We Haven’t Seen the Last of the Gates Wars

As Mark Ridley-Thomas vainly sought support from his colleagues Tuesday, he found out that Police Chief Daryl F. Gates still has a firm hold on a majority of the Los Angeles City Council.

Ridley-Thomas was asking his fellow council members to sign a letter backing the Police Commission’s order that forbids Gates from promoting cops to vacant command-level positions. The commission felt that the lame duck chief was trying to foul things up for his successor, Philadelphia Chief Willie L. Williams.

The councilman obviously agreed. He wrote, “In the end, the responsibility for future leadership of the LAPD rests squarely on the shoulders of Chief Williams and none of us should take any action which limits Chief Williams’ ability to do his job.”

Ridley-Thomas worked the floor, talking to colleagues, a busy figure in a dark blue suit trying to make gains in a council that has always backed the chief.

As the session ended, five colleagues had joined him----Rita Walters, Michael Woo, Ruth Galanter, Mike Hernandez and Joy Picus. That was short of the eight signatures that would have constituted a majority of the 15-member governing body.

It was evidence of Gates’ influence on the city’s governing body, even though he’s a lame duck who has said he will surrender his job to Williams by the end of June.

“The chief has a certain responsibility,” said Council President John Ferraro. “How can you interfere with that responsibility? He had to fill some spots and one of them is in North Hollywood, in my district.”

Not everyone agrees that Gates is still in control. Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani looked at the signers of Ridley-Thomas’ letter and saw a decline in the chief’s strength.

For example, signer Ruth Galanter had strongly defended the chief in previous crises.

So had Picus. The middle-class and upper-middle-class homeowners in her West San Fernando Valley district back the LAPD and many of them have joined with the cops in forming active Neighborhood Watch programs.

“My constituents are supportive of Daryl Gates, but they are beginning to lose patience,” Picus said.

Patience may be going because Gates is not one of those city department heads who accepts his gold watch and goes quietly. He’s more like the evicted tenant who trashes the apartment or the retreating army general who orders his army to burn down villages.

He speaks of his successor with condescension, even contempt, sneering at the new chief’s two years of college. And, naturally, Gates is getting ready for the publicity tour for his upcoming book.

Williams, by contrast, is working to come across as a conciliator.

I saw that last Saturday when he talked to reporters at the Airport Hyatt before a speech to the Black Women’s Forum.

Asked whether Gates is poisoning police attitudes against him, Williams said, “I don’t think so . . . I have been received exceptionally well by the men and women in the department. Once the transition has begun, and they get to know Willie Williams and get to know I have spent 30 years in the (Philadelphia) Police Department and I have a son who is now a police officer, we’ll get along fine and bygones will be bygones.”

“Gates has a good reputation as a chief over the years,” he said. “He is a strong professional. He has his opinions but times have changed and a new chief is coming in. . . .”

The question of Gates’ council support will be increasingly important in the final months on the job.

The Police Commission avoided another confrontation with Gates Tuesday. It set up a committee to help guide the transition from the Gates to the Williams Administration. Gates called that a “very, very positive move.”

But if the past is any guide to the future, Gates will continue in his muscular exertion of authority. And, Mayor Tom Bradley and the Police Commission are likely to continue to oppose him.

There is already plenty of division over the police issue.

The campaign for Proposition F, giving civilian authorities more power over the LAPD, is shaping up as a rough one. And, there is widespread worry in City Hall and around town about the potential for violence if the Rodney King jury fails to convict the officers accused of the beating.

Gates would be the commander if that happens. And he is the main spokesman in the campaign against Proposition F. He never avoids a fight. Neither do his foes. The council hasn’t seen the last of the Gates wars.