Hahn’s Rating Slips Over Bid to Oust Parks

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s decision to oppose a second term for Police Chief Bernard C. Parks has hurt his standing among city residents, less than half of whom approve of Hahn’s performance in the first nine months of his administration, according to a new Times poll.

Hahn’s footing is particularly precarious among African Americans, who voted overwhelmingly to elect him last year and have said they feel betrayed by his decision to go against the black police chief. Now 43% disapprove of his performance, compared with 30% who say he is doing a good job.

Among all residents, Hahn’s approval rating is 46%, tepid support for a chief executive so early in his term. About a quarter disapprove of how he is handling his job, and almost a third of those surveyed had no opinion.

Respondents who are unhappy with Hahn’s performance most frequently cite his opposition to Parks’ reappointment as the reason.

“He shouldn’t have taken that kind of stand,” said Tarzana resident Carmen Schiavoni, 77, who was surveyed in the poll and agreed to a follow-up interview. “He’s the mayor; he should bring peace to the city. He shouldn’t come right out and embarrass the man.”

Meantime, the chief’s approval rating is up significantly from a year ago, with 51% of residents saying he has done a good job, giving him slightly more support than the mayor who wants him ousted. The same percentage support the chief’s bid for reappointment, and he enjoys increased support among blacks, whites and Latinos.

The Los Angeles Police Department appears to have rebounded from the Rampart scandal, with about two out of three residents saying they approve of the department’s job performance. Two years ago, as revelations of police corruption emerged, the department’s approval rating fell to 36%. In the last decade the LAPD has typically enjoyed high public approval, with ratings falling only during controversies such as Rampart and the beating of Rodney G. King.

The poll, which was conducted between March 9 and 12 under the direction of Los Angeles Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, surveyed the opinions of 1,113 city residents, including 257 African Americans, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Hahn’s efforts to dislodge the chief, which he announced at the end of January, seem to have overshadowed all other actions he has taken so far.

Among supporters, there is little consensus about what Hahn has done well. About four out of 10 give no reason for approving the mayor’s performance. The next-largest group say they like him because he tries hard.

But more than a quarter of all residents said they are less supportive of the mayor because of his posture toward Parks.

“If you could show me some positive things Hahn has done since he became mayor that would counteract what is seemingly a deceptive act, then maybe things would balance out in his favor,” said Cheyenne Chambers, a secretary from the Wilshire district. “But I don’t really see him doing such positive things.”

The survey also demonstrates dissatisfaction in Hahn’s base. African Americans gave Hahn broad support during last year’s election, helping him beat former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, 54% to 46%.

In that campaign, four out of five blacks cast ballots for Hahn, who grew up in South Los Angeles and whose father, the late county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, represented the area for decades, according to Times exit polls.

Now, a quarter of blacks strongly disapprove of Hahn’s performance, and an additional fifth somewhat disapprove. About four out of 10 blacks who voted for Hahn said they would not have done so if they had known he was going to push to replace Parks.

“I’m just not happy with him,” said Bernardine Kelom, 70, a retired county employee who lives in West Los Angeles. “He just seems like a different person than I thought he was. I thought he was going to be a chip off his daddy’s block, but he wasn’t.”

Chief’s Approval Up Compared to Last Year

Parks, meanwhile, is enjoying a surge in popularity. Residents today are more inclined to look favorably on his record as chief than they were a year ago, when he and the LAPD were embroiled in the Rampart scandal.

In the new survey, slightly more than half of residents approve of the way Parks is handling his job, up from 37% in March 2001. The number of people who disapprove of Parks has also fallen, from 37% to 28%.

But there were also stark racial differences in responses to questions about the chief. Parks’ favorable showing among white respondents, for example, fell just shy of the mayor’s, 42% versus 49%. And 7% of whites said they don’t approve of Parks because he is black.

By far the strongest support for the chief comes from African Americans, who give him a 71% approval rating and 16% disapproval.

Slightly more than half of the city’s residents think Parks should be reappointed, about three in 10 oppose him staying on and a fifth remain undecided. But 81% of blacks support the chief’s bid for a second term. Among those, roughly two out of three African Americans strongly support a second term for Parks--substantially more than the number who strongly approve of the chief’s performance.

“I think he’s tried to make some strategic changes, and I think change is good,” said Edward Broaddus, 35, an actor who lives in North Hollywood. “The short amount of time we’ve given him hasn’t been enough.”

Residents offered many specific reasons they think the chief is doing a good job, crediting him with cleaning up the LAPD, lowering crime and being a strong leader.

Parks has often touted the LAPD’s efforts to investigate the case of violent, drug-dealing officers in the city’s Rampart precincts, arguing that under his leadership the department undertook reforms to address the problems it revealed.

But the survey indicated that some people still hold him responsible for the corruption scandal. More than a fifth of poll respondents who disapprove of Parks’ tenure cited Rampart as a reason. The other top reasons were low morale among police officers and bad management.

The LAPD fared somewhat better than its leader in the poll, suggesting that the department’s public image may be recovering somewhat from the ugly controversies surrounding Rampart.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they approve of the way the LAPD is handling its job, with 20% describing their approval as strong--the highest percentage since the scandal broke in 1999. And the percentage of all respondents who said they strongly disapprove of the LAPD’s performance is at its lowest level in two years--9% compared with 26% in an April 2000 Times poll. Residents hold these opinions although 56% of them believe racist feelings are common within the LAPD, down only slightly from previous years.

Greg Zerkle, 44, an actor who lives in Reseda, said that under Parks, “the department has done a good job of trying to maintain higher visibility in the neighborhood. They are really trying to increase their presence.”

Hahn Seeks Political Gain, Respondents Say

Though black respondents also gave the LAPD favorable ratings by a slim majority--53%--that portion was the lowest of any ethnic group. And the percentage of blacks who disapprove strongly of the LAPD’s job performance was 20%--more than three times the rate for whites.

Nearly 40% of all residents said Hahn staked out his position on Parks for political gain. But the poll demonstrated that the move has cost him more support than he gained.

Slightly more than a quarter of respondents said they are less supportive of the mayor because of his decision about Parks, while only 10% said they are more supportive.

The mayor has lost an even larger share of support among blacks.

Three out of five blacks said they think Hahn gave the chief his qualified support during the mayor’s race to get their vote.

But Hahn has three years before he faces reelection to recover that support. And several poll respondents said that though they are disappointed in the mayor’s actions, he has time to convince them that he deserves their backing again.

“He still has his good points,” said Albertha Stevens, a medical records librarian who lives on the Westside and says Hahn used Parks to win support in the black community during the campaign. “I might vote for him again.”

Latinos, who voted overwhelmingly for Villaraigosa in last year’s election, seem the most unperturbed by the dispute over whether to reappoint Parks.

Half of Latinos approve of Hahn, while 20% disapprove of him. Only a small fraction of those who are unhappy with the mayor cite his opposition to the chief as a factor.

But Latinos, more than whites and blacks, are worried about crime in their neighborhoods. About one-fifth said they feel very unsafe, and an additional 15% said they feel fairly unsafe.

Overall, 75% of city residents said they feel safe in their communities, down slightly from one year ago.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Support for the Chief

(tabular data not included)

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Hahn vs. Parks

(tabular data not included)