Mayor to Get Outside Legal Advice on Chief

The Los Angeles City Council, meeting in closed session Wednesday, granted Mayor Richard Riordan permission to seek outside legal advice on his options as the Police Commission’s reprimand of Chief Willie L. Williams comes to his desk for review.

Former City Atty. Burt Pines has agreed to advise the mayor at no cost to the city, said Karen Rotschafer, Riordan’s legal counsel.

Under a City Charter amendment approved by voters in 1992 as a package of police reforms, the mayor must review any disciplinary action that the Police Commission lodges against the chief. The Williams reprimand marks the first application of this provision, and there are several questions about the mayor’s options, Rotschafer said.

The charter amendment puts the politically sensitive Williams issue squarely in the mayor’s lap. The City Council, if it chooses, can weigh in at some point, and Williams has the right to appeal, guaranteeing that the matter will be widely watched.

The reprimand, issued two weeks ago, stemmed from a Police Commission investigation into rumors of misconduct involving Williams, including one that he had accepted free hotel rooms in Las Vegas. According to sources, the commission unanimously agreed that the chief lied when he denied receiving such accommodations. Williams, insisting that he has done nothing wrong, has blamed the matter on a misunderstanding. He has hired attorney Melanie Lomax, a former police commissioner, and threatened to sue.

Supporters of Williams, the city’s first black police chief, hired from Philadelphia after the 1992 riots, contend that the allegations are part of an effort to get rid of the chief, who is highly popular with city residents but widely disliked by his employees.

Riordan has tried, publicly at least, to stay out of the fray, saying it was up to the Police Commission, whom he appointed, to sort things out. Now that it has, however, the ball is in the mayor’s court.

Complicating his task will be the heightened tensions stemming from suspicions among Williams’ supporters that the mayor is disappointed with the chief’s leadership and wants him gone. Riordan has refused to comment on the chief, other than to say he hopes that he will be successful. But several people close to the mayor have privately voiced strong criticism of Williams.

The chief’s supporters have accused the mayor’s office of seeking to discredit Williams through a whispering campaign, and some have said that Riordan himself is orchestrating the campaign--a charge that Riordan repeatedly has denied.

Under the City Charter, the mayor has five days, beginning June 7, to review the commission action. It is unclear whether the mayor can alter the punishment or whether he can simply approve or reject it, Rotschafer said. Over the weekend, the mayor decided that he wanted to see the commission’s investigation file on Williams, Rotschafer said. Because of employee confidentiality laws, the documents, including the reprimand, have not been made public.

Pines, who held the city’s top legal post from 1973 to 1981, was brought in because the city attorney’s office has a conflict of interest in that it has represented Williams. Outside counsel can be retained only when the city attorney’s office and the City Council agree.