The Candidates for Mayor : HIS HONOR / How Much power?

Although mayoral candidates Richard Riordan and Michael Woo have promised sweeping changes at City Hall, the city Charter establishes a strong City Council and a weak mayor.

Students of municipal government say, however, that a mayor can increase his power with political savvy. Indeed The Times poll in January Found that 70% of registered voters believed the mayor already has considerable power to make the city a better place while 46% also believed a strong mayor could substantially improve city services without new taxes.

Meanwhile, an informal group of reformers is drafting a new City Charter that would increase the mayor’s power. Among its proposals: giving the mayor authority to fire top city bureaucrats by taking away their civil service protections, eliminating or reducing the role of city commissions, and enlarging the City Council from 15 to 50 members, with some members being elected citywide, to dilute the power of individual council members.

The group hopes to place the proposed reforms on a 1995 ballot. One of the mayor’s indirect powers has been sharply curtailed in recent years. Previously, the mayor’s views tended to prevail on the powerful commissions that governed the water and power, airport and harbor departments. But in 1991 the City Council won the power to veto actions taken by these commissions and others.

A Mayor Can. . . * Initiate annual city budget * Appoint more than 200 members to 51 commissions, from police to public works, subject to City Council approval. By tradition, many commissioners will tender resignations when new mayor is elected. * Declare a state of emergency. * Veto City Council legislation, although council can override with 10 votes. In certain planning and personnel matters, 12 votes are needed for an override. * Appoint general managers of various city departments. City Council must approve department and commission appointments but rarely rejects a mayor’s pick. *

Among their goals if Elected: Richard Riordan Lease LAX to private industry. Would hire more police with money. Streamline business permit process. Create more enterprise zones. *Michael Woo Cut back budgets for mayor and City Council plus other city departments to pay for more police. Implement a citywide ban on Saturday night Specials. Appoint an Economic *

Yorty’s View Can a mayor really shake up City Hall? Sam Yorty, a Studio city resident and the only mayor from the San Fernando Valley (1961-1973), says there’s no easy answer: “It depends on leadership. If you have enough leadership and people are with you, you control the City Council. In the City Charter, it’s considered a strong-council and a weak-mayor system. But the Mayor doesn’t need to be weak.” *

The Power to Appoint One of the mayor’s most important duties is to appoint commissioners. Here is how the Valley is represented on: 19.6% of city commissioners are from the Valley 36.2% of Los Angeles population resides in the Valley.

The Valley View Valley voters want a mayor who will bolster the economy and attack crime. That’s the view of 1,224 Valley voters questioned in exit polls taken by the Times after the recent primary. “Which issues--if any--were most important to you in deciding how you would vote today?” (2 responses allowed) Jobs / The economy: 50% Crime / Gangs: 39% Education: 26% Improving the LAPD: 17% Illegal immigration: 11% Proposed breakup of the school district: 6% The environment: 5% Homelessness / Poverty: 5% Race relations: 4% Fairness of the criminal justice system: 4% Transportation: 2% *”What do you most like about your mayoral candidate?” (2 responses allowed) Thinks like me on the issues: 21% Tough enough to lead L.A.: 20% Cares about people like me: 19% Has clear vision for the future: 15% Has experience to be mayor: 14% Outsider to city government: 14% Has best economic proposals: 14% Can bring people together: 10% Understands the new, multicultural L.A.: 10% Cares about my part of the city: 7% Best qualified to handle a crisis: 6% *The Perks * May live rent-free in Getty House, a 14-room Hancock Park mansion donated to the city in 1976. Mayor pays for utilities and property taxes on second-floor living quarters. Woo and Riordan say they won’t live there if elected. * LAPD officers who double as bodyguard and drivers. * Free cars. Mayor Tom Bradley had a 1990 Lincoln Town Car, a 1986 Chrysler new Yorker and 1989 Ford LTD. * There are limits to the value of gifts that mayors can keep, but they still receive a variety of presents. Among the gifts Bradley ahs received over the years: Business suits, shoes, a video recorder, a sweat suit and numerous tickets to the rose Bowl and various sporting and cultural events.