Rift Develops Over Method to Select New LAX Chief

In a move sure to renew City Hall debate over high-profile appointments, the Los Angeles Airport Commission will begin its search for a new general manager among city employees rather than immediately launching a nationwide, even international, quest to fill the coveted post.

The commission’s plan, which will not be formally voted on for another month, has been sent to personnel officials and drew a public challenge Tuesday from Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. In a motion that will return for a council vote next week, Galanter urged her colleagues and Mayor Tom Bradley to prevail upon the commission to launch an international search before filling the airport post that will become vacant in February with the retirement of longtime General Manager Clifton A. Moore.

“It seems to me that, if we want a world-class airport department, we ought to have a world-class search for the best,” said Galanter, whose district includes Los Angeles International Airport.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky echoed Galanter’s remarks and added that the commission’s plan is not only inadequate but gives the appearance that a behind-the-scenes decision has been made on who will win the job.

“It doesn’t look right,” Yaroslavsky said. “It almost appears as if they have someone in mind for the job.”

But Commission President Robert Chick, who disclosed the panel’s plan in a letter to city lawmakers, denied in an interview that any decision has been made on Moore’s successor. And Chick defended the approach of considering city candidates first, reasoning that it will be more timely and cost-effective than launching an international search.

“We, as a commission, have always taken the position that we should look within the city first (to fill vacancies). . . . That’s been our position as long as I have been here,” said Chick, who has served on the commission eight years.

Chick added that the plan to consider city applicants first does not preclude the commission from launching a broader search if no qualified candidate can be found. He said, however, that the commission must quickly begin the search for a successor to Moore--the city’s highest-paid employee with an annual salary of $181,812.

“I think it’s important for us to move ahead,” Chick said, voicing surprise that the commission’s plan has sparked any controversy in the council.

The plan was not roundly criticized in the council. Galanter noted that several council members refused to endorse her request, and Council President John Ferraro said that, although he will support Galanter’s motion, he generally backs the concept of elevating qualified city employees to higher positions.

The flap over the selection of a new airport department head recalled the controversy surrounding the commission’s plan last year to create a $112,000-a-year executive post sought by one of Bradley’s top aides, Phil Depoian. That plan is on hold. And it was reminiscent of the uproar created in 1984 by the Harbor Department’s appointment of another longtime Bradley aide, Ezunial Burts, as general manager of the port.

In his Sept. 11 letter to the mayor and council, Chick said the Airport Commission was immediately beginning a search for Moore’s successor and would appreciate the input of city lawmakers in forwarding the names of potential candidates.

“It is the desire of the (commission),” Chick wrote, “to recruit for this position initially from executives currently within the city service. However . . . we may have to look beyond the city.”

The two-page letter goes on to offer two very specific requirement categories for city candidates: two years of executive experience in airport management with the city, or two years as the head or assistant head of a major city department or a bureau within the Department of Public Works.

Although the letter suggests that the requirements were formally decided by the commission, Chick acknowledged that the panel has never voted on the specific job experience it will seek from candidates. Rather, Chick said, commissioners have over the past several years--when Moore’s eventual retirement has been discussed--expressed an interest in first looking to the city’s work force for a successor.

But Galanter countered that, in the absence of a formal action, Chick’s letter indicated that either he was not speaking for the commission or that it was making important personnel decisions behind closed doors--a possible violation of California’s open meeting law.

And in a strongly worded response to his letter, Galanter wrote Chick on Sept. 18 that she was astounded by the job requirements set forth in his letter.

“Two years of executive experience at the airport or as the head of a city department hardly seems an adequate replacement for an airport manager who has been on the job for over 40 years and who has received international recognition for the job he has done,” Galanter wrote.