Mayor Narrows List of Finalists for Top Post on Police Panel

Mayor Richard Riordan has narrowed the field of possible successors to Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff and may name the new president by the end of the week, a source in the mayor’s office said Monday.

Although the new president might serve only four months, because Riordan is scheduled to leave office July 1, the appointment is being closely watched because the Police Department is confronting major problems, and Riordan’s decision to fire Chaleff earlier this month raised concerns in some quarters that the mayor was backing away from police reform.

The mayoral source said the three leading contenders to succeed Chaleff are Raquelle de la Rocha, partner at a downtown law firm who is a member of the commission; Rick Caruso, a shopping mall developer who is a member of the Los Angeles Water and Power Commission and an ally of both Riordan and Gov. Gray Davis, and a prominent downtown businessperson whom the source declined to name.

In the second tier of candidates, according to the aide, are two Angelenos who served in the Clinton administration. They are investment banker John Emerson, a former White House aide, longtime Democratic activist and onetime chief deputy to Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn, and Margaret Sullivan, who held several positions in the Clinton administration, including chief of staff to the secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The mayoral aide said that former state Assemblyman Luis Caldera, who served as secretary of the Army in the Clinton administration, also is under consideration but appears to be a less likely prospect because he wants to stay in Washington.

If Riordan taps de la Rocha, the source said, it is possible that one of the other five candidates will take her slot on the commission.

Riordan fired Chaleff on Feb. 5. The mayor said he thought the commission had not moved fast enough to improve recruiting, morale and community policing. Chaleff said he and the mayor had significant differences over the pace of reform in the department.