City Council Members Get Approval to Visit Lindsay

An attorney for the family of hospitalized Los Angeles City Councilman Gilbert W. Lindsay offered Tuesday to allow council members to visit their colleague before voting on whether to oust him from office.

Only eight people had previously had access to Lindsay, on orders from Lindsay’s stepson. The turnabout came hours after Councilman Nate Holden introduced a motion to seek a court order for members’ visits if permission continued to be withheld.

Lindsay, who suffered a stroke Sept. 2, remains unaware of the controversy surrounding his future. He is unable to speak and is partially paralyzed at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood. “It’s a question right now (of) what his cognitive skills are,” said Lindsay aide Bob Gay.

The councilman, who for 27 years has represented a district that includes downtown skyscrapers and inner-city ghettos, will be 90 on Thursday.

Gay said no one has spoken to Lindsay about city business and added that visits from council members could deprive the patient of needed rest.

“The first issue is his health, not the political considerations,” Gay said. “He won’t get the rest that he really needs. If Gil Lindsay dies prematurely, who’s going to take the responsibility?”

Gay said he does not believe that visits will help council members decide whether Lindsay is competent to remain in office. “Them looking upon him,” Gay said, “isn’t going to help them make a medical decision.”

Earlier this month, the council set in motion the possibility of Lindsay’s removal by invoking a provision in the City Charter that lets the panel vacate the office of a member who has been absent from the city for 60 days or more without the council’s consent.

On Nov. 1, the council stopped excusing Lindsay’s absences.

Holden, frustrated by what he characterized as a lack of information on Lindsay’s condition, said he would not vote Lindsay out without seeing him first.

After Holden revealed his plans to seek a court order, attorney Johnnie Cochran, who represents Lindsay’s stepson, decided to try for a compromise.

“This is not an issue to go to court over,” Cochran said. “I didn’t think it was necessary or in anybody’s best interest to fight over it.”

Cochran said he got Lindsay’s stepson, Herbert Howard, to agree that council members could visit their colleague if they made arrangements through Council President John Ferraro. Ferraro is to make sure that visits are not scheduled too close together and that Lindsay’s doctors approve.

Ferraro already was on the list of those permitted to see Lindsay, as was Mayor Tom Bradley. Both have paid visits.

Ferraro took Holden to see the councilman about a month ago without clearing the visit with anyone. Later, Ferraro said, he was asked by the family not to bring anyone along.

“I didn’t sense any communication,” Ferraro said of his three hospital visits with Lindsay. “He looked at me. His eyes were open and I don’t know if he recognized me.”

Ferraro said he thought that the visits would help him make a judgment about Lindsay’s condition if 60 days pass before Lindsay returns to the city. He added that he would want more than one medical opinion before making any decisions.

“If there’s any hope, I’d like him to have the opportunity to keep his seat,” Ferraro said.

Before the week’s end, attorney Cochran said, someone will need to try to explain the situation to Lindsay. “He needs to know, if at all possible, what’s going on.”