Appointments by Riordan

Your article “Ethnic Mix, Valley Clout Mark Riordan Appointees” (July 17) says it all.

Apparently, if you belong to the correct group, live in the right part of the city, or supported Richard Riordan’s campaign, you have all the qualifications necessary to be appointed to an important, sensitive post in one of the city’s departments. Having the necessary administrative skills, technical background or experience is a second order priority in the selection process, if at all. Based on his appointments to date, we can look forward to four years of cronyism, sweetheart deals, bloated expense accounts and degradation of public services.

The thought of Riordan selecting another 200 “citizen” commissioners based upon the criteria of cronyism, ethnicity and geography is mind-boggling.

STANLEY SCHREIBER

Marina del Rey

* In their commentary (July 18) concerning Mayor Riordan’s appointment of five new members to the Los Angeles Police Commission, Angela E. Oh and Dolly M. Gee, co-chairs of Asian Pacific Americans for a New Los Angeles, lament the fact that no Asian-American was included in the appointments. They further state that “there is no Asian-American voice on the City Council.” The remainder of their commentary further leads the reader to conclude that Riordan has deliberately overlooked the Asian-American community in his appointments to his promised “diverse” Administration. This is not the case, however. One of his newly appointed deputy mayors is an Asian-American. She is Jadine Nielsen, who will head executive and legislative services and who, according to her brief bio, is quite active in the Asian-American community.

Could this appointment have been conveniently omitted from their commentary, so as to possibly add credence to their criticism of Riordan?

GARY L. OAKES

Sylmar