Rampart Scandal Divides Those Who Would Be Mayor

The Los Angeles Police Department’s revelations that its own serious breakdowns helped corruption flourish have divided the field jockeying to succeed Mayor Richard Riordan, as some contenders argue that the LAPD no longer can be trusted to examine itself while others say the city’s existing structure of civilian oversight needs to be given a chance to work.

All but one of the candidates has taken issue with some of Riordan’s recent actions, ranging from his lavish praise for the report of the LAPD’s Board of Inquiry--a report that Riordan said he had been briefed about but had not finished--to his refusal to appoint an outside panel to study the department and review the board’s findings.

In essence, the breakdown of the serious candidates runs like this:

* City Atty. James Hahn supports Riordan’s view that the Police Commission, not an outside agency, should lead the internal review of the LAPD’s problems. Hahn also warns, however, that the mayor needs to stop lobbying his police commissioners on this matter, as many observers believe he has.

* City Councilman Joel Wachs, after years of supporting the LAPD on almost all issues of significance, now adamantly supports the appointment of an outside investigative agency of some type.

* Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) supports the appointment of an outside panel, and he wants it armed with subpoena power. He also wants the federal government to expand its investigation and take the criminal probe away from the LAPD.

* U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) is leaning on U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to step up the Justice Department’s long-dormant “pattern-and-practice” investigation of the LAPD, an approach that could give the Justice Department broad authority to sue Los Angeles and even take over parts of its police force.

* Commercial real estate broker Steve Soboroff supports Riordan’s approach pretty much down the line--unsurprising, because Soboroff is a friend of Riordan’s and has received the mayor’s endorsement. Soboroff does add, however, that he’s open to bringing in an outside entity if the Police Commission drops the ball on the inquiry.

The emergence of the mayoral candidates as voices in the Rampart matter is, for most, a new development. Until now, a combination of technical and cynical reasons has helped consign the debate to the political margins.

On the technical front, for instance, Hahn needs to avoid saying anything that might be grist for plaintiffs building cases against the city, a prospect that grew more ominous last week with revelations that the city’s most skilled police abuse lawyers are trying to pool their resources to sue the city.

More cynically, there is the sense that many of the victims of these reported acts of police abuse are young, Latino gang members. And, to put it bluntly, young gang members don’t constitute much of a voting bloc or source of campaign contributions.

Police officers and their union, by contrast, do.

“The conventional reaction at City Hall when faced with a police matter is to duck and cover,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, one of the few local politicians who has navigated a successful career while regularly taking the LAPD to task. “The people who vote in this city do not feel the passion of this issue in the way that those who have been the victims of abuse do.”

Still, even with the obvious downside for candidates who wade into the Rampart fray, events of recent weeks--from the publication of interrogation transcripts that gave new insight into the scandal’s severity to the release of the LAPD’s own analysis--have drawn the mayoral field deeper and deeper into a conflict that many of the candidates would rather have avoided.

Until last week, the most notable exceptions to that reticence have been Villaraigosa and Wachs.

Villaraigosa, though not saying much then, did write an article on the subject last year. And in recent days the speaker has begun to frame his responses more forcefully, arguing in interviews and a newspaper column in favor of a powerful, outside inquiry.

Wachs has been even more outspoken, though his new skepticism about the LAPD contrasts with a lifetime of strong support.

Whatever the reason, at a time when most council members were still gauging the public’s feelings about the scandal, Wachs called for the appointment of a citizens commission to study the LAPD and the crisis that has engulfed it.

On Wednesday, Wachs said the LAPD’s self-examination, far from convincing him that the department could handle investigating itself, had in fact redoubled his belief that outside help was needed.

“There’s obviously a lot to be done, and the seriousness and magnitude of the [Board of Inquiry] findings further underscore the need for a thorough independent, outside investigation of the entire scandal,” he said.

Increasingly, that question, of whether to appoint an outside panel, has come to dominate debate over the Rampart scandal, with Riordan and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks fighting to forestall such a move in the face of mounting public and political pressure.

Hahn, who often clashes with Riordan, is among those who believe the mayor is right on this issue. Like Riordan, he cites the work of the much-acclaimed 1991 Christopher Commission as one basis for keeping the current probe within city government.

The Christopher Commission concluded, among other things, that the best way for the city to keep its Police Department in line was to strengthen and empower the Police Commission, a five-member citizens panel that sets policy for the department. That recommendation was welcomed by police critics and others, and a ballot measure putting the commission’s approach into effect was overwhelmingly approved by city voters.

