Last Panelist Selected for Seat on Police Commission : Law enforcement: Yaroslavsky also says a newly discovered City Charter provision allows the board to force Chief Gates to retire for the good of the department.

Mayor Tom Bradley filled the final vacancy on the Los Angeles Police Commission on Friday, his last move in a reconstruction process aimed at girding the beleaguered panel to remodel the Los Angeles Police Department from the top down.

In a related development, a City Council member said his staff has discovered a provision of the City Charter that, it appears, would allow the Police Commission to force Chief Daryl F. Gates into retirement “for the good of (the) department”--and without being required to offer proof he had done anything wrong.

“This is one of the best-kept secrets in the City Charter,” said City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who credited his chief of staff with the discovery. “It is amazing that no one has pointed this out heretofore. Whether (the Police Commission) wants to exercise this power is another question, but that nobody knew that it was available is really mind-boggling.”

Bradley, at an afternoon press conference, announced that he was nominating Ann Reiss Lane, a 61-year-old Hancock Park resident who has served on the city Fire Commission for the last 13 years, to fill a seat that will be vacated by the police board’s controversial acting president, Melanie Lomax.

Lane’s nomination came just two days after the mayor selected Jesse Brewer--a former assistant police chief who was critical of the department and Gates before the Christopher Commission--to fill another vacancy on the police board.

If the two nominations are confirmed by the City Council, Bradley will have cleansed the Police Commission of any members who participated in a controversial vote to place Gates on involuntary leave. He also will have placed on the five-member panel two people who agree that Gates, as recommended by the Christopher Commission, should take steps at once to begin stepping down.

To that end, sources close to Gates said Friday that the chief had drafted a tentative letter of retirement that links his departure only to the hiring of a new chief--and not to a special election on LAPD Charter reforms proposed by the Christopher Commission.

According to the sources, Gates has shown the draft to a few key players in the tortuous negotiations to secure a firm departure date and plans to consult with his family this weekend before deciding whether to formally submit the letter at City Hall.

While he did not set a date in the letter, sources said, the chief was not opposed to city officials starting the selection process immediately and indicated that he intends to step down as soon as a successor is chosen. He expressed no desire to be involved in the selection process, according to the sources, and set no other conditions for his retirement.

If the conditions as described held fast, it would mark a significant departure from a deal that City Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Joel Wachs said last week that they had struck with Gates. They said Gates had agreed to link his retirement to a council decision to place the LAPD reforms before voters. The council has not decided whether to hold a special election.

Gates, speaking through a department spokesman, would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the letter.

The selection of Lane--who described herself as a peacemaker-was praised by City Council members and other police commissioners. The officials said they hoped the new appointee would help ease contentious relations between the commission and Gates. Both Lane and Brewer face council confirmation votes.

Lane has served three times as president of the city’s Board of Fire Commissioners. During her tenure, she has pressed for the hiring and promotion of female firefighters. She is also involved in issues affecting housing and the homeless.

“I must say I feel a certain amount of anxiety,” Lane told a press conference after the mayor had telephoned her to propose the job. Cradled in her arm was a copy of the report by the Christopher Commission, the panel that has recommended sweeping changes within the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I carry with me a copy of the Christopher Commission report merely to indicate to you that I am committed to the implementation of these recommendations,” she said.

Lane was Bradley’s second choice for the police board opening. The mayor acknowledged that he had asked Andrea Ordin, a former U.S. attorney who served on the Christopher Commission, to accept the job.

But Ordin, who now works in private practice and was recently elected president of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., turned down the offer.

Bradley praised Lane’s efforts in opening up the Fire Department to women and minorities.

“She has demonstrated a great ability to literally change the way in which a department operates,” the mayor said.

Council members were pleased not only with the choice of Lane, but also with the mayor’s promptness in finding a replacement for Lomax, who has angered many members during the aftermath of the March 3 police beating of Rodney G. King.

“This is an important step of good faith,” said Wachs.

While Bradley was announcing Lane’s nomination, Yaroslavsky was confirming what he believes could be a key discovery in the Charter that governs city business.

Throughout the debate over Gates’ tenure, it has been assumed that because of Civil Service protection the chief cannot be involuntarily removed by the Police Commission without proof of insubordination or a similar cause.

But in a section that deals with pensions, the Charter provides for the Police Commission to ask the city’s pension board to order the retirement of “any system member under the age of 70 years who shall have 20 years of service . . . if it shall be determined by the board to be for the good of such department.”

Gates, who will be 65 next month, has served in the LAPD for 42 years, the last 13 as chief.

City Hall sources said the Charter language has been explained to the mayor’s office and Police Commissioner Stanley Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum said he would look at the provision, but is reluctant to use it. He cited the controversy in April when the City Council overturned the Police Commission’s decision to put Gates on 60-day leave.

“Ferraro keeps assuring me that Gates is going to leave,” Sheinbaum said. “I’m not interested in more turbulence . . . I don’t want to do anything that is going to disrupt relations with the City Council again. We’ve got a whole new commission now .”

Ferraro suggested using the Charter provision would only result in further turmoil at a time when he is trying to negotiate the chief’s retirement.

“I think it would throw a monkey wrench into it, no question about that,” he said.

Times staff writers Frank Clifford and Jane Fritsch contributed to this report.