Parks Running Full-Throttle, Not as Shoo-In

There are two phrases that are forbidden at Bernard C. Parks’ bustling campaign headquarters in Leimert Park: “slam dunk” and “piece of cake.”

With a $410,000 campaign chest, a slew of endorsements and wide name recognition, the former Los Angeles police chief is considered the favorite in the five-way race for the 8th City Council District seat -- but you won’t hear him or any of his staff say so.

Instead, Parks has been running his first campaign for public office at full tilt. Last summer, he met with a series of experts for two-hour briefings on economic development, airport expansion and other city issues. His campaign has recruited more than 100 block captains to mobilize voters in the district, a T-shaped area south of the Santa Monica Freeway that stretches from affluent Baldwin Hills to the neighborhoods around Florence and Normandie avenues, the intersection made infamous in the 1992 riots.

And since January, he has spent almost every day walking precincts and addressing churches and community groups, telling residents why he wants to be their councilman.

“I think we take people by surprise, because the general perception was we’d just come and throw a bunch of mailers out,” Parks said on a recent afternoon as he knocked on doors along 89th Street. “But when you walk and you talk to people ... you find out what is really going on.”

There’s no question that the 37-year LAPD veteran is viewed as a star by many in the community: Motorists squeal to a stop when they see him walking down the street and rush over to shake his hand.

But some are suspicious of the motives of the former chief -- who jumped into the race after Mayor James K. Hahn opposed giving him a second term at the helm of the LAPD -- and question whether he will be effective.

“Is he doing this out of spite, or making it a steppingstone for the mayor’s race?” asked bus dispatcher Anthony McGinnis, who lives in the southwest area of the district.

“Going into that job, you’ve got to get allies,” he added. “And all the people he’s going to work with on the City Council voted to fire him as chief. It’s hard for me to see that they will have open arms for him.”

It’s a message echoed by Parks’ opponents, some of whom complain that they were pressured by his supporters to stay out of the race. (Kerman Maddox, Parks’ campaign consultant, said that he did not know of any pressure put on other candidates to quit and that he did not believe it was something Parks’ supporters would do.)

“Payback politics is not going to reduce crimes or bring jobs back into the community,” said candidate Robert Cole, a public relations specialist and neighborhood leader who lists his top priority, if he is elected, as reducing youth violence.

Forescee Hogan-Rowles, president of a community financial institution that funds economic development projects, is running on a platform of improving city services, developing a community partnership with the LAPD and generating more jobs and development. She has been the lone candidate to criticize Parks’ record as chief, questioning his leadership during the Rampart corruption scandal and his commitment to community policing.

Voters are “going to look at the records and recognize the importance of having someone in office who has more than a police background,” she said.

Sherri Franklin, an economic development consultant who promises to give more authority to neighborhood councils and create local think tanks to tackle crime and other problems, said Parks has hinged his bid on his high profile. “It’s not based on the needs of our community. So much of it is based on an emotional plea to vindicate himself,” she said.

Kevin Melton, the associate publisher of a magazine for senior citizens who promises to donate the bulk of the $139,000 council salary back to the community if elected, insists that the former chief doesn’t have the depth of support he claims.

“The people who are helping Mr. Parks are not people who are living in the 8th District,” he said.

For his part, Parks bristles in response to questions about whether his council bid is driven by a vendetta. “When people come up with their own theory, it’s because often they’ve never talked to me about it,” he said. “My whole purpose of running is serving this community.”

He never planned to seek public office, Parks added, but was persuaded to run for the seat vacated by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas after strong lobbying by community leaders.

Still, he was amused on a recent afternoon when a supporter at a campaign stop gave him a T-shirt that read, “Never Again” above the crossed-out words “Mayor Hahn.” Parks laughed as he showed it to Maddox. “What do you think, for my first day at City Hall?” he joked.

Still, the candidate maintains that he would be able to work with the mayor and Chief William J. Bratton, despite the new LAPD leader’s blunt criticism of the department he inherited.

On Tuesday, Bratton called for an independent investigation of the Rampart scandal, saying the effort made by Parks was “totally inadequate.”

Parks dismissed Bratton’s criticism as uninformed, saying that the Board of Inquiry report about Rampart was praised by a blue-ribbon panel formed by the previous Police Commission, along with numerous law enforcement agencies.

“I thought it was a very thorough report, and everything that has happened since the report [was released] has validated that,” he said. “To continue to harp that a report isn’t completed is ludicrous.”

However, questions about his leadership as chief have not been a major issue in the 8th District election. For the most part, local residents quiz Parks about what he would do as their councilman.

Famously detail-oriented, he can rattle off what improvements Crenshaw High will get from school bond money (a new sprinkler system and lights for the football field) and what percentage of sidewalk damage is caused by tree roots (85%).

When it comes to his agenda, however, he’s less specific.

Parks said his top priorities would be public safety and economic development. He would seek to expand prevention programs to keep youths out of gangs and lobby companies to open businesses in the district, he said.

Mostly, however, the former chief said he wants to increase residents’ involvement in their neighborhood -- getting people to vote, join their neighborhood council and volunteer at their children’s schools.

“The kids that commit crimes here, the kids that are in the criminal justice system, they belong to the people in this community,” he said. “It boils down to self-accountability, where people see that they can make a difference in their community.”

For some residents, though, Parks’ platform is irrelevant. They’re just excited to meet him.

As he walked down 89th, knocking on the doors of the neat stucco homes, a car pulled up and Yolanda Gill jumped out. “I just had to get out and meet you,” said Gill, 66, pumping his hand.

“I spotted him on the way from the market, and my grandson said, ‘That’s Bernard Parks. Oh, boy!’ Oh, yeah, I had to stop to meet him in person.”