Charter Panel Chair Doesn’t Mind Hot Seat

Erwin Chemerinsky makes no apologies for his political naivete: “I’m a law professor, not a politician. I admit it.”

But Chemerinsky, a nationally respected constitutional scholar and USC professor, now finds himself in the midst of one of Los Angeles’ fiercest political battles in recent years: a hardball fight over the details of what should be included in a proposal to overhaul the City Charter.

Patient and soft-spoken, Chemerinsky has worked to fashion a compromise, politely hearing each commissioner and probing for areas of consensus. Similarly, for nearly two years, he as chairman has presided over marathon meetings of the elected commission, allowing virtually every crackpot view to be aired and only tightening his grip when speakers use the podium to launch personal attacks.

But Chemerinsky is not all sweetness; he too has drawn his lines in the sand. In fact, beneath Chemerinsky’s kindly exterior is a determined advocate, one who steadfastly has resisted Mayor Richard Riordan’s campaign to reject the compromise package in favor of the elected commission’s charter.

In the process, Chemerinsky, while publicly praised by Riordan, has become the mayor’s most nettlesome opponent.

And a formidable one, too. Chemerinsky enjoys enormous respect among his fellow commissioners. Although capable of missteps--his early backing of a charter bill of rights got the debate off to a rough start--he is quick, articulate and seemingly tireless. He often works on charter issues until past midnight and is up again around dawn. On Monday, he delivered a lecture in San Diego, consulted with charter colleagues on various issues and returned to Los Angeles in time for the commission meeting.

“I have the greatest respect for Erwin Chemerinsky,” Riordan said last week. “That’s true even when we disagree.”

The break between Chemerinsky and Riordan is in some ways unsurprising. Riordan is a moderate Republican with a background in business, a suspicion of politics and a belief that many of the problems in city government can be traced to City Hall’s blurry lines of authority.

Chemerinsky, by contrast, is an activist liberal lawyer who wears his politics on his sleeve.

To the surprise of some of his liberal admirers, Chemerinsky has often sided with Riordan. He supported, for instance, a series of moves to strengthen the power of the mayor’s office and allow the mayor to fire department heads without council approval. By the admission of Riordan’s advisors, it was largely because of Chemerinsky that the elected commission adopted its charter, one that Riordan now enthusiastically endorses.

To be sure, there were some disagreements. Chemerinsky helped defeat Riordan’s proposal for reforming the city attorney’s office, and Riordan conspicuously avoided supporting Chemerinsky during the chairman’s ill-fated early attempt to append a bill of rights to the charter. Greeted with howls of protest, particularly over a section that sought to protect abortion rights, that idea has quietly faded from public discussion.

Still, those differences were handled politely, with Riordan and Chemerinsky agreeing to disagree.

In recent weeks, the tone has changed. Chemerinsky has become increasingly outspoken about his distaste for the arm-twisting and back-room politicking on key charter issues.

“If even half of what I have heard is true,” Chemerinsky said last week, “it’s very disappointing.”

At the same time, Riordan and his allies have become notably disenchanted with Chemerinsky, whose endorsement of the compromise package over the elected commission’s own charter has made Riordan’s task of holding support for the original document increasingly difficult.

So brittle have relations become that last week, the mayor’s chief of staff, Kelly Martin, suggested to Chemerinsky that he consider handing over the job of negotiating with the appointed commission to another member of his panel.

Chemerinsky, who once was Martin’s law professor, declined.

“That’s just so insulting,” said one person close to Chemerinsky. “What were they thinking?”

Chemerinsky would not discuss the meeting, but said he intended to stay in place. “I have been really honored to be the commission’s chairman for the past 18 months, and I hope to stay as chairman unless eight members of the commission decide to replace me,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez acknowledged that differences have flared between Riordan and Chemerinsky in the last few weeks.

After a contentious commission meeting last week in which Riordan’s side prevailed over Chemerinsky’s, the crestfallen chairman bumped into Riordan on the way out of the room. The mayor tried to strike up a conversation, but Chemerinsky shrugged him off, saying he was not up to talking.

Rodriguez attributed some of those differences to the nature of the charter debate, one that revolves around intellectual theory, where Chemerinsky is strong, and brass-knuckle lobbying, where he is not.

“This is major league politics,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not the world he’s accustomed to.”