Support Fades for Deal on Election, Gates’ Departure : Police: The chief’s remarks on staying on the job possibly until 1993 alter the outlook. No consensus appears to be forming to back any alternative plan.

As the prospect of a year-end retirement for Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates faded further Sunday, City Hall support weakened for a deal linking his resignation to a special election on police reforms.

Council members and aides to Mayor Tom Bradley said that in light of the chief’s remarks Saturday that he intends to stay in office through 1992 and possibly into 1993, it is unlikely that they will allow Gates to dictate the terms of his transition out of office by tying it to the special election implementing some of the reforms recommended last week by the Christopher Commission.

While support had clearly eroded for the deal crafted by Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Joel Wachs, there did not appear to be a consensus forming to back any alternative. Even Gates’ foes offered divergent views on how to remove the chief and put the reforms in place.

“People are trying to figure out what to do and the best way to do it--not only council people but civil liberties leaders,” said newly elected Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, a civil rights advocate who made ousting Gates a major part of his campaign. “Our best thinking probably is not being done because . . . the chief of police keeps engaging in these tactics that effectively derail reasoned approaches.”

A spokesman for Bradley, who had endorsed the Ferraro-Wachs plan, said all bets are now off. “The mayor’s tentative agreement . . . was contingent on the chief’s announcement that he would retire by year’s end,” said Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani. “Now that agreement doesn’t seem to exist.”

Even Councilwoman Joy Picus, a staunch Gates ally who was one of the few council members to give unqualified support to the deal on Friday, said that without a firm commitment on retirement from Gates, “There’s no reason to race to the ballot. . . . The special election was contingent on Chief Gates retiring shortly.”

In the minority community, opposition was building to the special election because it would be narrowly focused on only a few of the Christopher Commission’s recommendations--limiting the police chief to two five-year terms and eliminating his Civil Service protection. Several said they feared Gates and his supporters would use the election as a referendum on the chief.

“I think (Gates) wants to make it a single issue so that there is a clear cut victory for the chief,” said Melanie Lomax, who announced her resignation from the Police Commission Tuesday but remains its acting president until Bradley names a successor. “I can think of no course of action that would be more divisive to this community than to have an election that is about Daryl Gates.”

“One of the fears is that he (Chief Gates) wants to dictate to the city how he is going to leave--on what terms and when,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “I get the feeling that whatever support he has had is eroding.”

Still, Ferraro said he spoke with the chief on Sunday and was assured that the agreement stands.

On Sunday, Gates told The Times: “I’m not setting a date. I can’t set a date. I don’t know when the council is going to get this thing on the ballot. I don’t know how long a search is going to take. But I’ve said over and over again--and they agree--let the process go forward, let’s stop all this nonsense.”

“It’ll work out,” Ferraro said. “But there will be some bumpy roads ahead.”

Indeed, this week’s events promise to be every bit as tumultuous as those of last week when the Christopher Commission released its 228-page report recommending a fundamental restructuring of the LAPD, including curbs on the power of the chief, shifts in department philosophy, changes in the training and disciplining of officers and the transition of power to a new chief. The commission was appointed to investigate the department after the videotaped police beating of black motorist Rodney G. King by white officers on March 3.

* Ferraro said he will go ahead Tuesday and introduce a motion calling for a special election to be held in December at which time voters will consider placing a limit of two five-year terms in office on police chiefs.

* Councilman Michael Woo said that on Tuesday he will ask the Police Commission to consider whether the findings of the Christopher Commission are sufficient grounds for firing Gates. Ripston has asked for the same thing. “They can certainly bring charges against him now,” she said Sunday.

* Woo and other City Hall sources said sentiment is building for a ballot initiative that would package all of the Christopher Commission’s proposed reforms on the June ballot. This would eliminate the need to subject some of the reforms to negotiation with the Police Protective League, the union that represents officers.

* Bradley is expected to send to the Police Commission a list of Christopher Commission reforms that he wants implemented right away and the commission is expected to begin work on the reforms at its meeting Tuesday.

* Also Tuesday, the Police Commission will ask Gates how he plans to discipline 300 problem officers identified by the Christopher Commission, according to Lomax. She said commissioners will also question the chief about the reassignment of Deputy Chief David Dotson, after disclosures that he made statements critical of Gates’ management to the Christopher Commission. “The Police Commission would like to avoid any form of retaliation against officers who cooperated with the Christopher Commission,” said Lomax.