Since then, the Police Commission has occasionally flexed its muscle, denying Police Chief Willie L. Williams a second term in 1997, for instance. That was in striking contrast to the situation in the early 1990s, when an earlier Police Commission failed in its attempts to remove Chief Daryl F. Gates from office.

“The work of the Christopher Commission shouldn’t be in vain here,” Hahn said in an interview last week. “This is the Police Commission’s chance to prove itself.”

Although many observers share that view, some critics say Riordan himself is undermining their confidence in it. Specifically, that’s because Riordan has already announced his admiration for the LAPD’s self-critique and his enormous admiration for Parks, whom he appointed in 1997.

Some observers say Riordan already has meddled too much in the review of the LAPD report with his public comments and his private cajoling of commissioners, asking them to show their support for Parks and the department.

Asked about those moves, Hahn gently deflected the question.

“The mayor should let the commission do its job,” he said. “To reassure the public, all of us need to support the commission, not lobby the commissioners.”

So concerned is Hahn about Riordan’s actions that the city attorney called the mayor last week to warn him against further pressure on the commission. Although neither Hahn nor his staff would discuss that call, sources said Hahn told Riordan that if the mayor continued to put pressure on the commission, Hahn would drop his support for that panel and endorse the appointment of an outside group.

Villaraigosa also criticized Riordan’s move to set aside 25 years’ worth of anticipated tobacco revenue, which would total about $100 million, for lawsuits arising out of Rampart. That move, Villaraigosa said, was premature.

But Villaraigosa, whose supporters include some of Riordan’s close friends, stopped short of attacking the mayor by name. Instead, he demurred, saying he did not believe there was any reason to point fingers but rather reason to move forward.

As one might expect from a member of Congress, Becerra’s reaction to date has largely been focused on the role that the federal government might play in resolving the Rampart crisis.

On Wednesday, Becerra wrote to Reno asking for an update on the Justice Department’s long-running investigation of the LAPD. Among other things, Becerra asked whether investigators have uncovered abuses in the Rampart Division, and what the department intends to do in response to reports of “improper activity and collaboration between the INS and LAPD targeting immigrants for deportation.”

In an interview, he said he favored using the Justice Department’s current investigation at this point, “before we get on soapboxes.”

Like most of the candidates, he carefully criticized some of Riordan’s remarks, particularly the mayor’s enthusiastic endorsement of the Board of Inquiry report.

“I think this situation is such that elected officials are obligated to be very circumspect,” he said.

Of all the candidates, the only one who finds no fault in Riordan’s actions so far is Soboroff.

In particular, Soboroff said it was too soon to contemplate the appointment of an outside organization to study the LAPD’s failings.

The appointment of an outside commission, Soboroff added, “would just add to the frenzy.”

Soboroff declined to say whether the mayor and council were among those who share in the blame for the Rampart scandal.

The diverse mayoral candidates share at least one thing in common: the lament that the shadow of Rampart will extend across the next mayor’s administration, severely limiting what the winner of the 2001 election will be able to do with city government.

“It’s sobering,” said Villaraigosa. “We need a housing agenda. . . . We need a serious homeless agenda. We need to begin to invest in parts of this city that have been fallow. Now, with this, we have a damper on the kinds of initiatives that we need to turn this city around.”

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Mayor Hopefuls

The candidates vying to succeed Mayor Richard Riordan in 2001 lament that the Rampart scandal will cast a shadow that will limit what the winner will be able to do with city government. The contenders and summaries of their stands on Rampart:

* Xavier Becerra, U.S. representative (D-Los Angeles):

Becerra is leaning on U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to step up the Justice Department’s investigation of the LAPD, a approach that could give Justice broad authority to sue Los Angeles.

* James Hahn, city attorney:

Hahn supports Riordan’s view that the Police Commission, not an outside agency, should lead the internal review of LAPD’s problems.

* Steve Soboroff, commercial real estate broker:

Soboroff, a friend of Riordan’s, supports the mayor’s approach; he’s open to bringing in an outside entity if the Police Commission drops the ball.

* Antonio Villaraigosa, Assembly speaker (D-Los Angeles):

Villaraigosa supports the appointment of an outside panel, and he wants it armed with subpoena power.

* Joel Wachs, city councilman:

Wachs, after years of supporting the LAPD, now urges the appointment of an outside investigative agency of some type.