Commissioners Lomax, Williams Offer Resignations : Panel: Senior members were the only two to participate in controversial vote to put Chief Gates on involuntary leave.

Police Commissioners Melanie Lomax and Sam Williams offered their resignations to Mayor Tom Bradley on Tuesday, capping a roller-coaster day in which the independent panel that investigated the Los Angeles Police Department hinted that the entire commission should step aside in “the interests of harmony and healing.”

Lomax, who has been a central figure in the drama surrounding the future of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, announced her decision in an emotional statement during the Police Commission’s regular Tuesday meeting. Williams’ move was made public by Bradley during a press conference.

Both commissioners called for the departure of Gates, whom the independent panel also said should step down. Lomax termed Gates’ decision to stay in office “myopic” and “standard Gates,” and suggested that the chief follow her example “of placing the interests of the city and the department above personal interests.”

Lomax, the acting president, and Williams, whose 18-year tenure is the commission’s longest, are the only two commissioners on the five-member panel who participated in the controversial vote to put Gates on involuntary leave. The other three were appointed after that vote.

Lomax and Williams thus became the first casualties of the report by the Christopher Commission, the blue-ribbon panel that conducted an unprecedented examination of the LAPD in the wake of the police beating of Rodney G. King.

While the Christopher report recommended that the Police Commission be given additional authority and staff, it also said that the current police board damaged its credibility with the City Council when it tried and failed to place Gates on administrative leave.

The Christopher Commission hit hardest at those police commissioners who participated in that decision, stating that they should leave office. In addition, Commission Chairman Warren Christopher said the intent of the report was to have all the police commissioners step aside so that Bradley and the City Council could begin with a fresh slate if they choose to.

“It’s a different ballgame now,” said Raymond C. Fisher, a Christopher Commission staff attorney. “The mayor is going to have to evaluate who is appropriate for playing under the new rules.”

It was not clear Tuesday what the other three commissioners will do. Stanley Sheinbaum said he did not think the recommendations applied to him. Michael Yamaki said he was “willing to do anything that all the parties involved think will help the city.” The newest commissioner, Anthony de los Reyes, is out of town.

Lomax and Williams will stay on until they can be replaced, said Bradley. He praised them for acting “to promote the harmony and healing sought by the Christopher Commission.” Council President John Ferraro also praised the resignations, calling them “a step in the right direction.”

In her statement at the Police Commission meeting, Lomax said she had consulted with the mayor and had “searched my own conscience and my heart” before deciding to leave the office she has held for less than a year. She said she did not want to stand in the way of reforms suggested by the Christopher panel--reforms she said she supports.

“I do not wish my continuing presence on the board to be in any way an obstacle to those very goals to which I have dedicated my tenure as a police commissioner,” she said, reading aloud from her letter to the mayor. “I am prepared to make any sacrifice necessary to further those ideals and to promote true healing within the city of Los Angeles.”

Since the March 3 King beating, the Police Commission--and Lomax in particular--have been at the center of the controversy almost as often as Gates himself. Commissioners created a stir when they tried to put Gates on involuntary leave and again when they went to court to try to block the City Council from overturning that decision.

The commission lost that legal battle and is now appealing the decision. Lomax became the target of criticism when it was revealed that she had given a civil rights group copies of confidential legal memos provided to the Police Commission by the city attorney. She maintained she had a right to release the documents; her critics accused her of “leaking” information to Gates’ foes.

Her resignation drew cheers from Gates supporters. Eric Rose, a founder of CISCOP--Citizens in Support of the Chief of Police--was gleeful, saying, “I think you will hear the Champagne corks popping at Parker Center,” the LAPD’s downtown headquarters.

But Lomax, a vigorous advocate of the rights of minorities, won praise from Geoffrey Taylor Gibbs of the John M. Langston Bar Assn., a group representing 900 black lawyers. “It shows that she puts the future of the Police Department and the citizens of this city first,” Gibbs said. “We hope that Chief Gates will do the same.”

For the Police Commission, the Christopher report was a double-edged sword. While it meant personal sacrifice for Lomax and Williams, the report also gave the commission exactly what it has been seeking--an endorsement for increasing its authority, for a larger staff, for greater control over the citizen complaint process, and for hiring a civilian, rather than a sworn officer, as its chief executive.

In that respect, commissioners said they were extremely pleased.

Lomax, despite her resignation, said she was “ecstatic,” and feels “a real sense of humble vindication.”

Sheinbaum--who with three months’ tenure will be the most senior commissioner after the departure of Williams and Lomax--said he believes the additional funding and staff will help strengthen the Police Commission, which in recent years has failed to exercise its authority. “I think it’s long overdue,” he said.