Riordan Under Fire for Top Appointments : City Hall: Black and Latino leaders say minorities are being excluded. Aides say criticism is premature.

Just a week into his new Administration, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan is under fire from African-American and Latino leaders who say that Riordan’s early appointments raise concerns about his sensitivity to minorities.

The activists have called a news conference and a meeting for today to complain that blacks and Latinos were excluded in those appointments and to protest the selection of one top mayoral aide, former police union head William C. Violante, whom they see as being antagonistic to reform of the Police Department.

“The African-American community is quite concerned about what its standing is in the Riordan Administration,” said City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has organized the meeting to be held at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. “The Riordan Administration is duty-bound to communicate quickly and forthrightly what its intentions are vis-a-vis this community.”

Riordan’s representatives rejected the criticisms as being premature. “Our goal is to find the best and the brightest,” mayoral transition chairman Bill Wardlaw said. “And I do think you will find non-Anglos in our next selections.”

Assuaging minority fears of exclusion has been viewed as one of the prime challenges for Riordan, who was elected with strong support from Anglos, particularly in the San Fernando Valley. Blacks voted overwhelmingly for his opponent, City Councilman Michael Woo, and Latinos favored Woo by a narrower margin.

Thus far, Riordan has appointed three of five deputy mayors and his chief of staff. Of that group, three are Anglo men and one is an Asian-American woman. The Violante appointment has made the activists uneasy about Riordan’s direction, although the vast majority of his appointments remain to be made.

They complained that Riordan has not yet visited the heart of the African-American community in South Los Angeles and is not expected to reappoint Jesse Brewer, a black police commissioner who has been close to Police Chief Willie L. Williams.

Joining in lodging the complaints with Ridley-Thomas, one of Woo’s strongest allies, are Joe Hicks, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles; John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League; Arturo Vargas, vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Mayoral communications director Dan Blackburn noted that the appointment process is not completed, saying: “There are a large number of appointments remaining and when those are completed everyone will see how well they reflect the diversity of the city.”

One official helping Riordan choose his staff complained, however, that the slow pace of appointments was leaving the new mayor open to criticism.

“If it had been done in a timely manner, there wouldn’t have been a chance for the rumblings to get started,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “This was avoidable, with a little bit better organization.”

Riordan took office last Thursday, with his staff promising that a host of appointments would be announced by the start of this week. They now say that the selections--including deputy mayors for economic development and for housing, planning and the environment--will probably be made Friday or early next week.

Wardlaw insisted that the selection of those two advisers and of commissioners is not behind schedule. “We are still getting a lot of suggestions and we want to make sure we get the right people,” Wardlaw said.

Fueling much of the concern among black and Latino leaders was the appointment Violante as a deputy mayor in charge of public safety.

Violante has been a frequent critic of Chief Williams, an African-American and one of the most popular public figures in Los Angeles. As president of the Police Protective League, Violante also led efforts to defeat a police reform measure approved by voters a year ago.

Although Violante later embraced some of the reforms and has pledged to work with Williams, the minority leaders said they are not convinced of the onetime union leader’s desire to crack down on excessive force against blacks and Latinos.

“That is a very disturbing early action and early signal by Mayor Riordan,” said Mack, “especially in light of the all the pain and the gut-wrenching trauma that our city has experienced since the beating of Rodney King.”

Among Riordan’s other top appointees are Chief of Staff Bill McCarley, Deputy Mayor Michael F. Keeley, who will be charged with improving government efficiency, and Jadine Nielsen, deputy mayor for community outreach. Keeley is openly homosexual, a first among top-level mayoral appointees, and is seen as being a bridge to the gay community.

At the news conference scheduled for this afternoon organized by Hicks of the SCLC and at tonight’s forum at the First AME Church, black leaders are expected to discuss methods to increase the chances of African-Americans being appointed to the final two deputy mayor spots or to various commissions.

Ridley-Thomas is objecting to Riordan’s apparent unwillingness to reappoint Brewer as a police commissioner, despite his nearly 40 years in the Police Department and his position as one of Williams’ confidants. “That is a big loss to the city,” Ridley-Thomas said.

Riordan’s office declined to comment on the status of Brewer and other potential appointees. But sources familiar with the selection process say he has not been under consideration and Brewer said he believes he will not be reappointed.

Vargas said he has already mailed a letter to Riordan expressing many of the same concerns as the black leaders. He rejected suggestions that the protests are premature.

“We can’t wait around and see what happens. We have to put pressure on them from Day 1,” said Vargas, adding that President Clinton promised, but did not deliver, a significant number of posts for Latinos. “Experience tells us you can’t trust the promise, ‘Wait until it’s over and you’ll be happy.’ You have to act now.”

Besides appointments, the African-American leaders said they hope Riordan will soon send a message of solidarity with their community by visiting South Los Angeles.

Blackburn said Riordan intends to visit all portions of the city but has been preoccupied with getting his office running. The mayor’s only significant participation in public events in the last two weeks have been a gay pride parade in West Hollywood and his inauguration at City Hall, Blackburn said.