On a First-Name Basis With Political Power

Sherm told Dave that Dick was going to run.

That’s Sherm as in Sheriff Sherman Block and Dick as in Mayor Richard Riordan. As for Dave, he may not be so familiar.

The story dates to December, 1991, nearly a full year before Riordan formally announced his candidacy. They were attending a Pepperdine University dinner when Sherm told Dave that Dick might run for mayor.

“I said, ‘Sherm, this is a joke,’ ” Dave recalled. “I thought, why would a guy with all the money and prestige that Dick has, why would he expose himself to the rigors, the hardship, the insults... .”

But when Dave talked to Dick, he could see that Riordan meant business.

“That night, I said, ‘Dick, I think the Valley is the key to the election.’ He agreed.”

Recently, when attorney David W. Fleming was named to the Fire Commission, Mayor Riordan didn’t just appoint him. He anointed Fleming as well.

“Mr. San Fernando Valley,” the mayor called him.

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A few wise guys have wondered whether Riordan, that Brentwood resident, meant that as a compliment. But Dave is used to Valley jokes. More important, he knows Dick better than that.

And now that the Riordan Revolution is here, Mr. San Fernando Valley may well have more clout than whomever Riordan regards as Mr. or Ms. Inner City. Or even Mr. or Ms. Westside, for that matter.

Once a partner in his own Valley law firm, Fleming is now counsel to the international law firm Latham & Watkins. This 58-year-old Republican has been successful enough to have donated $1 million to Valley Presbyterian Hospital last year. He is chairman of the hospital’s board of directors, one of several such volunteer roles on a wide array of community and government agencies. His activism is such that a coalition of Valley chambers of commerce presented him with the 1991 Fernando Award for his years of community service.

Fleming’s work representing clients in industry usually dovetails nicely with his role as chairman of the government relations committee of the influential Valley Industry and Commerce Assn (VICA).

Such is the resume of a powerbroker. The view from his 25th-floor offices in 10 Universal Plaza may best be described as commanding. But for all his first-name dealings with the political and business elite, Fleming can talk as though being a Valley powerbroker was, until recently, a little like coaching a second-division team.

Like many others, Fleming feels as if the Valley has been used and neglected--that it has served L.A. as a source for tax revenue but received little from City Hall in return. Not even respect.

“They don’t see it. The Valley’s just the Valley, so ‘so what?’ It’s out of sight, out of mind. The squeaky wheel gets oiled. . . . Well, the Valley squeaked quite a bit on June 8th. It elected a mayor. Now it’s getting the attention.”

Indeed, the Valley, which was home to 35% of the city’s population according to the 1990 census, provided 44% of the electorate June 8. Take away the Valley vote and Mike Woo is mayor.

Riordan began to return the favors by appointing a host of Valleyites on city commissions. The Valley’s agenda, Fleming says, also includes more police, better park service, more Community Redevelopment Agency money.

And if that means less service for another region, Fleming says, it’s only because now the Valley will be getting its fair share.

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To some, this may sounds like a recipe not just for more regional conflict, but worsening ethnic turmoil.

But fear not, Mr. San Fernando Valley says. Even in this recession, Fleming is nothing if not bullish that Riordan & Co. can get Los Angeles moving forward.

Two aspects of the plan are crucial, Fleming suggests.

First, the city’s department heads will be educated to think less like bureaucrats and more like business people. They must learn how to deliver more services while saving money.

Second, Fleming says, look for “a regulatory housecleaning” to make L.A. more “user-friendly” to business. For his part, the new fire commissioner wants the Fire Department to not be so “overzealous” in enforcing code violations and be more “service-oriented” in its dealings with business.

If such changes occur, Mr. San Fernando Valley says, all of Los Angeles will benefit, not just the Valley.

“There has been the Them vs. Us problem for so many years,” Fleming says. “We’ve got to get beyond that, because this city is one city, and it’s all of us. We’ve all got to come together, but it’s going to take some time.”