Allies Lobby to Save MTA Chief’s Job : Transit: On eve of board vote, blacks and City Council rally behind Franklin White.

As last-minute politicking intensified Tuesday, a unanimous Los Angeles City Council urged county transportation commissioners to back off their attempt to fire transit chief Franklin E. White, and African American leaders condemned the effort as “a witch hunt.”

In a showdown that has been months in the making, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is scheduled to vote this afternoon on a committee recommendation to fire White as chief executive officer after mounting criticism over the direction and management of the problem-plagued agency.

Some of White’s most fervent supporters were predicting defeat, as one called the vote “almost a lost cause.” But the 54-year-old lawyer attracted strong votes of public confidence throughout the day from longtime loyalists and newfound backers, even as he kept a low profile and refused to talk about the controversy.

“No one but no one should be run out of town on a rail,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who sponsored a resolution that passed the council on a 10-0 vote, urging the MTA to hold off on the firing. “We want to make sure people are treated fairly, and we will not sit by idly and watch it happen.”

Councilman Richard Alatorre, a strong critic of White, was not present.

White’s supporters say the board has circumvented state open meeting laws and its own evaluation protocol in trying to force out White, and the council agreed that the MTA should “abandon” the effort until any possible violations are fully investigated.

Councilman Joel Wachs said the MTA has to consider whether White deserves all the blame for the agency’s problems. “I don’t know what went wrong there. It’s fairly obvious the MTA is a disaster,” he said. “Where the blame lies, however, is another issue.”

Urban League President John Mack went further, speaking at a news conference held by African American leaders in support of White. He said the effort to oust White was “a political lynching” and that the MTA’s evaluation process amounted to “a kangaroo court.”

But the protests over White’s treatment did little to sway his chief critic, Mayor Richard Riordan, who maintains that the chief executive’s “paralysis” has crippled the agency’s attempts to combat a long series of legal, political and financial setbacks.

“Obviously, I feel so strongly that he should go that I would think the majority of the commission will see it the same way,” Riordan said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Councilman Hal Bernson, Riordan’s alternate to the MTA board, said the mayor’s office has directed him to be at today’s meeting so he could vote in Riordan’s place on another controversial issue--the acquisition of Hollywood Hills easements for upcoming tunnel work.

But Riordan made clear that he would vote on White’s fate. “I’m not that much of a wimp,” he said.

To date, MTA officials have kept all their debates on White behind closed doors, but board member Zev Yaroslavsky, a county supervisor, urged the board to take up today’s discussion in open session so the public could see what a “horrendous embarrassment” the process of evaluating White has been. Board Chairman Larry Zarian, a White supporter, sought advice from the county counsel on the issue and said he expected to discuss it at today’s meeting.

At a news conference of his own, Yaroslavsky said it has been an “outrage” to see how most members offered only a cursory review of White’s record during closed-door sessions, going into the meetings with “their minds made up.”

“The public has a right to know why Mr. White . . . is being treated shabbily, why’s he being made a scapegoat,” Yaroslavsky said.

He maintained that White’s job is in jeopardy mainly because he refused to be “a lap dog, a yes man” for board members who want tens of millions of dollars in funding for their pet transit projects.

But Yaroslavsky acknowledged, “I would not bet the farm that Frank survives [today’s] vote.”

Indeed, Riordan and his board allies believe that they have the votes, especially in the wake of a “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday that offered a broad indictment of the agency’s handling of ground sinkages, cost overruns and other troubles.

Although most of the MTA’s 13 board members have made their positions on White clear, speculation and last-minute lobbying in recent days has focused on three board members whose positions are considered less certain: County Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Gloria Molina and businessman Mel Wilson. An aide to Molina, who reportedly met with White on Tuesday, said she would not comment on her vote; Antonovich and Wilson could not be reached.

Wilson, who has voiced concerns about White’s treatment, finds himself with perhaps the most delicate dilemma.

As one of Riordan’s three board appointees, he may have to answer to the mayor for his vote. But as one of two blacks on the panel, he faces pressure from some minorities who believe that White has been unfairly harassed by the mayor and his allies.

Ridley-Thomas has been the strongest voice in pressing the race issue, reiterating his concerns Tuesday that Riordan has been particularly critical of black leaders such as White and Police Chief Willie L. Williams. “He is particularly cruel when dealing with African Americans. That’s inescapably a part of his record,” the councilman said.

The Rev. Cecil Murray of First AME Church acknowledged that Tuesday’s news conference of African American leaders in support of White may have come too late.

“We may in fact be behind the count, and [White’s critics] may have entrenched themselves in their votes,” he said. “But at least we can serve notice that we will not go quietly into that good night.”