Time for the Quiet Mayor to Make Some Noise

The most surprising feature of Police Chief Willie Williams’ inaugural Tuesday was the grim message delivered by Mayor Tom Bradley.

You would have thought Bradley would have wrung every ounce of enjoyment from an event that marked one of the greatest triumphs of his administration.

The setting was perfect. The Southern California sun warmed the Police Academy training field. The tree-covered Elysian Park hills provided the hint of a pastoral background. Absent from the academy was the contentious presence of Bradley’s enemy, newly retired Chief Daryl F. Gates.

Bradley put it together. More than any other person, the mayor was responsible for Gates’ departure and Williams’ arrival. The fight was over. Bradley had won.

Yet the mayor emphasized the negative. He talked about the gloomy budget picture in Sacramento, where cuts in state aid are certain to drain an already-depleted city treasury.

After Williams gave an enthusiastic talk about his plans, Bradley warned him against asking for more money. “It simply isn’t there,” Bradley said.

“Get some of the money you stole,” a heckler shouted at Bradley, her shrill voice sounding like it should be coming from the top deck of nearby Dodger Stadium.

A murmur of impolite laughter swept through the crowd, but the mayor ignored her and continued his bleak message.

Of course, it wasn’t inspirational speaking that gave Bradley his victory. He did it on the inside, the way he likes best, working the phones behind his littered desk, his face expressionless as he pursues the nitty-gritty details that will add up to victory.

The decisive moment came after the Rodney King beating when Bradley picked up his phone and asked another insider operator, attorney Warren Christopher, to come over to City Hall and advise him on how to handle the mess.

In many ways, Christopher is like Bradley. A poker-faced man of few words, whose favorite place for conducting business is somewhere behind closed doors.

They came up with the idea of an independent investigating commission, and Bradley asked Christopher to head it.

“I told him I was not the right person,” Christopher said, as we talked before the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday. “The next day, he called me and said my recommendations were sound and he urged me to go ahead with it (accepting the job.)”

Christopher accepted on the spot, and the rest is history.

Another important Bradley contribution was the appointment of a Police Commission capable of organizing a smooth search for a new chief. The mayor chose President Stanley Sheinbaum, a former ACLU president and a well-known liberal. But Sheinbaum meshed with the moderates who make up the majority of the five-member body, which includes former Assistant Chief Jesse Brewer. Brewer, who was the department’s highest-ranked African-American executive, is an old friend and colleague of former cop Bradley.

Also important in the selection process was another person Bradley trusts, Jack Driscoll, the general manager of the city’s Personnel Department. Driscoll is a quiet, competent man who carefully set up a selection process that was strong enough to resist legal attacks threatened by those unhappy with the Williams appointment.

With that triumph, Bradley heads into what may well be the final year of his administration, which began in 1973, five terms ago.

I talked to an old friend of his the other day. “You think he’ll run?” I said. “I don’t think so,” the friend said. “Unless he listens to bad advice.”

Bradley will announce his decision in September. A good bet, with odds, would be retirement. I was with him Monday, starting with a breakfast with reporters at 7:30 followed by a tour of South-Central L.A. At breakfast the mayor looked tired, drained of energy and inspiration. He didn’t look ready for the long drag of a campaign.

So mayor, if the long show is ending, I have an idea for a great last act.

Why don’t you speak up for once? Instead of telling Chief Williams the city is broke, get on a plane for Sacramento and fight for funds for Los Angeles.

Give up being the inside operator. Have a press conference in the Capitol. Blast the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson for ignoring L.A.

Remind them that we’ve just been through the country’s worst race riot of the 20th Century. Tell them about our damaged neighborhoods, about our Police Department, smallest in the nation for a city this size.

Stay up there. Don’t let the Sacramento do-nothings forget L.A. Drive them nuts. A press conference a day. A vigil in Capitol Park. You like to quote Winston Churchill. Start acting like him.

That’s the best welcome present you could give your new chief.