King Case Sparks Start of Mayoral Race

Forced to life by the uproar over the police beating of Rodney G. King, the 1993 campaign for mayor of Los Angeles is off to a premature start that has potential candidates scrambling to gauge public sentiment and mark out positions on the controversy.

Nearly a dozen politicians--including several City Council members and a state legislator--have begun assessing their chances of unseating or succeeding Mayor Tom Bradley in two years, according to interviews conducted during the last three weeks.

Some potential candidates have lined up behind Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, calculating that the majority of voters worry more about crime than police misconduct. Others have stayed away from the controversy entirely and only one, Councilman Michael Woo, has taken an anti-Gates stand, which could sharply distinguish him from the rest of the early field.

City Council members were conspicuously silent about Gates for nearly a month after the March 3 beating of King. But the pressure to confront the issue increased after Woo’s call for Gates’ resignation in late March and the Police Commission’s decision to place Gates on leave April 4.

“They were waiting to see which way the wind was blowing and just how much of a calamity things were,” said Arnold Steinberg, a political pollster and consultant. Most of the potential candidates, he said, “right now probably see caution as more advantageous to them.”

Some political strategists and mayoral hopefuls said privately that the municipal power struggle over the tenure of Gates has highlighted what they view as the declining influence of Bradley in his fifth term.

Despite a personal plea, Bradley was unable to keep the City Council from reinstating Gates last month in a stinging rebuke to the mayor’s appointed Police Commission. Gates has ignored Bradley’s public requests that he resign.

Bradley has said he believes his popularity has rebounded after questions about his personal finances dogged him in 1989, which he calls “the worst year of my life.”

The King case apparently has had only a minimal effect on Bradley’s popularity, according to Los Angeles Times polls, which showed the mayor had a 57% approval rating in late March, a slight dip from his 61% rating early in the controversy.

The poll found that 31% of Los Angeles residents wanted Gates to resign immediately and another 31% thought he should resign if an investigation found that his officers committed wrongdoing.

Some at City Hall say that a lingering battle with Gates and the council could again send Bradley’s approval rating plunging and could be a factor in his decision on whether to seek reelection.

Bradley, who will be 75 in 1993, would not discuss whether he will seek an unprecedented sixth term--a decision that will be a key factor in influencing who will get into the race.

Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani said that Bradley took a “very tough stand on a very tough issue,” but acknowledged that the continuing crisis over the King beating could eventually hurt the mayor’s image.

“It is never good to be in a situation that you don’t fully control,” Fabiani said. “It is never good to create the impression that there is a crisis in the leadership of the city among the mayor, the City Council and the Police Commission.”

Woo is alone among Bradley’s potential challengers in calling for the chief’s resignation. From his base in a district that includes Hollywood and Studio City, Woo is staking out a liberal constituency and has seized upon the Gates controversy as a means of entree to the black community, according to fellow council members, aides and political analysts. On Easter Sunday, he visited three black community churches to speak about the Gates controversy.

Woo also has hired political strategist Vicky Rideout to work on his City Hall staff as an issues adviser. Rideout worked for former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis in his presidential bid, former California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp in his bid for the 1990 Democratic gubernatorial nomination and Dianne Feinstein in her race for governor against Pete Wilson.

“I am very seriously interested,” Woo said of the 1993 mayoral race. “But two years is a very long time in politics. I don’t know that any of the episodes in the LAPD matter will be remembered very distinctly two years from now.”

Still, Woo said, he viewed the controversy over Gates’ tenure as a “rare opportunity to take a stance” on an issue of extraordinary citywide importance.

Woo also drew attention earlier this month by suggesting in an appearance before the independent commission investigating the Police Department that a new civilian review board may be necessary to probe misconduct complaints.

Mike Roos, the former Speaker Pro Tem of the California Assembly who is frequently mentioned as a mayoral candidate, said that Woo’s vocal stand on the police controversy is a sign of his “increasing ambition” to run for mayor in 1993.

“Mike Woo used the opportunity of the deafening silence from the City Council,” Roos said, “to distinguish himself from the other members” in the police controversy. Roos said he is taking no position on Gates at this time.

Roos, a Los Angeles Democrat, resigned last March from his Assembly seat to head a nonprofit group organized to improve Los Angeles schools. The new position could bring him higher visibility in the Los Angeles area and fueled speculation he was positioning himself to run for mayor in 1993.

Roos said he is not contemplating a run for mayor, but refused to rule it out.

“Officially,” Roos said, “I’m saying that I’ve signed a three-year contract (with the nonprofit group) that I intend on fulfilling.”

Like Roos, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), another frequently mentioned mayoral candidate, has kept his distance from the police controversy.

Katz said this month that he is seriously considering a run for mayor in 1993.

“I was born in Los Angeles,” Katz said, “but I am not happy with the way the city has grown up in the last couple of years. I don’t think growth has been handled right.”

Katz, who has proposed turning the Los Angeles River into a freeway, said he is working on developing a “vision of what Los Angeles will be like in the future.”

In addition to Woo, at least four council members are said to be considering mayoral bids in 1993.

Councilman Nate Holden, who ran against Bradley two years ago, said he is pondering another attempt. Holden, a supporter of Gates, said last month that most of the voters in his central Los Angeles district share the sentiment.

Holden’s strong support of the Police Department predates the King case. Last year, he fought hard for foot patrols, a popular position with constituents in crime-ridden areas of his district. And just days before the King beating, Holden made an unsuccessful attempt to derail a proposed management audit of the Police Department.

