Hahn Replaces Commissioner Questionnaire

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn on Friday rescinded and replaced a questionnaire sent out to the city’s 300 city commissioners asking whether they are gay, lesbian or disabled, after privacy and discrimination concerns were raised.

Some city officials saw the original questionnaire as improperly mandating that personal information be provided. Hahn’s office sent out a new form that clearly says giving the information is voluntary and the information will not be made public.

“This information will be kept confidential and only for statistical purposes,” Hahn wrote in a clarifying letter sent to city commissioners Friday.

He rescinded the letter after receiving advice from the city attorney’s office, officials said.

“Our office was not asked to review the initial directive before it was issued,” said Matthew W. Szabo, press secretary to City. Atty. Rocky Delgadillo. “When concerns were raised after the fact, we provided the mayor with appropriate advice.”

Szabo said he could not discuss the specific concerns, citing attorney-client privilege.

But one high-level official familiar with the discussions said there was worry that commissioners might consider their privacy rights violated if they were required to provide information on their sexual orientation and other personal matters.

In addition, city officials were concerned that a commissioner who was not reappointed after disclosing ethnicity, sexual orientation or disabilities could sue the city for discrimination.

City Council members have criticized Hahn in recent months for what they say have been too many appointments of attorneys and businessmen from the Westside and affluent areas of the San Fernando Valley. Some council members have said the mayor needs to make more minority appointments from the Eastside and South Los Angeles.

While maintaining that city commissions are diverse, mayoral officials say data on the ethnicity and sexual orientation of commissioners help in meeting that goal.

“The mayor’s goal in collecting this information is to make sure commissions reflect the diversity of the city,” said Deputy Mayor Julie Wong.

Last month, Hahn lost the power to nominate people to 25 city commission posts after he failed to meet the filing deadline. To get a better handle on when seats become open, he sent a memo Oct. 2 to the presidents and secretaries of all commissions, asking them for immediate notification of vacancies.

Attached was a one-page questionnaire with the instruction “please complete all portions of this form.” Some city officials took the instruction to mean that filling out the form was compulsory.

Questions included occupation, employer, home address, council district of residence, driver’s license number, birth date and whether the signer was a registered voter in Los Angeles.

A second section of the form, titled “For statistical use only,” asked each commissioner to disclose gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability status.

A spokeswoman for Hahn said the information would help gauge whether city panels reflected the city’s diversity.

Still, some advocates for the disabled voiced concern over the city’s requesting such personal information.

“If it’s not relevant to their job, people have a right to question why they are being asked,” said Brewster Thackeray, a spokesman for the National Organization on Disabilities.

The new questionnaire not only says the information is confidential and voluntary, but it also moves the questions on sexual orientation, ethnic status and disability to a separate form from the one providing basic information such as address and occupation.

“The mayor wanted to make sure to clarify that the information including ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability is optional information,” Wong said.

Karen Henderson-Winge, a member of the city Commission on Disability, said UCLA, where she works in the Americans With Disabilities Act compliance office, no longer asks applicants for university admission to disclose whether they are disabled.

When asked if she had concerns about being asked for the information by the mayor, she said, “I think that it’s implied that it’s confidential.”

Gay-rights advocates -- including Lorri L. Jean, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center -- said they had no problem with city commissioners being asked if they were gay or lesbian because it appeared the information would help better serve gays and lesbians living in the city.

“I think it’s a good thing” that the information is being collected, Jean said. “The whole city commission system is an element of government in Los Angeles. I think it’s important for that element of government to reflect all of the varied constituencies in the city.”

Asked if some commissioners might fear that information on their sexual orientation could be used against them by being made public, Jean said, “In this day and age I don’t think that’s a legitimate concern.”