LOS ANGELES : Council Told It Can Delay Election in Emergency

The Los Angeles City Council has the power to postpone the April 20 primary if a civil disturbance erupts in the wake of the verdicts in the Rodney G. King civil rights case, the city attorney’s office said Thursday.

But City Council President John Ferraro said he does not believe the council will have to do so. “I don’t think there will be any problems,” Ferraro said.

The City Charter does not spell out such emergency powers, but it includes a section that allows the City Council to postpone elections for scheduled events. This year the council delayed the primary from April 13 until April 20 so it would not coincide with Passover.

Asked by the city clerk’s office to study riot contingency measures, the city attorney’s office found that postponing elections is not one of the emergency powers wielded by Mayor Tom Bradley.

But the City Charter does give the council power to move elections forward or backward one week for planned events. Normally, this authority is supposed to be invoked in January, as it was this year for the Passover shift.

That City Charter section can be extended “in the event that some type of civil disturbance creates a problem,” said Assistant City Atty. Tony Alperin, an authority on the city’s election laws. “We think the council has the inherent authority to protect the lives of residents of the city.”