COUNCIL SPLIT ON CENSURE PROCEDURES CHARTER CHANGE DELAYED.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

With both defiance and apologies to one another, members of the Los Angeles City Council decided Tuesday to delay action on a portion of the new City Charter allowing them to issue a public censure of each other for actions unbecoming an elected official.

The proposal to toughen the procedures beyond what is now allowed drew protests from several members who said they believed it was too political an action and could be used to embarrass a member without provocation.

``I don't think we should ever give the opportunity to people to exercise emotion over common sense,'' said Councilman Nate Holden, who had drawn condemnation from female members of the council several years ago when he was accused of sexual harassment. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

``It becomes political. It becomes personal. I remember when some of my colleagues held a gun to my head. Some of the motives were not proper at all. I had three or four of them going at me for my re-election. This is dangerous water you're treading on.''

In fact, five council members opposed Holden last year in an election he narrowly won.

The present charter allows the council to censure a member with a simple majority vote of eight members. The new charter raises that to 10 members and sets up a procedure for the council to consider any censure resolution. Even if a member is censured, however, it would result in no official action against him or her.

The council decided Tuesday to send the matter back to its ad hoc committee on charter reform for further consideration.

The debate also drew out discussion of Councilman Mike Hernandez and his arrest more than three years ago for possession of cocaine.

``Some of my colleagues took certain positions who felt I shouldn't have a chance to do my job sober since I was doing my job and no one complained when I was drinking or using drugs,'' Hernandez said. ``Today is 980 days of sobriety. I think my experience was one where God blessed me by being allowed to be arrested and deal publicly with the issue of sobriety. This is something we have to be very careful about using.''

The statement by Hernandez drew an apology from Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., who was one of several who was openly critical of Hernandez after his arrest when many called for him to step down.

``It was a terrible mistake I made when a colleague was down and out,'' Svorinich said. ``Instead of reaching out with a helping hand, I slapped him. I want to make sure that's one of things this body doesn't do in the future. I was one of those who took the easy route and condemned a colleague when I should have helped. Mr. Hernandez, I apologize to you.''

Councilman Joel Wachs said he opposed the concept of having the council censure a member because it could be used to suppress independence.

``This could be used as a veiled threat,'' Wachs said. ``This is a mechanism whereby council members who take unpopular positions and do unpopular things will be punished by their colleagues. I know there are many times this council would have liked to have censured me.

``The effect of this will be to keep people in line to try to keep us from being independent,'' he said.

Also, Councilman Hal Bernson said it should not be up to the council to determine whether a member is doing a good job.

``The voters tell us every four years if we are doing a good job and if they don't like us, they can always try a recall,'' Bernson said.