Hayden Endorses Williams

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), who is openly weighing a run for mayor of Los Angeles, leaped into what is potentially the city’s most volatile political debate Friday, endorsing Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ campaign to secure a second five-year term.

“He is a chief who has been a healing force for the city during a very troubled time,” Hayden said in a statement, adding that Williams has been a “crucial confidence-builder of both order and hope.”

Although Hayden’s statement wished for faster progress on community policing and referred to some of the flare-ups that have raised questions about the chief’s integrity, the senator concluded: “On the record thus far, the chief deserves a second term if he seeks one.”

Hayden’s endorsement brings a new political dimension to the decision over whether to hire Williams for a second term.

For the chief, it brings badly needed support from a major political figure, but it also allies Williams with a traditionally liberal candidate who is unlikely to engender support from the rank-and-file officers Williams commands.

For Hayden, the endorsement links his possible candidacy against Mayor Richard Riordan to the efforts of one of the city’s best-known African American leaders.

It also provides an issue to distinguish Hayden’s candidacy from that of Riordan, who has publicly voiced concern about the effectiveness of LAPD management while declining to express an opinion about whether Williams deserves a second term.

The endorsement caps a week of heated speculation about Williams’ future.

On Tuesday, Williams announced his intention to apply for a second term as chief of police. Williams did not actually submit his application, so the renewal process has not formally begun, but the politicking has.

Some observers said they viewed Hayden’s endorsement as a mixed blessing for Williams.

“It’s my opinion that this doesn’t benefit the relationship between officers and the chief,” said Dennis Zine, a director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the rank-and-file police union.

“If I was in the chief’s shoes right now, I would not seek an endorsement from Tom Hayden. I wouldn’t even consider accepting an endorsement from Tom Hayden.”

Williams declined to comment directly, instead saying through a spokesman that he had not sought Hayden’s endorsement and that he only knew the senator superficially.

“If Sen. Hayden chooses to support my seeking reinstatement,” Williams said through his spokesman, “then that’s a decision that he made, as it was for all those others that have provided support.”

At the same time that it gives the chief support, the move allows Hayden to link his possible mayoral bid to Williams, who despite recent declines in personal popularity remains one of the city’s most recognizable and highly regarded public officials.

That is doubly important for Hayden, some analysts noted, because the senator needs to make inroads with African Americans and other minority voters--the groups that have shown the greatest support for Williams--to build a coalition capable of ousting Riordan.

A Times poll in June showed that 68% of the city’s blacks and 62% of Latinos approved of Williams’ job performance, compared to 49% of whites.

Despite strong support for Williams, a number of well-known African Americans, including some who back the chief for a second term, already have endorsed Riordan.

Hayden’s move “does not make this easy,” said Urban League President John Mack, who has endorsed Riordan.

Mack added that his endorsement of Riordan does not mean universal approval of the mayor’s actions, and he stressed that Hayden’s comments regarding Williams as a “healing force” echo his own views.

Although political figures at various levels are bracing for the fallout from the chief’s possible request for renewal, the group charged with making the decision says it is determined to steer clear of the fray.

By charter, the Police Commission must decide whether Williams should stay or go, and that panel’s president, Raymond C. Fisher, said Friday that he was not particularly moved by Hayden’s announcement.

“This is not intended to be a political decision,” Fisher said.

“To the extent that politicians start weighing in, it’s not going to influence my opinion.”