago is in talks to take on an additional assignment: running the Department of Water and Power. Villaraigosa is considering naming First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as the DWP's interim general manager while the search continues for a permanent top executive, sources said Sunday. The DWP's current interim executive, S. David Freeman, is scheduled to step down within weeks. He has been promoting the mayor's package of residential electric rate hikes, which range from 9% to 28% depending on a household's location and power usage.

After a year of strong sales and profits, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is coming under new scrutiny, with the city's top money manager charging that the utility has made a habit of waste and profligacy. City Controller Laura Chick has launched a full-scale audit of the city agency, repeatedly accusing DWP officials of wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on lavish parties, community events and staff perks. Making matters worse, state Atty. Gen.

In a shake-up at the nation's largest seaport, S. David Freeman, the former head of the city's Department of Water and Power, was elected president Wednesday of the Board of Harbor Commissioners. More than 250 people attended the meeting, the largest crowd at a board meeting in recent memory. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa chose Freeman and four other commissioners in late July. Former Mayor James K. Hahn's five commission appointees have either resigned or were not reappointed.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to appoint David Wiggs to head the city's Department of Water and Power, a position he has held on an interim basis since S. David Freeman left in May. Wiggs, a former utility company executive, took over the DWP after Freeman left to work as an energy advisor to Gov. Gray Davis. In the early 1990s, he served as president of El Paso Electric Co. He worked as the chief energy advisor to Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) before going to the DWP.

After a four-year absence, former L.A. City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski is making a comeback at City Hall -- sort of. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to place Miscikowski on the five-member commission that oversees the Port of Los Angeles. She will replace harbor commission President S. David Freeman, who now serves as deputy mayor for energy and the environment. Miscikowski served on the council, representing a coastal district stretching from Westchester north to Pacific Palisades, until 2005, when she was forced out by term limits.