* On Wednesday, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee will begin hearings on the Christopher Commission findings, with testimony of the commission chairman, former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

The deal with Gates was intended to enable the Christopher Commission reforms to go through while allowing the 64-year-old chief to maintain his dignity as he stepped down from the job he has held for 13 years. On Sunday, council members complained that Gates’ actions were preventing a respectable departure.

“I support the notion of allowing the chief to exit with grace and/or dignity,” said Ridley-Thomas, “but the chief himself makes that virtually impossible when he continues to act in such undignified ways.”

As support for the deal with Gates faded, the talk behind closed doors at City Hall and among community and business leaders turned, in some quarters at least, to the possibility of a voters’ initiative to place the entire package of Christopher Commission recommendations on the ballot.

Under such a plan, initiative supporters would have to collect sufficient signatures to place the measure on next June’s primary ballot. Because the measure technically would originate with the voters rather than the council, requirements that the reforms be subject to labor negotiations would be waived. Some fear such negotiations could drag out the reform process for years.

“There may be no choice but to proceed with an initiative,” said Woo. “There’s a sense of resignation that the council is not prepared to live up to its obligation” and deal effectively with the Christopher Commission’s findings, he said.

Joseph Duff, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, criticized the council for considering an initiative, saying it is up to council members to put the reforms on the ballot. He fears the council is attempting to shirk its responsibility.

“The City Council (is) simply talking about matters of their own convenience rather than anything else,” said Duff. “I think they are worried about their vacations and these kinds of things. . . . Any kind of talk that puts it on the shelf I think we have to oppose.”

Duff called for a special election in December. “You’re talking about waiting until next June if you don’t go in December and this report will be dusty and have no momentum if you wait a year to put these things into effect. We ought to take care of this when we have a chance to take care of it.”

Picus said an initiative “is a very expensive and very demanding process” that may be difficult to arrange.

The Christopher Commission package calls for a variety of Charter changes that would affect not only the chief of police, but also the Police Commission and the LAPD’s procedure for disciplining officers.

These changes include, but are not limited to: giving the Police Commission standing to sue so that it can better exercise it oversight responsibilities; exempting the commission from a recent Charter amendment that gives the City Council authority to overturn the panel’s decisions; giving police administrators the power to punish officers by demoting them, and allowing administrators to use evidence from past, unsubstantiated complaints to prove new allegations of officer misconduct.

Picus said that putting the entire package of recommendations on one ballot may make its passage difficult.

“The more things you put in there, the more reasons people have to vote no,” said Picus, who favors separating the issues of police chief terms from other structural changes in the department.

But any ballot measure, she said, will hinge on Gates’ involvement.

“If the chief is neutral, it will pass,” said Picus. “If he marshals opposition, forget about it.”

Despite calls from Woo and Ripston for the Police Commission to use the Christopher report to discipline Gates, both Lomax and Police Commissioner Stanley Sheinbaum hinted that is unlikely. Lomax noted that Gates still has strong support on the City Council, which in April overturned the commission’s controversial attempt to place the chief on involuntary leave.

Sheinbaum said the police board will consider possible disciplinary action, but will move with caution. “Yes, the Christopher Commission report is, in a sense, a bill of particulars that could be used (against the chief),” he said. “But this is a major move. You just don’t quickly and too easily--without getting your ducks in line--make a move like that.”

Added Lomax: “I can only tell you that the Police Commission was all but annihilated the last time the question was even raised.”

What They Said

“There’s no reason to race to the ballot. . . . The special election was contingent on Chief Gates retiring shortly.’

--Councilwoman Joy Picus

“I’m not setting a date. I can’t set a date. I don’t know when the council is going to get this thing on the ballot. I don’t know how long a search is going to take. But I’ve said over and over again--and they agree--let the process go forward, let’s stop all this nonsense.’

--Police Chief Daryl F. Gates

“The mayor’s tentative agreement . . . was contingent on the chief’s announcement that he would retire by year’s end. Now that agreement doesn’t seem to exist.’

--Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani