Comrie’s Views on Charter Reform

I must disagree with your Sept. 15 editorial, in which you take Los Angeles City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie to task for his strong comments regarding charter reform. I have not made any public comment about the various proposals being discussed by the two charter reform commissions. Regardless of one’s opinion on the proposals, however, Comrie’s thoughtful comments deserve to be taken seriously.

I have known Comrie for over 20 years. His intelligence is exceptional, and his personal integrity is beyond question. He is not protected by Civil Service; instead, he has served at the pleasure of the mayor and the City Council since being named the city’s CAO in 1978. It is unfair to suggest that Comrie is opposing certain charter reforms in order to protect his power base. The Times should accept Comrie’s comments for what they are--sincere expressions of concern from a lifelong public servant who is dedicated to keeping municipal government honest.

ZEV YAROSLAVSKY

L.A. County Supervisor

3rd District

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Comrie’s objections come as no surprise to me (Sept. 11). The municipal government of Los Angeles is among the most dysfunctional in the nation. We all know that the first rule of the bureaucracy is to maintain that bureaucracy. Comrie sees charter reform as a threat to his empire of employees who hold jobs with better-than-private-sector pay and benefits and without threat of ever losing their jobs.

L.A. city government is deeply rooted in the past and refuses to face the facts that government must change. As for the department heads who wouldn’t have taken jobs if they knew that the mayor could fire them without having to go through the City Council: Welcome to the real world of being “terminated at will.”

KENNETH W. KELLER

Valencia