Hahn Makes an Issue of Parks-Villaraigosa Ties

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn has started to target the alliance between challenger Antonio Villaraigosa and Bernard C. Parks, attacking the former police chief in a bid to win support from conservative voters in the San Fernando Valley and from African Americans in South Los Angeles.

On Friday, Hahn said his decision two years ago not to support Parks for a second term was influenced by the chief’s behind-the-scenes opposition to collecting data that would help determine whether police traffic stops involved racial profiling.

In a move to blunt Parks’ influence with African American voters, Hahn was joined by former Councilman Nate Holden, who accused Parks of supporting racial profiling.

Earlier in the week, Hahn had attacked Parks in the Valley, saying that Villaraigosa would turn to Parks, who has endorsed him, as his top law enforcement advisor.

“I don’t think that the Villaraigosa-Parks way of law enforcement is the most effective way to keep this city safe,” Hahn said Friday at a news conference with Holden in front of Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles on Pico Boulevard.

Parks responded angrily, saying he opposes racial profiling. Villaraigosa dismissed the attack as desperation, while his campaign assailed Hahn’s environmental record.

Hahn’s new strategy could backfire, political observers said Friday. Rather than convince African Americans that Hahn was right to push out Parks, they said, it could further alienate African American voters, many of whom believe that Hahn has treated Parks shabbily by repeatedly criticizing his record.

“It is a risky move,” said Janelle Wong, a USC political scientist who specializes in race and politics. “There is still a tremendous amount of loyalty to Parks among African Americans, especially those 25 and older.”

On Friday, the mayor criticized Parks for opposing a federal consent decree that mandated LAPD reforms and required that it collect detailed information on every motorist stop.

“He said it wouldn’t prove anything one way or the other,” Hahn said. “If you never collect the data, you don’t know if you have a problem.”

The mayor disclosed for the first time that the issue was a major factor in his decision not to support Parks for a second term as chief.

Holden said he needed to apologize to Hahn and the African American community because, as a councilman, he had voted against the consent decree based on Parks’ assurances it wasn’t necessary. Holden said he would have voted differently if he had known of Parks’ opposition to collecting data on police stops.

Hahn cited a 1999 New York Times article that he said showed Parks defended racial profiling as a policing tool. The article quotes Parks as saying:, “In my mind, it is not a great revelation that if officers are looking for criminal activity, they’re going to look at the kind of people who are listed on crime reports.”

Parks said Friday that the mayor and Holden were mischaracterizing why he opposed collecting the data. He said the best way to stop racial profiling was to allow citizens to file complaints and to thoroughly investigate them, not to collect data from officers who may not report the data accurately.

“If it is such a crucial part of stopping racial profiling, why is it we have collected it for four years and no one knows what to do with it?” Parks said.

Villaraigosa said he supported the consent decree and also supported collecting racial data on police traffic stops.

The challenger’s camp also went on the attack.

S. David Freeman, a former general manager of the city’s Department of Water and Power, criticized Hahn’s 2001 decision to keep a 10% stake in the Mohave Generating Station, a coal-fired plant near Laughlin, Nev., that contributes to air pollution in the Grand Canyon. “Jim Hahn doesn’t just run the some of the dirtiest campaigns in America,” Freeman said. “He also runs one of the dirtiest power plants.”

Deputy Mayor Doane Liu countered that Hahn has won praise from environmental groups for not proceeding with planning a $2.1-billion addition to a coal-fired plant in Utah.

Villaraigosa also highlighted an article in the Daily News reporting that the city spent $700,000 on overtime for workers to complete most of the renovation of Van Nuys City Hall in time for Hahn to hold a dedication ceremony on Monday. “It is this kind of ... wasteful spending that has infuriated Los Angeles residents,” Villaraigosa said.

Cora Jackson-Fossett, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works, said the overtime expense was $383,000.

Hahn said he did not direct that workers be paid overtime to have the building ready this month.

“I know there was a hole out there that we had to work very fast to get covered, because obviously the rains coming in there would have caused a lot of damage,” he said.