Gates Calls Commissioner Biased on Choosing Chief

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has accused one of the city’s Civil Service commissioners of bias and urged that the commissioner be excluded from the selection process to replace Gates.

In a letter received this week by the commission, Gates said he was “shocked . . . dismayed and . . . saddened” by remarks made last week at a public hearing by one of the five commissioners, the Rev. Kenneth J. Flowers.

Flowers said selection of an outsider as chief could be “a breath of fresh air” because of “the corruption” within the Police Department brought to light by the Christopher Commission.

Characterizing his department as corruption-free, Gates wrote: “Mr. Flowers has made a statement which clearly shows his bias and he should be excluded from all future deliberations involving the selection of a chief of police.”

In the wake of the Rodney G. King beating incident, Gates had indicated that he will resign, but has since hedged on when or even if he will leave the department.

Gates’ letter regarding Flowers followed charges by spokesmen for the 94-member Los Angeles Police Command Officers’ Assn. that Flowers’ remarks showed that he will be unfair.

Assistant City Atty. Diane Wentworth, who provides legal advice to the commission, said Thursday that it is up to the commission to decide how it wants to handle Gates’ suggestion.

She said there is a City Charter provision under which the city attorney’s office can be asked to give its opinion on whether a commissioner has a conflict of interest and should be disqualified. But she said she was unsure if Gates was attempting to invoke that provision.

Typically, she said, conflicts involve a financial interest in the outcome of a decision rather than an official making a controversial statement.

Flowers said Thursday that his remarks had been misinterpreted: “The main thing that the chief needs to understand, as well as the LAPD and the citizens, is that this is a fair process . . . not biased against LAPD officers.”

Flowers said he had no intention of disqualifying himself. The commission’s first job is to decide whether outsiders will even be allowed to compete against 25 eligible candidates from within the department. It then must appoint two citizens panels to review applications, interview semifinalists and pass a list of six finalists to the Police Commission, which will choose Gates’ replacement.

Flowers said that he has spoken about Gates’ letter with John J. Driscoll, general manager of the city Personnel Department, and that Driscoll saw no reason for him to disqualify himself.

Driscoll said in an interview that he would not comment on their conversation. “I’m not the one who has to say,” Driscoll said. “He needs to look at it, and see if it’s hurt anything. I also think he needs to (ask himself if he is biased).”

Civil Service Commission President Casimiro U. Tolentino said: “I don’t think he should disqualify himself. There’s nothing in what Rev. Flowers said that should give rise to that.”

Tolentino said he does not anticipate that the commission will be challenged in court, but other observers were less sanguine, noting that the command officers group has hired a litigator, Barry Levin.