City Attorney’s Endorsement of LAPD’s Williams Draws Fire

Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn’s endorsement last week of Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ bid for a second term may buy both men some public support, but it also could end up costing city taxpayers money.

Police commissioners say Hahn’s public comments about Williams create a clear conflict of interest, preventing his office from giving them objective advice in the process of evaluating the chief’s performance and deciding whether to renew his contract. They plan to renew their demand this week that the city hire a private attorney to help the commission in the matter, and several members of the City Council who originally opposed spending $75,000 for that purpose now say they think it’s a must.

Hahn’s statements also could come back to haunt him if the city has to defend itself against a lawsuit by Williams in the future.

“I think it’s egregious. I think it compromises the whole office, and I can’t believe he did it,” said Police Commissioner Art Mattox. “Everybody complains that the Police Commission is being politicized, but here we’re looking for clear direction to handle a very delicate situation, and the very people we’re counting on politicize it by announcing a position.”

Councilman Mike Feuer, who is a lawyer, also was outraged by the endorsement.

“There are huge problems with this. I’m very troubled by it,” Feuer said. “I don’t know how the city attorney can separate his role as an elected official from his role as chief legal counsel to the Police Commission. If you can’t separate those functions, then one’s job as legal counsel has to take precedence.”

City Hall observers and experts in legal ethics said Hahn’s statement revives an age-old debate about having an elected politician serve as the city’s top lawyer.

“Jim was being a candidate rather than city attorney when he made that remark,” said Ira Reiner, who once held Hahn’s job. “As the city attorney, he clearly should not have said that--it’s going to create serious problems now. He did it because he’s a candidate coming up for election. He’s making a campaign decision.”

Hahn, who is up for reelection this spring, said he saw no problem with his endorsement. Although he maintains that his office could still counsel the commission fairly, he plans to support the bid for private counsel, mainly because the city attorney already defends Williams in a number of police-related lawsuits. That could create a conflict if the renewal process becomes adversarial, he said.

“I have, certainly, the right as an official elected citywide to express my opinion,” Hahn said in an interview last week. “I don’t have a vote on whether Chief Williams stays or goes. I don’t think my personal opinions about the chief are going to impact the general legal advice we’re giving the commission now.”

Williams has until Jan. 7 to apply for a second term. He has not yet filed the papers, but he announced last week that he wants to stay in the job.

Hahn issued his endorsement at a community breakfast last Tuesday during which Williams announced his intention. Last Friday, state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), who is expected to run for mayor, also endorsed the chief, a move seen as an attempt to build support in the African American community, where Williams enjoys great popularity.

According to City Charter rules that voters adopted in 1992, it is up to the Police Commission to decide the chief’s fate. Because it is a brand-new process, and because the chief has hired a private attorney, commissioners asked for an independent legal advisor. But the City Council declined last month to hire a private attorney, saying it is a waste of money and presumes that the matter will become adversarial.

Today, the council will reconsider the request. Police Commission President Ray Fisher said that, in light of Hahn’s statement, “it’s absolutely imperative” that the city hire private counsel.

“It’s our responsibility to make that judgment,” he said. “I don’t want it politicized, and I don’t want it prejudged by my lawyers.”

Council members Joel Wachs and Laura Chick agreed.

“Whatever reluctance some council members have would now be moot,” Wachs said.

“It affects the public perception of his objectivity,” Chick added.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, however, said Hahn’s office should still be able to provide fair legal advice.

“He’s not advising the commission on what their decision ought to be; he’s supposed to advise them on how to do whatever they want to do legally,” she said. “That’s like saying a defense attorney shouldn’t represent a client he believes is guilty. The client is still entitled to the best defense.”

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Xandra Kayden, the UCLA political scientist who drafted Los Angeles’ ethics ordinance, said that unless there’s money involved, “you’re not talking conflict of interest, you’re talking politics.”

Kayden added that Hahn, in addition to being the city’s legal advisor, is its chief prosecutor and thus, “You want to know what his opinion is. . . . Does he think the police are functioning well enough?”

But other current and former city attorneys said someone in that post must walk a fine line between being the lawyer and being the politician.

Burt Pines, Hahn’s predecessor, said he tried to avoid political alliances.

“You have to be careful about endorsing candidates or department heads, because you never know when you’re going to have to be investigating them or advising some other agency in the city about their conduct,” he said.

“It certainly casts some doubt on the ability of his office to neutrally and zealously represent the interests of the commission and fulfill its ethical obligations as attorneys for the city,” said Michael Jenkins, a downtown lawyer who represents four small Southern California municipalities and just finished a term as president of the state’s City Attorneys Assn. “Would it have been better for him to have kept his mouth shut on the matter? Yes. It creates some confusion about his role. It discredits him to some extent.”

Raquelle de la Rocha, an attorney who heads the city’s Ethics Commission, disagreed. She said it is inevitable that elected officials will form political relationships, and it is best when they lay them on the table, as Hahn did.

“Generally, it’s a good idea for the public to know where people stand on these issues,” she said. “Then it’s just a question of whether he can put his opinion aside and be objective.”