Riordan Set to Name 2 Police Panel Choices

After weeks of mulling scores of possibilities, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan is scheduled to announce today his choices for two vacant seats on the high-profile Police Commission.

One of the closely held appointments is going to attorney Edith R. Perez, a specialist in real estate law who currently sits on the city Recreation and Parks Commission, and the other to attorney Ray Fisher, who served as a counsel to the Christopher Commission that recommended police reforms to the city, sources said.

The appointees, who require approval from the City Council before being seated, would fill vacancies left by the abrupt resignations of Commissioners Enrique Hernandez Jr. and Gary Greenebaum about a month ago. They quit after the City Council overturned the commission’s reprimand of Police Chief Willie L. Williams, for allegedly lying during the commission’s investigation of his use of free accommodations in Las Vegas.

Williams denied the allegations and appealed to the council, which sided with the chief without reading the commission report on the matter.

Riordan’s process for the commission replacements has been widely watched and closely guarded. Only a handful of Riordan advisers have been apprised of his selections. Police commissioners said they have been notified of the planned appointments but have been asked by the mayor’s office to say nothing before Riordan’s formal announcement.

“This is something that the mayor has put a lot of personal thought and effort into,” said one source close to the mayor, adding that Riordan wanted badly to disclose his choices in his own time and manner.