DUTIES PUT ROCKY IN HARD PLACE.

Byline: Kimit Muston Local View

I noticed that our pugnacious City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has been making headlines recently, some of which he wanted to make and some he didn't. But even when the headlines were not complimentary for our municipal legal eagle, you had to feel a little sorry for him. After all, he's caught between a Rocky and a hard place.

Rocky is as ambitious as any other politician in City Hall. Nothing wrong with a little ambition. After all, our current mayor used to be city attorney. Why shouldn't Rocky expect to follow in James Hahn's footsteps?

But if Rocky is to run for mayor either next year or five years from now, what he needs is some footprints of his own. He needs an independent image or two. Images such as ``Rocky Delgadillo, Champion of Our Children! The man who took on the Los Angeles Unified School District!''

It was Rocky, remember, who first threatened to send investigators from his office to see if the public school bathrooms used by our children were up to health codes. And it was only after it was clear the issue was popular that Hahn usurped Rocky by announcing school bathroom inspections by the city Department of Building and Safety.

Still, Rocky's inspection plan made for a few pretty headlines. And just for a moment there Rocky looked pretty good, and the City Attorney's Office looked as if it represented the citizens of Los Angeles.

What a shame about those other headlines.

You remember those: ``Airport deals raise alarm, Chick says.''

In December Laura Chick, the city controller, issued a 51-page report on the Department of Los Angeles World Airports, specifically on the involvement of political appointees in the details of negotiations for large construction and service contracts for the mayor's multibillion dollar expansion of LAX. It seems that some of the airport commissioners who were helping negotiate contracts were also raising money for Hahn's re-election campaign. And some of their decisions on who got the contracts just might have been influenced by who made the biggest political contributions.

Now, it might seem pretty obvious to you and me that it's not kosher to use the same pot to spoon out taxpayer money and collect political contributions. But the Airport Department responded to Chick's criticism by saying they were ``Working under the guidance of the city attorney.''

Wait a minute.

The city attorney advised a city department that it was OK to have political fund-raisers negotiating city work contracts? Rocky? Where did you get your law degree? What's-A-matter U?

But to be fair, this is Rocky's hard place. He was elected by the citizens of Los Angeles, but he actually represents Los Angeles City Hall, which often has very different interests than the voters.

As an example, when Hahn was city attorney, he says he felt obliged to help then-Mayor Richard Riordan assist Browning Ferris Industries in its battle with the residents of Granada Hills. So City Attorney Hahn made adjustments to and interpretations of the city Master Plan that made it virtually impossible for the residents to stop BFI's Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

Later, when Mayor Hahn, now publicly a dump opponent, was asked to explain his actions he said, in effect, that he was just following orders.

Mayor Hahn seems to have unintentionally admitted that the most important job of the city attorney is to be a legal enabler, and to provide legal fig leaves on demand to cover the naked power grabs and greed of City Hall politicians.

One such example is the opinion Rocky offered upon request that the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation was a ``private corporation,'' despite the dozens of elected officials who sat on its board of directors. As ``private,'' the EIDC could make political contributions to its own board members.

Unfortunately for Rocky and City Hall, County District Attorney Steve Cooley did not agree with that made-to-order legal opinion, and neither did a grand jury. But the politicians could all cry ``Mea culpa! Rocky said it was OK!''

It's easy to suggest that the city attorney should not be elected but instead appointed by the City Council and the Mayor. There would then be no conflict of interest. But that won't help Rocky. How can he ever run for higher office on a record of having been so wrong so many times?

He's certainly got a rocky road ahead.