Charter Panel Tentatively Votes for Stronger Mayor

In its first set of policy decisions, Los Angeles’ elected charter revision commission tentatively voted Monday night to tilt the balance of power in Los Angeles city government away from the City Council and toward a stronger mayor.

“The philosophy should be that the mayor has the executive authority and the council has the legislative authority,” said commission Chairman Erwin Chemerinsky, a USC constitutional law professor.

In its most specific move, the 15-member commission tentatively recommended giving future mayors far more control of the bureaucracy by giving them sole power to fire most city department heads. To fire a department head now, the mayor needs approval of the City Council.

Mayor Richard Riordan has strongly pushed for that change, arguing that the department heads “must know who . . . will hold them accountable. Putting the council into the mix confuses accountability.”

Julie Butcher, general manager of the Service Employees International Union local that represents 6,500 city employees, said she was outraged by the move. Referring to Riordan, she said, “This mayor may be a weak mayor but this is not a weak mayor system. . . . What I’m seeing is a disassembling of the system that has worked.”

But the elected commission, dominated by members who ran with the endorsement of organized labor, tentatively voted to strip the City Council of its vast administrative powers. The council currently micro-manages city government, approving even small personnel changes within departments.

Also late Monday, the commission appeared to be leaning toward recommending expanding the 15-member City Council, and was debating by how much.

Although it made a philosophical decision to bar the council from involvement with day-to-day administrative matters, the commission deferred a decision on what it means by the phrase “administrative matters.”

The panel also put off making a decision on whether to retain mayoral-appointed citizen commissions to supervise some or all city departments, indicating a preference to retain commissions for the so-called proprietary departments--the airports, water and power and the harbor--as well as the Police Department.

The tentative policy decisions are subject to later revisions by the elected commission, possible compromises with a second charter commission appointed by the City Council and, ultimately, approval by voters.

The commission tentatively decided to consolidate tax collection, investments, debt management and grant administration functions in a new department of finance.

Both charter commissions plan to submit their proposals to voters next year. The appointed commission, which has not yet made any decisions on the balance of power between the mayor and council, must win approval for its recommendations from the City Council before it can submit them to voters.