Mayor Faces Tough Decision Over Aide’s Future

As Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s office wraps up its investigation into the politically explosive conduct of top aide Michael Keeley, the mayor faces an agonizing dilemma:

Does Riordan keep his trusted, longtime protege--caught after sending confidential city documents to the opposing side in a contract dispute--and risk lasting damage to his administration’s effectiveness and credibility?

Or does he give up Keeley--loyal, bright, hard-working and, as Riordan puts it, “my point man” on the budget and other key initiatives--and risk seriously undercutting the administration’s ability to carry out the mayor’s agenda?

In the two weeks plus two days since the City Council issued its stinging, 10-3 “no confidence” vote on Keeley, Riordan has been getting conflicting advice.

Many of the mixed signals are coming from council members themselves, who don’t seem to be able to agree on exactly what message they meant to convey with the April 23 no-confidence vote. It was taken after a heated closed-door session that included Keeley’s attempt to explain himself.

Keeley, Riordan’s chief operating officer, serves at the pleasure of the mayor, so the council, technically at least, has no say in his ultimate fate.

“It’s not at all clear we all meant the same thing with that vote,” said a council member on the prevailing side, who spoke only after getting a promise of anonymity.

“Some of us were saying he has to go, but some of us were saying to the mayor, ‘We take this seriously, and we want you to take it seriously, too, by publicly taking steps to see that it doesn’t happen again.’ ”

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, also on the prevailing side, said the mayor sought her advice, but she told him, “It’s up to you. You’re accountable for him, so you decide.”

Councilman Richard Alarcon said he took the vote to mean the council wanted Riordan to get rid of Keeley.

Councilman Joel Wachs, one of the three to side with the mayor, said he has strongly urged Riordan to keep Keeley on.

“He made a mistake, a serious one, but you have to balance that against the tremendous asset he has been to the mayor and to the city. He’s very, very valuable, and I have seen no evidence whatsoever that he didn’t act in what he believed was in the best interest of the city.”

But Councilman Richard Alatorre, widely viewed as Riordan’s most valued council ally, joined in the no-confidence vote. He would not comment publicly on what he thinks the mayor should do about Keeley, but sources close to the councilman said he intensely dislikes the aide and wants him gone.

Riordan’s chief of staff, Robin Kramer, and former City Atty. Burt Pines hope to conclude their investigation of Keeley’s actions Friday, sources said. The mayor is expected to make an announcement regarding the results soon afterward, but there will likely be no written report to release publicly.

The probe is narrowly focused, limited to the incident that touched off a political bombshell when it was revealed by City Atty. James K. Hahn, a Riordan administration political foe, on April 19, just as the mayor was to unveil his budget proposal--Keeley’s No. 1 project for the year.

The actual incident occurred in September. In the middle of a contract dispute the city was having with a losing bidder for a Department of Water and Power project, Keeley faxed opposing attorneys a paper outlining the city’s legal strategy and, in a cover memo, asked the recipients to keep his action secret. Keeley said he only wanted to try to head off costly litigation and believed he had the authority to share the information.

Hahn, who discovered Keeley’s move April 16, sent copies of the documents and cover memo to council members and the mayor, demanding Keeley’s resignation.

Since then, some of the hottest anger in City Hall has faded.

“The mayor gave everything a chance to cool off” in waiting for the investigation to be finished, said political commentator Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the Claremont Graduate School’s Center for Politics and Economics.

“But his options are in essence the same as he had on the day this was brought to light,” she added.

“The real issue is that [Keeley], an unelected staff member, took it upon himself to disregard the advice of the city attorney, who is elected by the people of Los Angeles to make these decisions, and he did not even check with his own elected boss before doing so.

“This goes to the heart of who has the decision-making authority, and I do not see how he should remain,” Jeffe said, but added, “The mayor has to weigh this breach against Keeley’s importance to his administration.”

Keeley, 42, a real estate attorney in Riordan’s downtown law firm before joining the administration when it took over in mid-1993, has long been a controversial figure at City Hall. His clashes with bureaucrats and elected officials alike over budget and policy matters have long been grist for gossip.