AMBITION MUST SERVE REFORM : CHARTER COMMISSION CANDIDATES NEED TO ASSURE THE PUBLIC OF THEIR MOTIVES.

Byline: Lee Kanon Alpert

NOW that the candidates for the charter reform commission have been finalized, it is time to look very carefully at each of their qualifications and motivations in their seeking this nonpaying yet extremely critical position, which could determine the future of our great city.

As citizens of this truly diverse community we have, through charter reform, been provided an opportunity of a lifetime. We can actually learn from our history and from our experiences to define a clean, concise vision for the future. We have the ability to mold, form and shape our own destiny and that of our children and loved ones - and by doing so, create a better living environment, working environment and a legacy for all of us to be remembered by for all future time and generations.

Those who have a true and honest sense of caring and concern for the very survival of our suffering local society and the betterment of our life in Los Angeles must seize the moment that is before us by post-haste promulgating and prescribing with specificity those rules and regulations which will locally govern us as we approach the millennium of our society. We must not permit this second chance at doing it right to be tarnished or contaminated by permitting those with self-interest, self-motivation or personal agendas to be selected to initiate this important process on behalf of all Angelenos.

If we permit personal corruption to infect the process of charter reform, we will again fail miserably and this bright new window of crystallized hope for much-needed change will become clouded and shatter into the same old system of patronage that benefits the few and harms the many. This is exactly what we are pleading be altered, modified and otherwise changed.

Our elected charter reform commission - which will be representing us in the exercise of self-determination - must be dedicated to the cause of the betterment of this city and to that specific agenda alone. These soon-to-be-elected advocates of community hope to the charter reform commission must not be simply looking for a job or a headline, now or in the future. They must commit to refrain from the politics that have so depressed and contaminated our city and our citizenry. They must be the brightest and best with the highest of integrity and purpose. This commission cannot and must not be used or even perceived to be used as a steppingstone to city-elected office for the individuals who make up the commission that we will entrust with our destiny and that of Los Angeles.

The good intentions of the founders of charter reform to provide a new, vital and vibrant form of city government that actually works - considering our dramatically changed current population and demographics - must be embraced and accepted by all of us who care about this city's future with the ultimate vision being a smooth and functioning government, whose formation and function will obliterate the ills that have pervaded and weakened the political process from which we are now crying for relief.

With great respect and appreciation for the vast majority of those who presently serve, have served and will serve as our municipal-elected officials, this commission of reform cannot be one comprised of ``has beens'' or ``wanna-bes'' for political office. To elect those individuals who fit within those unfortunate, but accurate, categories would serve to either repeat the mistakes of the past or allow recommendations to be established for a system that would benefit only those who are seeking the positions of power in the city government in the immediate future.

We need to neither justify our past, now in large part ineffective, form of government nor do we need to establish a political base for those who may seek to hold office in the future. This commission and the recommendations to be received by our electorate, must both in perception and reality express the pure, objective and unbiased creativity and concern for the future needs of our community and our city, thrusting aside politics as usual and maintaining the ultimate goal of reform for the sake of societal survival.

Again, there must be no ulterior motive for those who wish to represent our interests as citizens on the charter reform commission. There must be no aspirations for city-elected office for those who wish to volunteer for this historic role in our local government formation.

How can someone who will seek to be an elected representative, such as a city council member or a mayor for that matter, of our local government, truly do only what is best for our city and community, as a commission member, when by doing so he or she may be obligated to recommend a diminution of the control or even a total abolition of the office that they seek to hold in the future?

For example, what if someone who knowingly longs to be in the future elected as a council member realizes in his or her service on the charter reform commission that the best form of government, for this now dramatically larger and more diverse citizenry, is to follow the model of many other large municipalities by greatly enlarging the number of council districts presently serving the city by five to 10 times, thereby dissipating the almighty ``power'' of the individual council members whose districts those members of the commission were hoping to serve? What would they do? Would they vote to further their own careers and thereby destroy their own personal dreams and desires? Would they vote to further their own careers and thereby not do what is best for the city?

Assuming that these commissioners with the future aspirations for local politics exercised their very best good faith efforts in their decision making, the perception of conflict and temptation would still remain, in and of itself, so monumental as to seriously call into question the integrity of the process, serve as a perceptively good rationale for those who wish to defeat charter reform and thereby destroy the fine work of those men and women who had worked for years to complete the work of charter reform with integrity.

Those who clearly have the best interests of the city and charter reform in mind and who seek to represent us on this commission must therefore, immediately and publicly, announce their pledge to refrain from seeking or running for city-elected office, for at least one complete elected term/election after the charter reform recommendations are either passed or defeated and the job of the commission is complete.

By making this commitment to those of us who will elect them, these candidates for reform are dedicating themselves for the next two years exclusively and with purity of purpose, to that which they are promising to themselves, to us and to our future. They, by this oath, are sending a message to the community that this charter reform effort will be honored as a serious and focused effort. That is what we deserve and have earned as residents of this wonderful city of Los Angeles.

Stop the madness and business as usual, now. Let us all join in putting aside the learned behavior of past differences as we move forward together, creating a community of caring and compassion for those who follow.