Troubles At The MTA : MTA Board Derails a Showdown Over Chief : Transit: Mayor is stymied in efforts to oust Franklin White. A committee will make a final recommendation later this month.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board averted a showdown over whether to fire the agency’s chief executive Wednesday, as Mayor Richard Riordan and other critics were stymied in their attempts to force an immediate vote on the emotional issue.

After a 2 1/2-hour closed-door meeting that grew so heated that shouts were heard outside, the board unanimously postponed a decision on the fate of Chief Executive Officer Franklin E. White. But the decision may mark only a temporary reprieve because a board committee is set to meet this month on the issue before making a final recommendation.

“I am not satisfied with the transportation system we have today,” Riordan, an MTA board member, declared after emerging from the meeting.

Riordan--a frequent critic of the MTA’s policies--was seen as the key vote on the issue because he controls three board seats in addition to his own.

He continued to avoid a public stance on White’s status Wednesday, saying only that he believes the board acted “very responsibly” by studying the issue further. But sources said the mayor helped lead the push in the closed session to secure an immediate vote for White’s ouster--only to be rebuffed by board members who believed the move was premature.

“Boy, was there shouting. It got pretty rough,” said one member who requested anonymity. At one point, a staff member entered the meeting room to urge members to keep the noise down because their shouts could be heard outside. Dozens of MTA staffers and members of the public sat anxiously in the boardroom next door behind heavily guarded doors, awaiting word on the future of White and his $178,000-a-year job.

Before a bitterly divided 13-member board, Riordan and allies argued vehemently that White had proven an ineffective leader in his 2 1/2 years at the helm of the MTA, failing to stem the political and public relations troubles that have plagued the multibillion-dollar agency.

One list of “compelling reasons” for White’s ouster, offered by board member Raul Perez, included growing political pressure in Washington and Sacramento and critical press coverage in The Times and an upcoming “60 Minutes” segment.

But Riordan faced strong concern from two of his board appointees, Carol Schatz and Mel Wilson, who expressed doubts about whether White’s critics were circumventing procedures that the mayor himself helped create for evaluating the CEO.

During the meeting, one source said, White’s defenders repeatedly asked, “Why now?”

The 54-year-old White, showing little emotion after the board action, said later that he “looked forward to the process” but refused further comment.

“I don’t think anybody was satisfied,” one board member said afterward. “The mayor with his group . . . wanted to do it today, and it didn’t happen, and the others were upset that they even brought it up.”

News of the board’s action was met with disappointment by some of White’s supporters.

The move represented “a procedural dodge,” said Eric Mann, head of the Bus Riders union, which has sued White and the MTA over bus operations but found itself in the ironic position Wednesday of defending the chief executive. If the board wanted to fire White, Mann said, it “should have had the guts to do it today.”

White’s job status has become a subject of intense speculation in recent months as financial, legal and political difficulties have mounted at the agency, particularly in the construction of the $5.8-billion subway system. An uneasy truce between the chief executive and his critics was shattered last week when two board members decided--despite opposition from the board chairman--to seek his abrupt ouster.

Before the board went behind closed doors, more than a dozen speakers representing Hollywood homeowners, bus riders and other transit groups addressed the panel, with most supporting White in fighting what some termed “a witch hunt.”

Their refrain became a common one: White has not succeeded in some key areas of reform but, despite the agency’s failings, deserves to keep his job.

“Is Frank White a profile in courage?” asked Mann. “No, but he should not be a scapegoat.”

Some saw the vote as a referendum of sorts on the county’s massive rail construction program--which has gained strong support from White despite its missteps. “This is about more than Frank White,” board member James Cragin said hours before the vote.

Indeed, state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) urged the MTA board not to make a change in leadership without a change in its policies: “We’re trying to stop the subway today while others are debating who should be the conductor.”

The issue of race--previously only whispered about in the debate over White, one of the region’s highest-ranking African Americans--was out in the open at the meeting.

A group of local black leaders sent a letter backing White. In addition, LA Twice--a group of MTA whistle-blowers--called on the head of the Congressional Black Caucus to open an investigation into alleged racism at the agency, based in part on its “humiliating” treatment of White in recent days.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who does not serve on the MTA board, said in an interview that he believes Riordan has engaged in “a pattern of harassment and hostility” to black leaders such as White and Police Chief Willie L. Williams.

As Riordan confronted a crush of reporters after the meeting, he refused to answer several questions about the race issue.

Finally, when asked about one speaker’s assertion that the firing of White could prompt racial unrest, he said: “I don’t think so. I think I would be a racist if I based my decision on anything other than [White’s] performance.”