Officials Seek Compromise on Fire Panelist’s Removal : City Hall: Department critic Leslie Winner defies mayor’s request to quit. Council hopes to avoid a bitter fight.

Hoping to avoid a divisive showdown in the Los Angeles City Council, officials are working to broker a compromise between the mayor’s office and the supporters of an outspoken fire commissioner who has defied a request to step down from the oversight panel.

Mayor Richard Riordan last week asked for Commissioner Leslie Song Winner’s resignation, just two days after former Fire Chief Donald O. Manning announced his surprise retirement. The mayor’s request sparked an outcry from critics who questioned his motive and timing.

Winner was Manning’s harshest critic on the panel and is considered its top advocate for women and minorities. Council members predict that Winner’s refusal to resign could force a rancorous debate and a close vote.

“Nobody would win,” Councilman Richard Alatorre said.

Alatorre said Thursday that he has approached the mayor’s office with a compromise plan that would allow Winner to remain on the panel for up to six months to continue working on affirmative action reforms in the 3,100-member Los Angeles City Fire Department. Winner would then step down, clearing the way for the mayor to replace her.

“I think something can be worked out,” said Alatorre, one of the mayor’s closest council allies. “I don’t think that there is anything that is derived from a showdown.”

The compromise was the idea of Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, one of Winner’s main supporters on the council and chairwoman of the Personnel Committee, which is investigating allegations of racism and sexism in the department.

“I’m not anxious to have a public dogfight over this,” Goldberg said Thursday.

Such a confrontation, the councilwoman said, would divert attention from what she believes are the real issues in the controversy: bias and discrimination at the Fire Department.

But Goldberg made it clear that she would back Winner if the issue reaches the council floor. “I’m definitely going to support her if we get into a fight over this,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said Thursday that Riordan was willing to consider any compromise. “The mayor is receptive to the idea that there is more than one way to reach a goal,” spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said.

However, Rodriguez said, the mayor is still committed to replacing Winner with former Police Commissioner Michael Yamaki.

Riordan has declined repeatedly to specify why he asked Winner to leave the five-member commission, saying only that the issue is about “approach and the teamwork necessary to ensure positive change.”

Winner was unavailable for comment Thursday.

For years, the Fire Commission has operated with little outside scrutiny. And its members, who are appointed by the mayor, have been virtually unknown to public.

But the commission--and the Fire Department--were thrust into the spotlight in November after the release of a harshly worded city audit. The Personnel Department study concluded that women and minorities had been frozen out of top Fire Department posts and in some cases run off the force.

The findings divided department members, led to a series of highly charged Personnel Committee hearings and ultimately contributed to Manning’s departure.