Diverse Group to Help Find Mader’s Successor

An ethnically and politically diverse group of community and business leaders have agreed to serve on a blue-ribbon search committee to help the Los Angeles Police Commission find its new inspector general, officials announced Thursday.

The search panel consists of members who view the Los Angeles Police Department from many vantage points, from the business community to civil rights activism, and its members will bring an unusual breadth of experience to the task.

“I am very pleased with the caliber and diversity of this committee,” said William T. Fujioka, general manager of the city Personnel Department. “I’m confident that this group will significantly contribute to the quality of the recruitment and selection process for the inspector general.”

The 11 panel members are: Father Gregory Boyle, S.J., an Eastside priest and director of Jobs for a Future; Pamela Chinn, legal counsel for Atlantic Richfield Co.; Linda Griego, managing general partner of the Engine Company #28 restaurant and member of the appointed City Charter commission; Genethia H. Hayes, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Skye Johnson, director of policy and public affairs at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center; Joseph Mandel, vice chancellor of legal affairs at UCLA and member of the appointed charter commission; Gilbert T. Ray, attorney and former executive director of the 1991 Christopher Commission; Bob Selleck, owner of the Selleck Co.; Ellie Vargas, executive board member of the West Valley Community Police Advisory Board; Paul Watson, vice chairman of the commercial banking group at Wells Fargo Bank; and Ira Yellin, senior vice president of Catellus Development Corp.

Commissioner Gerald L. Chaleff said the “broad-based group” will assist the Police Commission in selecting a new inspector general who is “motivated, intelligent and has a background that lends itself to being an effective investigator and auditor.”

Fujioka said the search will be nationwide and start within the next few weeks. He said he would like to give the commission a list of finalists by the first week in April.

Fujioka said the search panel will review all the applicants and possibly interview them. Also assisting the Personnel Department’s hunt for a new inspector general is the Sacramento-based search firm John Shannon & Associates. Fujioka estimated that the firm will receive about $25,000 for its work.

Several members of the search panel have current or past connections to LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks. Two members, Ray and Yellin, serve on the chief’s nonprofit foundation that raises funds for police needs not covered in the city’s budget. Two others, Johnson and Hayes, served on a search panel that helped select Parks as chief in 1997.

The commission’s previous inspector general, Katherine Mader, resigned under pressure from the board. After months of well-known turmoil with her bosses, Mader stepped down, saying the inspector general position was not sufficiently independent and had become a fraud.

After Mader announced her plans to leave office, the five-member police commission took steps to increase the position’s powers and autonomy.