Suit Planned to Block Gates’ Reinstatement

Los Angeles civil rights groups made plans to file a lawsuit today to block the reinstatement of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates as warring factions of city government prepared Sunday for a possible showdown in court.

Embattled members of the Police Commission, which removed Gates from his job last Thursday, said Sunday they were unsure whether they would go to court today to defend their action. Gates is expected to file a lawsuit in Superior Court this afternoon demanding reinstatement.

The civil rights groups, sources said, plan to proceed in a separate action with a lawsuit of their own, claiming that the City Council is illegally attempting to overrule the Police Commission.

Last Friday, one day after the commission voted to place the chief on a 60-day paid leave, the City Council ordered Gates reinstated.

Under the City Charter, the council does not have the power to overrule the Police Commission’s removal of Gates, but it does have the authority to settle lawsuits brought against the city. In its 10-3 vote on Friday, the council decided to settle Gates’ anticipated lawsuit by reinstating him.

Ramona Ripston, head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said representatives of civil rights groups mapped their legal strategy during a one-hour conference call Sunday. The groups decided to file a “taxpayer” suit, alleging that the City Council and Gates have engaged in collusion to reinstate him by settling “a phony, unreal lawsuit.”

So-called taxpayer suits normally are filed against governmental bodies by citizens who allege that tax money has been wasted. But Ripston said Sunday that the groups will allege fraud, which also can be a basis for such a suit.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said in an interview Sunday that she has agreed to be a plaintiff in the activists’ lawsuit. Mark Ridley-Thomas, on leave as director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Los Angeles branch to run for the City Council, also will be a plaintiff, he said.

“This is a mess,” said commission President Dan Garcia. “I don’t know if they have standing. Everybody’s collecting their thoughts in a variety of different ways.”

Garcia and commission member Sam Williams said Sunday they have not yet decided whether they will resign from the panel, which is appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley.

“It is not easy serving as a police commissioner in a city where the police chief controls and manipulates the City Council,” said Williams, a longtime member of the commission. He said he is considering stepping down out of frustration.

The Police Commission had placed Gates on leave pending the outcome of a wide-ranging investigation prompted by the March 3 police beating of Rodney G. King, which was captured on videotape by an amateur cameraman and televised around the world.

Garcia said he, too, is frustrated, but sounded a conciliatory note. “If the chief is restored, we will try to work with him,” he said. “All this political fighting among . . . city government is dispiriting. Our intent was to remove Chief Gates . . . so that we could not make him the issue, so we could get down to the real work.”

If Gates wins a court order today, Garcia added, “we will clearly comply with it.”

Garcia said the commission had not decided on Sunday whether to challenge the proposed settlement in court today. He added that he had not spoken with the mayor or his staff in several days and said the commission was not being advised on the matter by the mayor’s office.

Bradley called for the chief’s resignation last Tuesday, but has said he is not attempting to influence the actions of the commission, a civilian panel that oversees and sets policy for the department.

Jay Grodin, one of Gates’ attorneys, said the chief’s lawsuit will allege that he was illegally removed from his job and will name the city and the Police Commission as defendants.

“This could conceivably be all put to bed tomorrow,” Grodin said.

A representative of the city attorney’s office is expected to be in court today at the direction of the City Council to settle the lawsuit immediately.

Grodin said he doubts that the civil rights groups will succeed with their lawsuit because they lack legal standing in the matter.

The suit that civil rights groups plan to file also will name City Atty. James K. Hahn as a defendant, Ripston said.

“Jimmy Hahn has acted illegally and is guilty of a conflict of interest because he advised the commission and now is advising the City Council and, to some extent, Gates,” Ripston said.

Mike Qualls, a spokesman for Hahn, said Sunday there was no conflict of interest. “We advise every city entity. That’s our job,” he said. “We maintained a position of neutrality. The advice we gave the Police Commission was general in nature.”

Meanwhile, at a rally in South-Central Los Angeles on Sunday, Bradley was applauded and cheered for his stand on the Gates controversy.

“It’s not what I said or did that brought about the misery in this city,” Bradley told a crowd of about 400 at the Afro-American Community Unity Center. Waters also was cheered when she called for Gates to step down.

The crowd turned hostile, however, when Councilman Nate Holden tried to speak. Holden, who is seeking reelection Tuesday, has been a staunch supporter of the Police Department and has refused to call for Gates’ resignation. One man yelled that Holden was a “sellout,” another called him an “Uncle Tom” and others interrupted him with shouts that he was “jiving” them.

Times staff writer Henry Weinstein contributed to this story.