ELECTIONS SECRETARY OF STATE : Campaigning Distracts Flores From Being Bradley’s Stand-In

Los Angeles Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores became acting mayor of Los Angeles at 1:30 p.m. last Friday, taking charge of the nation’s second-largest city and assuming all of the powers--both substantive and ceremonial--of Mayor Tom Bradley, who is traveling abroad.

But just 48 hours later, Flores, a three-term councilwoman who once considered running for Bradley’s job, voluntarily relinquished her new-found authority, opting instead to make a two-day campaign swing through San Diego in her long-shot bid to unseat Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

Flores got the acting mayor’s job back Monday night when she returned home to San Pedro--in time to officially welcome President George Bush to Los Angeles on Tuesday--but gave up the post again Wednesday to attend a Republican fund-raiser in San Francisco and a campaign rally in Eureka.

“People ask me all over the state, ‘Why would you want to go from being a powerful Los Angeles City Council person to a job that nobody knows anything about?’ ” Flores said before leaving for San Francisco. “I really want to be secretary of state, and in deciding this is the job I wanted to go after, I obviously wasn’t looking for power and recognition. I was looking for the challenge.”

Flores assumed the mayor’s duties this week largely by default. Bradley and Council President John Ferraro, who normally serves as mayor in Bradley’s absence, are traveling together in Europe on city business until Sept. 29. Council President Pro Tem Marvin Braude, next in line for the job, took over for a short while last week but lost the position when he left Friday for Japan.

With such succession problems in mind, Ferraro several years ago created a new position specifically for Flores--assistant council president pro tem--that allows her to take over in Braude’s absence. Before that, Flores had served as president pro tem, giving her ample experience as both a substitute council president and acting mayor.

But with Flores running for secretary of state and keeping a frantic campaign schedule outside the city, the duties of acting mayor have passed for the time being to Councilman Ernani Bernardi, the council’s senior member. Bernardi is slated to keep the job until 9 p.m. Friday, when Flores returns home from Eureka, and he will get it back again next week when Flores makes another campaign trip to Northern California.

City officials say the multiple transitions, while admittedly confusing to the public, have run smoothly.

“So long as I know who it is on certain times and days and where they are, there is no problem,” said Anton Calleia, chief executive assistant to the mayor, whether it be Bradley, Ferraro, Braude, Flores or Bernardi.

So far this week, Flores estimates that she has signed about 20 files as acting mayor, ranging from payroll approvals to zoning ordinances. The temporary job carries few frills--no pay bonus, no new office, no excused absences from council meetings--but it carries all of the authority and responsibility of the full-time mayor.

“The only time it really becomes critical is if, God forbid, we have a major emergency,” said Calleia. “At that point, the mayor becomes the head of the Emergency Operations Organization.”

Flores said she sometimes worries about such an emergency.

“I always say a little prayer when I hear the mayor is going out of town and I’m going to be on watch,” she said.

If Flores should succeed in her bid to unseat Eu, she would be third in order of succession for another powerful job: governor of California. In her campaign literature, Eu boasts that she was the first woman and first Asian-American to serve as governor, filling in July 14, 1976, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown was out of state.

“Someday, I may be sitting here talking to you as acting governor,” Flores said.