Solutions to an Outrage : Shameless jockeying and grandstanding around the ailing Lindsay

Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, who was paralyzed by a stroke three months ago, cannot speak and, according to his stepson, does not recognize people who visit him in the hospital. He clearly cannot represent the people of the 9th District, but the city Charter currently provides no mechanism to remove incapacitated members.

While Lindsay was hospitalized in Inglewood, his colleagues were set to remove him on a technicality--60 days of unexcused absences from the city. It was a compassionate, necessary step.

Now his family has moved the 90-year-old councilman to a hospital in Los Angeles. Moving Lindsay may protect him from removal, but it does nothing to provide representation for poor residents of his downtown-area district.

Lindsay’s sad situation demands a change in the city Charter, and the council Friday finally took the first steps toward doing just that. Council President John Ferraro and Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores called for the establishment of a process that would allow the council to replace a member who is incapacitated; the emphasis would be on whether a member was actually performing job duties. Specific language will be worked out for voter approval, probably in April.

No one, certainly not his unrepresented constituents, gains if the incapacitated Lindsay remains in office.

Without legal guidance, the political operators have been free to surround the ailing councilman and prop him up for their own purposes. Even the most inveterate cynics are appalled at the shameless jockeying and grandstanding by some of his “friends” and colleagues. Many really do care about the welfare of the veteran councilman. But there are some who are motivated by concern not for the man but for how his power will be reallocated.

There is only one way for this pathetic saga to end nobly: a timely charter change. Indeed, considering the long tenures of many local officials, it’s an idea that ought to be pursued at several municipal and county levels.