LOCAL ELECTIONS / MAYOR’S RACE : Woo Says He Would Put Homosexual on Police Commission

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Michael Woo on Tuesday said that one of his first acts if elected will be to appoint an openly gay or lesbian member of the city Police Commission.

The pledge came at an evening fund-raiser in the West Adams district attended by about 400 gay and lesbian supporters who were expected to add more than $30,000 to Woo’s campaign fund.

Woo told the gathering of young and middle-age professionals that the relationship between the city’s gay community and the Los Angeles Police Department has been “characterized by discrimination.”

“Now the time has come to appoint an openly gay or lesbian person to the Police Commission . . . to ensure that this community has a strong voice on the (panel) setting policy for members of the Los Angeles Police Department,” Woo said.

“That will be one of my first acts as mayor of this city.”

Woo also said he would increase the attention given to city AIDS programs, now housed away from City Hall in the Community Development Department, by bringing them directly into the mayor’s office.

Both actions would be part of putting “the gay and lesbian agenda on the city agenda,” Woo said.

The series of promises, which drew sustained applause, were intended to consolidate Woo’s support in the gay community, which has become a highly organized political fund-raising force.

Mayoral candidates in the past have said they would appoint ethnic minorities, gays or women in their administrations. But Woo’s pledge was notable for its specificity and because it involves a major commission that has been a battleground on issues ranging from gay recruitment to alleged harassment by officers.

Woo said later that it was the only time during the campaign that he has promised to reserve a seat on a powerful commission for a member of a specific group.

Scott Hitt, a Los Angeles physician who helped organize the event, said the gay and lesbian community already has made at least $70,000 in contributions to Woo and hopes to top $100,000 in donations before the campaign ends.

Tuesday’s event was billed by the Woo campaign as the largest gay and lesbian fund-raiser for a local candidate in the city’s history.

Other mayoral candidates, chiefly Councilman Joel Wachs and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City), have been competing with Woo for gay and lesbian contributions.

But Hitt, a leader in a new gay and lesbian political group, Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality (ANGLE), said Woo’s campaign appears to have generated the most enthusiasm and the biggest outpouring of financial support.

He said that is because Woo, who represents the Hollywood area, has been the most visible on issues of concern to gay people.

Hitt said those issues include Woo’s calling for the resignation of former LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates, advocating sick and bereavement leave for gay and lesbian city employees, and proposing a ban on city-funded travel to Colorado, where voters in November approved an initiative that rolled back certain gay rights legislation.