Replacing Lindsay Attacked by Mayor : City Council: Bradley said the city attorney’s proposal to allow a temporary successor is ‘wholly unsupported by law.’

Saying he was “astonished,” Mayor Tom Bradley on Wednesday denounced a proposal by City Atty. James K. Hahn to appoint a temporary replacement for ailing Councilman Gilbert Lindsay.

In a letter to Hahn, Bradley urged the Los Angeles City Council to disregard the city attorney’s advice as “gratuitous and wholly unsupported by law.”

The mayor did not propose a particular course of action, but said that if council members wanted to remove their incapacitated colleague they should draft a City Charter amendment that would empower them to do so. Such an amendment would require voter approval.

On Monday, Hahn issued a 14-page opinion which concluded that the council has the power to appoint a temporary replacement for Lindsay without removing him from office.

The opinion surprised council members, who had been acting on the assumption that the City Charter barred such an action and left little legal room to maneuver.

Lindsay, 90, a 27-year veteran of the council, has been hospitalized since Sept. 2, when he suffered a stroke in his South-Central Los Angeles home. He has remained partially paralyzed and unable to speak, a situation that has left his 9th District without representation on the 15-member council. His district incorporates South-Central and downtown Los Angeles.

Bradley’s strongly worded letter adds to a growing chorus of criticism of Hahn’s proposal.

“I am writing because I was astonished by your recommendation,” Bradley said, adding that Lindsay has served the city “with dignity and distinction since 1963.”

Bradley said Lindsay had told him and others over the last year that he had no intention of retiring before his term was up or of choosing a successor to be appointed to fill out his term.

“For the council to act contrary to that expressed will would do violence to the dignity with which Gilbert Lindsay has served,” Bradley said.

Hahn’s “reach for a legal theory” was not supported in the charter and “seems uncalled for,” he said.

A spokesman for Hahn said “it appears that the mayor and his staff either didn’t read the report very carefully or just didn’t understand it.”

The report “clearly states,” the spokesman said, that Lindsay would remain in office, and it also urged that the City Charter be amended to allow for the removal of any incapacitated council members in the future.

If the council takes Bradley’s advice and rejects Hahn’s plan, it would be a setback for Bob Gay, Lindsay’s longtime deputy, who hopes to succeed Lindsay. Bradley is known to have serious differences with Gay, according to council sources. A delay in filling Lindsay’s seat would give challengers time to raise money and mount campaigns.

Gay could not be reached for comment.

Several council members came forward Wednesday to say they, too, object to Hahn’s proposal.

“It sounds very undemocratic,” Councilwoman Gloria Molina said. Echoing the sentiments of other council members, Molina said she wanted information from Lindsay’s doctor about his condition and prognosis so that the council can assess whether Lindsay is likely to recover sufficiently to return. Any decision on how to proceed “should be made in concert with residents of the area,” she said.

“I do not think the rest of the council members can determine for the residents of that district without involving them,” Molina said. “Otherwise, it’s a very cold and very calculating and very ruthless process.”

Councilman Ernani Bernardi said he also disagreed with Hahn’s opinion. “We can’t appoint anyone to vote,” Bernardi said. “There is no provision in the charter. . . . If we appoint someone, the other 20 candidates who want his job will yowl.”

Bernardi said the seat he filled when he was first elected to the council in 1961 had been vacant for the previous five months because his predecessor was elected to Congress.

“It’s all in Lindsay’s hands,” Bernardi said. “It’s his seat and we can’t take it away from him. . . . Gil Lindsay is going to be the councilman until July 1, 1993, no matter what we do.”

“He’s not authorized to do it under the charter,” City Councilman Nate Holden said. “The charter specifically states that there should be only 15 council members, not 16.”

Holden said he disagrees with Hahn’s contention that appointing a council member could be justified under a court decision that allowed the appointment of a superior court judge to replace a judge called to active military duty.

The difference, Holden said, is that the state Constitution specifically provides that the Legislature can authorize additional superior court judges, but that the City Charter says nothing about additional council members. “The council can’t do anything,” Holden said.