CHARTER REFORM ON VOTERS' PLATE.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles voters will decide Tuesday whether they want to have an elected charter reform commission reshape their city government and which of 51 candidates for the panel should take part in the historic task.

Backers of Proposition 8 say it may be the last, best chance to save Los Angeles from mounting pressure by disenchanted residents in the San Fernando Valley, San Pedro and elsewhere to divide up the city.

Mayor Richard Riordan and other sponsors of the initiative say voters should have an elected commission with the power to submit reforms directly to the voters and bypass the City Council.

The City Council has already appointed its own advisory commission on charter reform, whose recommendation would have to be approved by the council before going before voters.

Initiative supporters say only an elected panel with power to put reforms directly to the voters - as provided in Proposition 8 - can be counted on to make fundamental changes in the City Charter without regard to how it affects those currently in power.

``City government is dysfunctional, but the council and the unions don't want change,'' said initiative co-sponsor and Riordan ally David Fleming. ``They want to keep things as they are because it's to their benefit. That's why we need an elected commission.''

Fleming, a Studio City attorney and president of the Fire Commission, said many people want more fundamental change. He predicted based on polls that the measure will pass with 60 to 65 percent of the vote. The mayor has helped raise $533,000 for the Proposition 8 campaign.

``It's a rather esoteric issue for a lot of people, who probably don't know what the charter is,'' Fleming said. ``But the minute you mention reform, it's a dead-bang cinch to pass because everybody wants reform.''

Even people who have opposed Proposition 8 are predicting it will pass, and instead of organizing a campaign against the initiative have turned their efforts to putting forward a slate of candidates to represent their views.

``It's the conventional wisdom that this is going to pass,'' said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was part of the City Council effort to keep the initiative off the ballot.

``What I support is the election of a balanced group of people to frame a sensible charter rather than have the commission being skewed to reflect special interests,'' said Ridley-Thomas, who has joined unions in endorsing former Assemblywoman Marguerite Archie-Hudson for the commission in his district.

Those opposed

Union leaders and several council members, including Council President John Ferraro, oppose the initiative, saying it is a risky way to rewrite the city's constitution because it may put that task in the hands of candidates who receive the most campaign contributions from special interests.

``I think this is about getting more power for the mayor,'' said Julie Butcher, a representative of union representing blue-collar city workers.

Butcher said she fears that downtown corporate interest want to reduce City Council power and eliminate civil service protections so the mayor can move ahead with privatizing city departments and selling city facilities.

``It was this mayor who wanted to sell the central library to the Marlboro man,'' Butcher said, referring to a failed attempt to have a tobacco company buy the library and lease it back to the city to save money.

Butcher said the city does not need to rewrite the entire charter to make some of the improvements proposed by the mayor and others, such as giving neighborhoods more decision-making power over local issues.

``People are interested in changing government but that doesn't require a massive overhaul. It doesn't require a charter reform; you certainly don't need charter reform to provide more local control.''

In recognition of the high stakes involved in rewriting the charter that reallocates power, more than $1 million is being spent by campaigns for competing slates of commission candidates. The mayor, unions, City Council members, homeowner groups and community leaders are backing slates.

The mayor's slate has a $556,000 war chest, while the unions are putting in $400,000 for their candidates. Other groups are putting up lesser amounts.

Because the field of candidates is so large, Fleming and others said half or more of the races may require runoff elections in June because no one will capture a majority vote Tuesday.