Winners, Losers and Vindication : Fallout: At City Hall and police headquarters, the panel’s recommendations are being measured in terms of political careers. : NEWS ANALYSIS

Warren Christopher said Tuesday that his commission focused on “structural and operational issues” rather than personalities in drafting its report, but at City Hall and Parker Center, the initial fallout also was being measured in terms of political careers.

The clear and most obvious loser, several political consultants and others said, is Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who would lose his job if the commission’s recommendations are implemented. One winner, some analysts suggested, is Mayor Tom Bradley, who called for Gates’ resignation months ago and had attempted to orchestrate his removal.

But like a coach assessing his team’s fortunes midway through a playoff series, political consultants cautioned that the struggles ahead may prove more significant than the successes and failures of the past. What looks like victory now may turn to defeat tomorrow; the star of yesterday’s game may commit a game-losing error today.

“It is going to be a fluid situation,” said Larry Berg, director of the Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. “A lot will be determined by how they behave in the process of considering the (Christopher Commission’s) recommendations. It is a very challenging thing.”

Determining winners and losers is further complicated by the intricate interweaving of recommendations by the commission. Melanie Lomax, the controversial acting president of the Police Commission and a leading critic of Gates, for example, was perceived as an instant loser because the report recommended that she step aside. She announced her resignation Tuesday afternoon.

Yet in some sense the Christopher panel vindicated Lomax in her attempts to exercise greater power over the Police Department by recommending that the Police Commission gain substantially increased authority. It also provided public confirmation of her contention that the department has racist elements, and endorsed her belief that Gates must leave.

“I was ecstatic and feel a real sense of humble vindication in terms of the vigorousness of the leadership that we had attempted to effectuate in recent months,” Lomax said.

Here are some key players and how they fared:

Chief Daryl F. Gates: Gates is perceived generally as a loser, but some analysts said the chief and his supporters can take comfort in the Christopher panel’s relatively mild handling of him. The panel could have asked for Gates’ immediate resignation, but instead recommended that he stay in office while a successor is chosen. At his news conference, Christopher refused to criticize the chief directly, and emphasized that Gates should “retire” and not resign.

“They are saying that he should stick around through the first phase of implementation, and his critics are saying that he shouldn’t be around at all,” said Republican political consultant Arnold Steinberg. “That doesn’t sound like a loser.”

Mayor Tom Bradley: Institutionally, the mayor’s office was a big winner. The Christopher panel recommended that the mayor have the authority to appoint the police chief, and it called for new powers for the Police Commission, a body appointed by the mayor. On a personal level, Bradley can take comfort in knowing that the commission sided with him on the question of Gates’ future.

Bradley, however, was not left unscathed. At the news conference, Christopher criticized the mayor for failing to give the Police Commission adequate direction over the years, and he blamed the mayor for not being more thorough in his annual review of Gates’ job performance.

Police Commissioner Melanie Lomax: By resigning immediately, Lomax left the controversy with a certain grace and dignity after having become one of its chief lightning rods. Several analysts theorized that in political terms the Christopher panel could not recommend Gates’ departure without also calling for the ouster of the tough-speaking attorney, who had become a leading voice for the chief’s critics.

“She is somewhat of a loser because of the way that she handled (her relationship with Gates), but the report is a total indictment of the way the department has been run under his tenure,” said Berg of USC. “She can feel there is some vindication in her position.”

Councilman Michael Woo: The only councilman to call for Gates’ resignation in the aftermath of the Rodney G. King beating in March, Woo has exclusive rights to an “I-told-you-so” refrain among his council colleagues. Woo, joined by newly elected council members Mark Ridley-Thomas and Rita Walters, who also are critics of Gates, positioned himself Tuesday as a leader of the post-Gates era.

Consultant Steinberg, however, said that there was nothing in the report “so daring” as to warrant Woo’s early and strident criticism of Gates and the Police Department. One veteran City Council aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed, saying that Woo alienated supporters of the chief by judging Gates even before the Christopher Commission did.

“It will hurt him if he runs for mayor,” said the aide. “As time goes on, he will look too extreme for having prejudged the situation before there was any review.”

Berg, the USC political scientist, however, described Woo as a clear winner. “He bit the bullet, for better or worse, right or wrong,” Berg said. “That is something that happens too rarely down there (at City Hall).”

Warren Christopher: Exhibiting the poise of a statesman well versed in the subtleties of diplomacy, Christopher dropped a bombshell on Los Angeles and walked away with little more than complaints of a sore throat. Christopher managed to craft a report calling for sweeping changes in the Police Department without becoming embroiled in the personal and political disputes that have marked the controversy.

“If you had to give a Golden Gut Award, Warren Christopher would be it,” said political consultant Hal Dash. “He came through a real minefield with an enhanced reputation. . . . It was a pretty gutsy report that a lot of us didn’t expect.”