COUNCIL UNHAPPILY OKS 10 RIORDAN APPOINTMENTS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved 10 of Mayor Richard Riordan's appointees to municipal panels even as the council continued its complaints against him, saying he has politicized city commissioners and appointed too many from the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.

In the ongoing political drama, under way for the past month, the council on Tuesday split over several mayoral appointments - including on a Valley attorney named to the Airport Commission.

Lee Kanon Alpert was confirmed on a 13-1 vote, with Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg saying her lone dissenting vote was her only way to protest the mayor's removal of Commissioner Leland Wong for backing City Attorney James Hahn in the 2001 mayoral campaign.

``I have no problem with Mr. Alpert, but I have some grave difficulties with the removal of Mr. Wong . . . when the only reason that makes sense is that he supports a candidate other than the one the mayor supports,'' Goldberg said. ``I'm saddened to be in this position, but I have no other mechanism to tell this to the mayor.

``The mayor has been advised that we are unhappy and the mayor says, 'I don't care.' He doesn't really care what our views are. The only choice we have is to say no,'' Goldberg said.

It was the removal of Wong and Harbor Commission President Ted Stein - also a Hahn supporter - that prompted the council debate and a battle with Riordan over appointments. Riordan backs his adviser, businessman Steve Soboroff, as his successor.

Riordan has refused to comment on the political aspects of his appointments and the commissioners he has fired. Aides said he stands by his appointments as being reflective of the city.

Councilman Mike Hernandez, who voted for all the commissioners whose appointments were before the council Tuesday, said he would like to see a moratorium on all commission appointments until more areas of the city are represented.

Councilman Joel Wachs said the problem is the political influence of people who become commissioners.

``It is not so much geography but wealth,'' Wachs said. ``Most who serve are those who have previously raised campaign contributions. That's a reality and what has to change.''

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said the composition of commissions long has been a problem the council has voiced to Riordan since his election in 1993.

``It is a point many of us have tried to make to this administration,'' Ridley-Thomas said. ``Yet, almost with precision, this mayor and his advisers have chosen to create ethnically skewed commissions, . . . geographically skewed commissions.

``(Riordan's) appointments have caused us to have commissions that do not reflect the composition of the city. I think it's indefensible. I think it's inexcusable.''

The council voted 12-2 to approve the reappointment of Carol Rowen of Tarzana to the Harbor Commission, despite concerns of whether the Harbor Department was flying her back to Los Angeles from a Colorado vacation to vote on the Maersk Shipping contract at today's meeting. Harbor officials said she was paying her own way.

Wachs and Nate Holden voted against her confirmation, with Wachs saying harbor-area residents are concerned that their views are not being considered by the panel.

In another appointment, Councilman Hal Bernson opposed the confirmation of Brenda Freiberg to the Commission on Disability, saying he had been told of disparaging comments she made about him. Freiberg denied making any such statements.

The other confirmations that were approved on 14-0 votes included Samuel Lopez of Chatsworth to the Board of Information Technology Commissioners, Elbert Hudson of Baldwin Hills to the Los Angeles Community Development Bank and Leo Bautista to the Los Angeles Community Development Bank.

Also, Mark Schaffer of Encino to the Airport Commission, John Wentworth of San Pedro to the Board of Taxicab Commissioners, Mary Louise Longoria of Arleta to the Board of Neighborhood Empowerment and Pat Herrera Duran of San Pedro to the Board of Neighborhood Empowerment.