City Hall Tsunami

Longtime City Council member Ruth Galanter lost her bid to be council president Tuesday to the tsunami of change sweeping Los Angeles--a new city charter, mayor, city attorney, city controller and a City Council reconfigured by term limits. Alex Padilla won because he knew how to ride the wave.

Going into Tuesday’s election, Galanter was thought to have the support of most of the eight council veterans except for would-be contenders Nick Pacheco and Cindy Miscikowski, who earlier dropped out of the race and threw their support to Padilla. How the six newly elected council members would vote was the subject of speculation outside City Hall and intense lobbying inside.

Such suspense! Intrigue, at least over who would be president, had been missing for the 18 years that City Council veteran John Ferraro ruled the council. After Ferraro died of cancer in April at 76, Galanter, who was acting president during his illness, became council president.

Galanter made a plea for the new council members to seize the chance to learn from their elders, most of whom will be forced out by term limits in another two years, herself included. “Once we’ve left, we’re out of here, and you’re on your own,” she said.

Padilla offered himself as a bridge between the days of Ferraro and remaining long-timers Hal Bernson (22 years) and Joel Wachs (30 years) and the new council, the new charter and the new mayor. Elected in 1999 to fill out a term and just reelected to his first four-year term, Padilla could still win one more four-year term under term limits.

The almost united support of the new council members propelled Padilla to victory, but an old-timer provided the drama. The audience gasped when, during the alphabetized roll call, Wachs cast his vote for Padilla. He said later, “I thought [Padilla] rose to the occasion” in an impromptu speech before the vote.

Padilla is only 28--after two years still the youngest council member. But he has learned quickly, as his new colleagues must in the age of term limits.

He obviously has more to learn; Galanter was right about the importance of tapping the institutional memories and experience of the veteran members. But he also has much to offer, including a San Fernando Valley district that may like the city better with one of its own at the council helm. His friendship with Mayor James K. Hahn should promise better relations between mayor and council. This is a city that could use more bridge builders. Let’s hope Padilla is up to the task.