Police Union Leaders Urge Members to Endorse Hahn

Leaders of the union of Los Angeles police officers have recommended that their 8,300 members endorse James K. Hahn for mayor--backing that could help the city attorney substantially with moderate and conservative voters but also expose him to charges that he altered his views for political gain.

Rank and file members of the Police Protective League will vote over the next 10 days on whether their union should follow the recommendation of the nine-member board of directors and support Hahn over former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa.

The league’s choice for mayor has been considered by both candidates as one of the most important endorsements still to be announced. Each man met with the union’s board and argued strenuously that he would best represent the interests of rank and file police.

Hahn made himself the probable choice of the union--according to three people familiar with the discussions--by speaking out more strongly than he has before on two issues of critical importance to officers: He pledged to implement a three-day-a-week work schedule for some officers within three months of taking office. And he said he was “not committed” to retaining Bernard C. Parks as police chief, according to the union’s account.

Villaraigosa maintained his earlier position in support of “compressed” work schedules, but declined to specify the kind of schedule he would support, or to enact it as quickly as Hahn said he would.

Villaraigosa’s campaign spokesman accused Hahn of changing his position to gain the union’s support.

“We felt it would be outrageously irresponsible to commit to a specific work schedule as part of an endorsement process,” said Parke Skelton, spokesman for Villaraigosa.

Hahn insisted in an interview that he did not change his stance to please the leaders of the Police Protective League. He said he had expressed support for a compressed work schedule a year ago during a mayoral forum sponsored by the Police Protective League. But police union officials considered the Hahn pledge such a breakthrough that they have posted a blinking red “NEWS FLASH!” on the union’s Web site.

“I’m for implementing now. I don’t think we have to study it any more,” said Hahn, who predicted that the altered schedules will help reduce attrition and sick days.

The league had been inclined to endorse Councilman Joel Wachs or businessman Steve Soboroff. But they finished out of contention in the April 10 first round of the mayor’s contest. Hahn and Villaraigosa have been scrambling since then to win the backing of the union and the many moderate to conservative voters who now are up for grabs.

Villaraigosa appeared to enjoy an early advantage among the nine members of the union board. Several league directors said privately that they viewed Villaraigosa as a strong union supporter, despite their sometimes dim view of his liberal voting record in the Legislature.

Hahn overcame that advantage, however, in his April 21 meeting with the board. “He came in and he got ahead on some very important issues,” said one person familiar with the meeting. “He out-PPLed the PPL. He gave them even more than they were asking for.”

Work schedules are one of the most important issues to rank and file police officers, who bristle at the fact that they can’t work fewer days of the week, while officers in other police agencies and the Sheriff’s Department can. Under the schedules, officers could work three 12-hour days or four 10-hour days.

Hahn’s Position on Workweek Shifts

Most of the original mayoral contenders signed a pledge before the April 10 election saying that they would move in their first 120 days as mayor to implement a “compressed” work schedule. Hahn did not sign that pledge.

He said in interviews, however, that he hoped that the compressed schedules could be implemented after more review. By the April 21 meeting, Hahn’s position had become more forceful as he agreed to implement the altered work schedule in his first 90 days in office.

Hahn said Tuesday that he believes the shorter workweek will help the LAPD retain quality officers.

“If we’re going to stop the hemorrhaging of officers leaving our department, we have to put in a compressed work schedule,” he said.

But Parks and others in city government, including the City Council, have said they are not prepared to move forward. The council plans to commission a study in the next month to review altered police schedules.

Council members and others have worried that the schedules could reduce deployment on the street in a department already stretched thin. The remarkably heavy number of calls that LAPD officers handle per shift makes 12-hour shifts unreasonable and potentially unsafe, Parks has said.

“We need to decide how it would be managed and what the costs would be,” said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, chairwoman of the council’s Public Safety Committee and a Villaraigosa backer. “If we move ahead, how would it be managed and what would the costs be? How many officers do we need in each division to manage the new schedules? I don’t think it can be promised too easily.”

Villaraigosa had pledged in January to “fight for and implement compressed work schedules” for police officers. His pledge did not specify which work plan would be imposed and it allowed slightly longer, 120 days, to complete the task. The former assemblyman declined to sign the more aggressive pledge that Hahn signed, Skelton said.

Union President Mitzi Grasso said Hahn’s pledge was crucial in winning the backing of the league’s board.

“We were quite surprised to get that pledge from him because he had not made a commitment before,” Grasso said. “But he got more information. He gave us a signed pledge. It will blow up in his face if he doesn’t follow through.”

Hahn’s tone toward Parks shifted in his discussions with the union, said several of those present at the interview with the candidate. Though candidates in the first round of the mayor’s race took turns bashing Parks, Hahn said in interviews that the chief had been a solid manager and had done more than his two predecessors combined to discipline problem officers.

Hahn did consistently say that he would hold the chief accountable for problems in the department.

The union’s Web site reports a markedly sharper tone from Hahn. “I am not committed to retaining the current chief of police,” the Web site reports Hahn saying during his sessions with the union leaders. “If he is unwilling or unable to turn things around in the area of recruitment and morale, he is gone.”

Hahn insisted in an interview Tuesday that his position on Parks remains unchanged. He said he told union board members “that I had not made up my mind, one way or the other, as to whether or not his contract would be renewed.”

The question of whether the next mayor will grant Parks a second five-year term in 2002 is a particularly dicey one for Hahn, because the city attorney has his strongest base of support in the African American community. Though Parks’ overall popularity rating has sagged in recent months, he has retained his strong standing among blacks. Political observers say Hahn must be careful not to challenge Parks too severely.

As Villaraigosa gave a radio interview as his one public event Tuesday, Hahn was appealing to another key constituency, senior citizens.

During his visit to the Robert M. Wilkinson Senior Center in Northridge, Hahn announced his plan for a $6-million increase in the city’s senior services, proposing to create an interagency task force to deal with elder abuse, increase the number of social workers in senior centers, expand the door-to-door transportation program and add funds for home-delivered meals.