Charter Panels Member Conspicuously Absent

A key member of both the elected and appointed charter reform commissions has missed dozens of hearings by both panels, and her chronic absence has deprived Los Angeles’ African Americans of their most visible representative in the process that could remake city government.

In addition, Commissioner Marguerite Archie-Hudson’s repeated failure to attend commission meetings and committee hearings has complicated the work of the elected body because she successfully ran for a seat on the panel, then left the state for a prestigious interim job in Alabama. In part because of her continuing absence, the elected panel’s committees occasionally have struggled for a quorum, and its main body has deadlocked on matters where she could have cast the deciding vote.

Over the past few months alone:

* The Los Angeles elected charter reform commission voted on a historic package of decisions that could fundamentally alter the power arrangements of Los Angeles City Hall, giving the mayor substantially more authority to manage the city. Archie-Hudson was absent.

* The appointed charter reform commission completed two years worth of research last week on how best to organize city government. Archie-Hudson was absent.

* Last month, the elected panel failed by a single vote to include a bill of rights in its document. Archie-Hudson could have made the difference, but she was not there.

* Last week, the elected panel decided against a motion to restore to the City Council its power to overrule city commissions. Again, that proposal fell one vote short; again, Archie-Hudson could have cast the deciding ballot, but was absent.

* Over the summer, the commissions have debated the hot topics of whether the mayor should be able to fire city department heads, whether the charter should embrace neighborhood councils, and whether police officers should be able to appeal discipline to a civilian board outside the LAPD. Archie-Hudson missed all those meetings.

In fact, elected commission records show that since that panel began meeting last fall, Archie-Hudson has attended only six out of 28 meetings of the full group. Her attendance at the appointed panel has been better, but she is the most frequently absent member of that commission.

Her absences are all the more keenly felt, commissioners and staff members say, because when she has attended, Archie-Hudson has been an articulate and thoughtful participant in the debates over Los Angeles’ future. She is well-liked in many South-Central communities, which she represented as a member of the state Assembly. And during her rare appearances, officials say she has smoothly navigated between the public’s interests and the commissions’ work.

“Marguerite is enormously talented,” said elected commission Chairman Erwin Chemerinsky. “We’ve really missed her contribution.”

There was a time when Archie-Hudson seemed not only engaged in the charter reform debate, but in some ways potentially the single most important person involved in it. After all, she is the only member of the elected commission who has successfully run for another public office, and she is the only person who holds a seat on both the elected and appointed panels.

Archie-Hudson was named to the appointed commission by Councilwoman Rita Walters, who tapped her to represent downtown’s 9th District, an area of the city that includes some of its poorest neighborhoods and many of its homeless people. Months later, when voters approved creation of an elected commission, Archie-Hudson ran for and won a seat on that panel, this time representing the 8th District, a largely African American area whose councilman is Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Ridley-Thomas was not available and Walters did not respond to a request for comment.

At first, some hoped that Archie-Hudson might be able to emerge as a valuable connection between the two commissions, which were launched to some extent as rivals. Some speculated that she might even develop into a mediator who could help broker some of the different philosophies being spun by the panels.

Her takeoff was thwarted by a car accident, causing her to miss some meetings at the outset. Even as her health improved, she stayed away from the meetings: From October 1997 through early March 1998, she never appeared at a commission session.

Then, this spring, under prodding from her colleagues, she returned to the elected panel, attended two meetings in March, none in April, two in May and two in June.

At the same time, she was running for the state Senate. She lost that campaign to Kevin Murray, and then dropped out of the elected commission’s activities altogether. She has not been to a meeting since late June.

At the moment, she is not even in the state. Archie-Hudson is serving as interim president of her alma mater, Talladega College, in Alabama, and until a full-time president for the college is chosen, she is living there. She has not responded to commission briefing papers or to requests seeking information about which task forces she would like to participate in.

She also did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Why, some of her colleagues grouse, doesn’t Archie-Hudson just resign, at least from the elected commission, where her absence is felt most acutely?

Since most have not talked to her in some time, they don’t know for sure. But conventional wisdom holds that she wants to stay in her post because leaving it would give Mayor Richard Riordan the opportunity to name her replacement.

That could tip the scales on some delicate matters to the mayor’s camp, and Archie-Hudson is said to be unwilling to give Riordan that leverage.

George Kieffer, chairman of the appointed commission, declined to criticize Archie-Hudson’s absences. Because the appointed panel is larger and more driven by the recommendations of its staff rather than committees of commissioners, Archie-Hudson has not been as missed by that group.

At the elected panel, officials say it has affected their work--and will continue to.

It takes eight of that panel’s 15 votes to prevail on any issue, so when the commission is missing a person, it creates the awkward situation of potential tie votes. That has cropped up a few times in recent weeks.

More generally, her absence marginally increases the workload of the remaining 14 commissioners, who go about their unpaid jobs without the benefit of Archie-Hudson’s contribution. And most important, commissioners and their staff say, Archie-Hudson’s perspective, valued not only because of her intelligence but also because of the important community she represents, is absent from a profound debate about the city’s future.

“The biggest thing is that she’s a very bright person, and when she contributes, it’s a solid contribution,” said Geoffrey Garfield, administrative director of the elected commission. “That’s missed more than anything.”