Bradley Blunder : Mayor Signs Measure He Intended to Veto; It Would Boost Council’s Power

Signing an ordinance he had intended to veto, Mayor Tom Bradley unintentionally placed on the June ballot a measure that would give the Los Angeles City Council greater authority over the boards and commissions that he appoints, officials said Tuesday.

Whether the measure will stay on the ballot became questionable after the mayor realized his mistake and attempted to undo it with a veto.

A Bradley spokesman said the mayor issued the belated veto on the advice of City Atty. James K. Hahn.

But City Clerk Elias Martinez said that as far as he is concerned, the measure will remain on the ballot unless he is instructed otherwise by the city attorney or the council. Neither has contacted him, he said.

The city attorney’s office refused to comment on the matter, saying its advice to Bradley is privileged.

Council members who earlier in the afternoon were gleeful over the mayor’s error expressed confusion by day’s end.

“He can’t do that,” complained Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. “It doesn’t make sense. We may have to hire our own attorney. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

The proposed charter amendment would chip away at Bradley’s authority, giving the council the power to review and overrule decisions made by the commissions that oversee the city’s powerful semiautonomous departments such as those covering the harbor, the airport and water and power.

Bradley has written a ballot argument denouncing the amendment in case it remains on the ballot. He calls the measure a “naked power grab by the politicians” that would allow the council to “raid the treasury” of the DWP, among other departments, to balance the city’s budget.

“It would give the council control over billions of dollars in contracts now awarded on the merits by citizen commissions,” Bradley said.

Bradley vetoed a similar measure last year and the council had anticipated a veto this year, which the amendment’s backers hoped they could override.

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who sponsored the measure this year, said she is uncertain what will happen in light of Bradley’s veto attempt. “I don’t know what there is at this point to veto,” Flores said.

Flores said she believes the City Charter gives the mayor 10 days to act on ordinances sent by the City Council and once he has acted the matter is out of his hands.

Ordinances dealing with elections, Flores said, take effect as soon as they are published. The ordinance was published Monday in the Daily Journal, a legal newspaper.

Bill Chandler, a spokesman for Bradley, said the mayor signed the measure last week when it was mistakenly included in a number of documents placed on his desk for his signature.

Chandler said the city attorney had since advised Bradley that could rescind his action any time within 10 days of receiving the ordinance from the council. The council sent the measure to Bradley on March 6.

The error was discovered on Monday, when Anton Calleia, a top adviser to Bradley, began to prepare a veto message and summoned the file on the ordinance from the City Clerk’s office. To his surprise, he found that Bradley had approved the measure.

“I’m at a loss to explain what the hell happened,” said Calleia, who reviews all documents sent to the mayor for his signature. “It’s an actual screw-up. I don’t know how it got past me.”

Council members had revived the measure this year after Bradley agreed to an ordinance giving the council greater authority over the huge Community Redevelopment Agency.

Some on the council thought Bradley might drop his opposition to the proposed ballot measure in light of his action on the CRA.

The council had threatened to take over the CRA entirely after the agency’s board of commissioners, appointed by Bradley, agreed to a $1.7-million severance package for departing administrator John Tuite.

The measure would permit the council to review decisions of the independent agencies on a case-by-case basis. The measure affects the airport, harbor, library, recreation and parks, and water and power departments and the Board of Zoning Appeals, all of which are governed by panels appointed by Bradley.

Under the amendment, the council would have five days to request a review of any board action. The council then has 21 days to reverse the action or it becomes final.

SIGNED BY MISTAKE

On March 7, Mayor Tom Bradley authorized placing on the ballot a City Charter amendment that would increase the City Council’s control over semi-autonomous departments, such as those covering the port and airport. Earlier, the mayor had vetoed such a city coucil measure, calling it a “naked power grab.” On Tuesday, the mayor notified the city clerk that he inadvertantly authorized the measure and sent out a veto notice.