COUNCIL QUESTIONS NEED FOR BADGES : MOTION WOULD LIMIT ISSUANCE AMID CLAIMS OF MISUSE.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

City Council members called Friday for stripping most city commissioners of their official city badges following allegations that a Building and Safety commissioner flashed his badge to a prostitute and implied he was a police officer.

Council members also proposed requiring commissioners to undergo annual ethics training. That proposal followed an allegation that the same commissioner had a conflict of interest in representing a client battling the Building and Safety Department.

Scott Adler resigned as Building and Safety Commission president last week, but denied the allegations. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to file charges in either case.

Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Mike Feuer introduced a motion Friday that would limit the issuance of official city badges to elected officials, police officers and the few commissioners who have police powers.

``Legitimate concerns have emerged from recent disturbing reports of possible improper use of official city badges,'' Ferraro said. ``It may be appropriate to design a new identification card for city employees that would permit them to act in emergencies, but which doesn't resemble a police badge.''

Commissions with police powers include the Police Commission, Fire Commission and Ethics Commission. Currently, badges are also held by commissioners with many other city agencies, including the parks, redevelopment, public works, airport, harbor and animal regulation departments, officials said.

The harbor, redevelopment and parks departments pay for the badges, while public works commissioners have to pay for their own.

The council motion, sent to the Rules and Elections Committee for consideration, directs the city attorney to draft an ordinance which would impose the limits and allow the council to hold hearings to determine if any other city officials need badges.

Currently, there are no rules for getting the badges or regulations affecting their use.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee, agreed that the city should consider stripping commissioners of the badges, which traditionally have been one of the perks of getting a city commission appointment.

``What I'm thinking we need to look at is maybe it's a tradition that would be better discontinued, but I'm not sure,'' Chick said.

Council members noted that the Adler incident is just the latest in a string of controversies involving the alleged misuse of city badges by city commissioners.

Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it planned to fine former Police Commissioner Enrique Hernandez Jr. for flashing his commissioner badge as he bypassed a security checkpoint and metal detectors at Los Angeles International Airport on his way to a plane to Las Vegas.

Hernandez said at the time he regretted the action but planned to appeal the fine. An FAA spokesman said information was not available Friday about whether a fine was paid.

When Hernandez resigned later in the year, he filed a report indicating that he had lost his badge, according to Commission spokesman Michael Leonard.

Four years ago, a Lockheed Corp. financial officer filed a complaint alleging he was assaulted by then-city Police Pension Commissioner Leland Wong during a dispute over a traffic accident.

The complaint alleged Wong flashed his city badge at one point and said ``I'm a police commissioner and you have to do what I say.''

The police did not prosecute Wong on the battery complaint. Wong is currently president of the city Harbor Department and carries a badge, a department spokesman said.

The badges are in addition to laminated identification cards issued to most commissioners. The Commission on the Status of Women is not issued badges, according to director Paula Petrotta.

As former-mayor Tom Bradley's aide in charge of commission appointments, Petrotta recommended several years ago that the badges be taken away from commissioners.

``There's just too much potential for abuse,'' she said, adding that she had heard rumors but could not prove that some Bradley commissioners were flashing their badges to get out of traffic tickets.

When Riordan was elected three years ago, he left it up to commissioners to decide whether they want a badge.

Riordan's office does not monitor who has the badges and plans no change in the rules regarding the badges, said mayoral spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez.

Chick said council members are given badges so they can cross police lines when needed in emergencies but questioned the need for all commissioners to have the metallic shields.

``There are all kinds of other ways of doing identification,'' she said, adding the laminated identification cards commissioners also get ``would probably clear up some problematic uses of the badge and would probably be less expensive.''

Public Works Board president J.P. Ellman defends her decision to carry a badge, saying it can help her carry out her official duties in an emergency.

That was the case recently when a city trash truck malfunctioned, killing two school children and requiring Ellman to quickly determine whether the problem was one that affected the rest of the truck fleet.

``The only time when I used it, when I really needed it, was with the trash truck crash,'' Ellman said. ``I could not have gotten in there if I did not show my badge. They did not know who I was.''

Ferraro and Feuer, who are two-thirds of the Rules and Elections Committee, also submitted a motion to the council Friday that would mandate annual training for all city commissioners on ethics and conflict of interest issues.

``City commissioners provide great service to the city, however, the authority which is entrusted to them should not be taken lightly and they must be fully made aware of their legal and ethical duties and responsibilities as those who exercise public power,'' the motion said.

In another development Friday, city Environmental Affairs Commission President Mark Armbruster notified council members that he is severing his law partnership with Adler, saying he had planned to do so for some time because the two attorneys were headed in different directions in their work.

Armbruster said he does not believe in the veracity of the allegations against his long-time partner, but added ``what I have valued most in my life is my honesty, credibility, ethics and relationships with my family, friends and clients.''

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Photo: A City Council motion introduced Friday seeks to lim it the issuance of official city badges to elected officials.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News