EDITORIAL : CITY HALL SNAKE DEN; L.A. COUNCIL STILL TRYING TO CONTROL CHARTER REFORM.

IF they slither like snakes, hiss like snakes and bite like snakes, then reasonable people will conclude that they are dealing with a bunch of snakes.

That's precisely what the Los Angeles City Council has shown itself to be - 14 snakes and an accused felon.

Any doubts should have been dispelled by the council's outrageous conduct Tuesday with regard to the elected city Charter Reform Commission.

The council is doing all it can to prevent reform of City Hall and protect the dysfunctional organization of municipal government.

The council will tell any tale and try any means to steal every crumb of power. The council acts as if it has no purpose other than its own self-service.

What the council did was to say, out of one side of its mouth, that the charter commission could not take private anonymous funding.

And out of the other side, it said that the commission will not be given enough city funds to hold public hearings, conduct research into how other cities are structured or pay for more than minimal staff and offices.

It's the ultimate Catch-22.

And it is just one of the despicable and dishonest tricks in the snakes' bag.

No matter what they say with their forked tongues, these snakes will do anything to prevent their nearly absolute power from being scaled back so the mayor can run the government and people in communities can affect quality-of-life issues in their neighborhoods.

When Mayor Richard Riordan proposed charter reform, the council howled in protest.

When it was clear he was serious, the council created its own powerless advisory commission to be able to sabotage the process at any point up to and including the public vote in 1999.

When Riordan got enough signatures on petitions to force an election, the council fought to keep his reform initiative off the ballot - relenting only under a federal court order and the threat of being held in contempt of court.

Now it's time to hold this council in contempt in the court of public opinion.

Faced with the council's demand Tuesday that it control the charter reform process, the 15 men and women elected last spring to the charter commission stiffened their backs, vowed not to knuckle under and focused on their mission to write the rules for a new Los Angeles government.

The commission can accept operating funds in the form of anonymously contributed dollars, with no strings attached, from the private nonprofit foundation set up by Riordan's allies to fund the elected charter commission and maintain its independence.

That is what Riordan promised.

That is what the commissioners supported during the campaign. It is what the public overwhelmingly endorsed when it elected the commission.

But the council doesn't want real reform. The council wants contributors' names made public so the council can have an enemies list of who would dare tamper with the council's power.

As council members know very well, their political contributors often have expectations when they provide dollars for council political campaigns. But there are no expectations of special favors when funds are provided anonymously, as the charter commission's income would be.

Unless the council can demonstrate something to the contrary, it appears these donors are acting out of a sense of civic pride and the belief that a new, modern charter would serve the general good and improve the city as a whole.

But that's not acceptable to council members.

Members of the charter commission should reject the council's unjustified interference. Commissioners will need courage, and they will need to stay firm in their commitment for change as they renounce the council's heavy-handed power grab.

Commissioners need broad and passionate support from the public.

And council members need to hear from you, telling them to quit their flagrant interference with the commission - which is a separate and independent body with its own unquestionable legal and moral authority, bestowed upon it by voters like you.

Genuine charter reform is the only way Los Angeles can be held together in the face of the anger and resentment tearing it apart in the San Fernando Valley, in Venice, in San Pedro and in other areas.

The council's policies over the last generation have run the city into the ground. The council's politics are destroying what might well be the last chance for keeping the city together.

Let council members know you support the charter commission in this attempt to reform government and hold the city together. Tell them that they need to stop putting obstacles in the commission's path.

You can make a difference.

Where to call

Here's where to call:

All City Council members can be called at their downtown offices: [phone].

Council members:

Richard Alarcon

Richard Alatorre 

Hal Bernson 

Laura Chick

John Ferraro 

Michael Feuer 

Ruth Galanter 

Jackie Goldberg 

Mike Hernandez

Nate Holden 

Cindy Miscikowski

Mark Ridley-Thomas

Rudy Svorinich

Joel Wachs

Rita Walters

CAPTION(S):

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BOX: Where to call