But the pro-police stand comes at a political cost to Holden, who could be the only black candidate in the 1993 race if Bradley decides not to run. Holden was denounced and heckled last month during an anti-Gates rally at which Bradley was warmly received.

Council members Joy Picus, Zev Yaroslavsky, Richard Alatorre and Joan Milke Flores--all potential mayoral candidates--also have shown varying degrees of support for the chief and voted for a legal settlement that reinstated Gates in his job after the Police Commission placed him on a 60-day paid leave of absence.

Picus, who took a lead role in denouncing the Police Commission’s action, said she is “looking at” a possible mayoral campaign in 1993.

Picus said her stand on the Gates matter is “very popular” in her west San Fernando Valley district and throughout the Valley. “But it wouldn’t buy me a lot of votes for mayor in South-Central Los Angeles,” she added.

Whether Bradley decides to run again will have no bearing on her decision, she said. “I think we deferred to him last time and saw that we made a mistake.”

In recent months, Picus, a liberal on numerous social issues, has begun to advocate proposals that could make her a more appealing candidate to conservatives. In a move that got her citywide attention, Picus suggested a privatization plan under which the city would sell off the airport to raise revenue and help balance the budget.

Flores, who represents a district that includes Watts and San Pedro, said she too may run for mayor in 1993. “Given the right circumstances, it’s something I would consider,” she said.

“There’s been a lot of focus on this race,” Flores said, “probably more than any time since Yorty.” Bradley unseated former Mayor Sam Yorty in 1973.

Flores has been at the forefront of an effort to gain more control of the city’s commissions and has sponsored a June 4 ballot measure that would give the council the authority to overrule the Police Commission and other panels appointed by the mayor.

Last November, Flores won 40.5% of the vote in an unsuccessful bid to unseat longtime Secretary of State March Fong Eu, who had been the state’s top vote-getter.

Yaroslavsky--who set out to challenge Bradley in 1989, but withdrew several months before the primary--is said by his colleagues to be considering a run. Throughout his career, he has been both a critic and a supporter of the Police Department, objecting to what he viewed as illegal police spying, but also advocating beefed-up patrols, a popular position in his well-to-do Westside district.

In the recent controversy, he has strongly criticized the Police Commission for attempting to remove the chief before investigations of the King incident are completed.

Yaroslavsky said he has made no decision on the 1993 race, but has not ruled it out.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, a frequent ally of the mayor, said he may run for Bradley’s job. “I’m thinking about it,” Alatorre said. “It’s a possibility.”

Alatorre parted with Bradley on the Gates issue, voting to reinstate the chief, but he has been less vocal about his position than other council members. Alatorre represents a largely Latino district in East Los Angeles, where the reaction to the King beating has not been as vociferous as it has in black areas.

Some City Hall insiders said Gloria Molina, the former councilwoman who became Los Angeles County’s first Latina supervisor earlier this year, could also mount a serious mayoral campaign in 1993. In her new county position, Molina has stayed away from the city’s police controversy. She did not return telephone calls about a possible mayoral bid.

Gates’ face-off with the mayor over the King case has renewed speculation that he may enter the 1993 race. For years, Gates has been exploring a run for public office. Gates said: “No comment,” when asked about the matter, according to Officer Ron Lawrence, a police spokesman.

The King case also has placed a spotlight on possible mayoral ambitions of City Atty. James K. Hahn, who attacked Bradley last month for taking a two-week trip to the Far East while the controversy simmered.

The attack by the usually low-key Hahn was seen by many, including Bradley’s staff, as a sign that Hahn was establishing himself as a candidate for mayor, an assertion that he denies.

“I am not a candidate for mayor,” Hahn said, “but everyone keeps talking to me about it. I am very close to absolutely ruling it out. It’s certainly not something I daydream about.”

Instead, Hahn said, he would like to run for attorney general someday.

As city attorney, Hahn has played an integral role in advising the City Council and Police Commission, but he has avoided making statements about Gates.

The controversy, he said, may be setting the stage for an outsider to win the mayor’s office in 1993. “I think the turmoil in City Hall damages all of the people in City Hall, including myself, in the eyes of the public,” Hahn said.

The 1993 Mayor’s Race Shapes Up

About a dozen politicians already have begun assessing their chances of unseating or succeeding Mayor Tom Bradley in the 1993 Los Angeles elections, interviews show. A number of them have staked out positions on the controversy surrounding the police beating of Rodney G. King and the tenure of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, while others have stayed out of the furor.

Richard Alatorre: A frequent ally of the mayor, the councilman parted with Bradley on the Gates issue.

Tom Bradley: Mayor’s decision on whether to seek a sixth term will be key factor in determining who gets in the race.

Joan Mike Flores: Councilwoman won 40.5% of the vote in unsuccessful effort to become secretary of state.

Daryl F. Gates: Battle with Bradley has renewed speculation about chief’s candidacy. He has long explored possibility of running for office.

James K. Hahn: His criticism of mayor’s trip to Far East was seen by some as a sign the city attorney is moving to become a candidate in 1993.

Nate Holden: Councilman ran against Bradley two years ago.

Richard Katz: State assemblyman says he is seriously considering running in 1993.

Gloria Molina: Has stayed away from King controversy in her role as new county supervisor.

Joy Picus: Councilwoman took the lead in denouncing Police Commission action against Gates.

Mike Roos: Resigned from state Assembly to head a group organized to improve Los Angeles schools.

Michael Woo: City councilman is the only potential candidate to call for resignation of Gates.

Zev Yaroslavsky: Has strongly criticized Police commission for trying to remove Gates before investigations are complete.