Criminal Complaint, Walkout Roil Redondo Council

REDONDO BEACH —  A virulent political feud between the mayor and the City Council over appointments to city commissions exploded this week, with Mayor Barbara Doerr requesting a criminal investigation of the council and three council members storming out of Monday’s council meeting in protest.

In a fiery exchange between Doerr and Councilwoman Kay Horrell, who inspired the walkout, Horrell blasted the mayor for initiating the criminal complaint and for involving the Los Angeles County district attorney in the debate over appointments.

“I totally resent it,” said Horrell, echoing the comments of other council members. “I think it is absolutely terrible.” Minutes later, Horrell, Councilman Jack Chapman and Councilwoman Marcia Martin abruptly left the meeting.

In a letter hand-delivered to the district attorney’s office Monday, City Atty. Gordon C. Phillips requested an investigation of claims by Doerr that four of the five council members violated the City Charter last week when they appointed John S. Ferguson Jr. to the Harbor Commission. Martin, who joined the walkout, was absent when the appointment was made.

Source of Conflict

The Harbor Commission, an influential board that acts as the planning commission for King Harbor, has been a longstanding source of conflict between the mayor and council. Last week, the council overrode Doerr’s veto of an ordinance that gives harbor lessees an alternate representative on the panel, formerly known as the Harbor Review Board.

The council and mayor have been bickering for months over appointments to the Harbor Commission and several other citizen boards, which make decisions on everything from zoning disputes to student exchange programs. The mayor has the power of appointment, but her nominees must be confirmed by a majority of the council--a courtesy the council often has been unwilling to extend.

Relations between Doerr and the council have rapidly deteriorated since May when three of her allies were defeated decisively in council elections, leaving her with no reliable ally on the council. Last month, in its most dramatic affront since the election, the council voted to remove Doerr from her prestigious position as delegate to the Los Angeles County Division of the League of California Cities.

Doerr claims that Horrell, Chapman and Councilmen Archie Snow and Ronald Cawdrey committed misdemeanors when they declared a vacancy on the Harbor Commission and then appointed Ferguson to fill it in violation of the Charter. The misdemeanor offenses would be punishable by six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Reappointment Rejected

Doerr contends that her first nominee to the Harbor Commission, incumbent Commissioner Greg Diete, remains a member of the board until she appoints his successor with council confirmation. The council refused to confirm Diete’s reappointment in July and has since rejected two other candidates nominated by the mayor.

The council members contend, however, that the city Charter allows them to assume the mayor’s appointment powers if a new commissioner has not been appointed--and confirmed by the council--within 60 days of a vacancy. The council members claim that because Diete’s term expired June 30, the mayor had until Aug. 30 to appoint his successor and get him confirmed.

The disagreement centers on conflicting interpretations of the Charter, particularly provisions that deal with the creation of a vacancy on a city commission. Doerr contends that the expiration of a commissioner’s term does not constitute a formal vacancy, while the council members say it does.

In defending her position, Doerr has relied heavily on an opinion written by Phillips last month when the council first discussed the issue of vacancies. Phillips said that a vacancy occurs when a commissioner dies, resigns or moves out of town but not simply when his term expires. Phillips based much of his opinion on a Charter amendment on commission appointments approved by voters last year as Proposition FF.

Not Voters’ Intent

“To consider an office vacant at the expiration of the term would result in an interpretation contrary to the intention of the voters,” he wrote. “Under such an interpretation, one or more offices could be vacant over an extended period of time--’during prolonged appointment discussions’--and result in ‘shorthanded’ commissions, a result which was clearly not intended by the voters in adopting Proposition FF.”

But the City Council, disagreeing with Phillips, voted last month to establish a policy of its own. Under that policy, the council considers all seats vacant upon the expiration of a term of office, meaning the mayor has 60 days from that date to make her appointment. A commissioner who continues to serve after the end of his term--Diete, for example--is acting only as “caretaker” for a vacant seat, according to the policy.

Doerr at that time questioned the council’s authority to establish such a policy, but did not formally challenge it until last week when the council rejected her nominees for the Harbor Commission and appointed Ferguson on its own.

Doerr has said repeatedly that she does not object to Ferguson, a geologist and history buff who had originally applied for the Library Commission. Rather, she said, she opposes the council’s decision to “set its own law for the city.”

Second Opinion Asked

The heated exchange that led to the council walkout this week started when Doerr asked the council to get a second legal opinion about its new vacancy policy. She said such changes should be voted on by the public as Charter amendments.

Horrell and Martin agreed that the Charter provisions concerning vacancies on commissions are “flawed” and in need of clarification, but Horrell said a second legal opinion should not come from the district attorney. She blasted Doerr for not attempting to work out something with the council before initiating a criminal investigation.

Doerr defended her action, however, saying, “When the council feels it is above the law, I feel action has to be taken.”

Martin made a motion to request a second opinion, and Cawdrey seconded the move, but the council never got to vote on the issue because of the walkout.

Objected to Discussion

The three council members got up and left after Stevan Colin, a Doerr supporter, began asking Phillips questions about the legality of the council’s action. The council members became wary of the discussion, saying it should not continue at a public session because of pending litigation involving the criminal complaint.

“I refuse to enter into the discussion,” Horrell said. “I think it has gone too far. And I am leaving this meeting right now.”

The walkout was the first since September, 1981, when two councilmen walked out on Doerr to prevent her from making an appointment to the Planning Commission. At that time, the newly elected mayor offended several senior council members when she refused to reappoint Ken Bell to the Planning Commission. Bell was eventually reappointed by the council.

Ironically, it was the controversy surrounding that appointment--specifically, whether Bell could legally continue as a commissioner while the council and mayor squabbled over his reappointment--that led to the Proposition FF Charter amendment in an effort to clarify the law.

Phillips said this week that Ferguson will begin serving immediately as commissioner despite the legal controversy surrounding his appointment. Candace Beason, who heads special investigations for the district attorney’s office, was unavailable for comment because of illness.