MAYOR BELITTLES POWER-TRIP CLAIMS; COMMISSIONER REPLACEMENTS NORMAL, RIORDAN SAYS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

A series of resignations and a decision to appoint new people to city commissions in recent days have deepened the rift between Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council.

Several officials said they believe Riordan was emboldened by voters' decision to rewrite the City Charter and is taking steps to solidify his power, which Riordan denies.

``I said to watch out for what would happen if this charter was approved,'' Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said. ``And it's coming true.''

Riordan dismissed such talk, saying the turnover on city commissions is a normal process and has been no greater than usual since the June 8 election.

``This doesn't make any sense to me,'' Riordan said. ``At the end of every fiscal year, we have a turnover of commissioners. This year (it) is even less than in the past.''

Riordan aides said 43 commissioner positions are available for appointments by the mayor, and only eight commissioners will be replaced. Last year, there were 60 openings, and 23 commissioners were not reappointed.

Still, the anti-Riordan rumor mill is working overtime with talk that the mayor will retaliate against those who opposed him on charter reform or were unable to help the effort, such as Public Works Commissioner Red Martinez.

Riordan said Martinez is being replaced only because he has served in the $90,000-a-year post since 1991 and it is time to bring in someone new. For the job, the mayor has nominated Woody Fleming, who served on the elected Charter Reform Commission and is an aide to Councilwoman Rita Walters.

Martinez was initially appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. Riordan agreed to keep him on - even reappointing him in 1995 - at the urging of labor groups.

Sources close to the mayor said Martinez failed to keep track of a contract that adversely affected some unions, and Riordan and his allies were upset about it.

``I don't think you're going to see the unions cry too much over Martinez leaving,'' one source said.

Another case involves Animal Services Commission President Steve Afriat, who managed the campaign against charter reform on behalf of City Council members.

Afriat said he told mayoral aides months before the election that he wanted to step down as president and end his term on the commission in September, but still there are some who cite Afriat's departure as evidence of retaliation.

``I was not asked by anyone on the mayor's staff to resign,'' Afriat said. ``He was not going to reappoint me because I didn't want to be on the commission anymore. It's a very time-consuming job.

``I know it may look like he's trying to get even, but that's not the case with me.''

Councilman Joel Wachs, who has been on the council for 28 years, said he believes the commissioner turnover is attracting more attention than usual because of the charter-reform battle.

``We have changes like this every year,'' Wachs said. ``It's not unusual for people to ask off of commissions or for the mayor to not reappoint them.''

In the past week, Police Commission President Edith Perez and three members of the Information Technology Commission, Alan Arkatov, Joyce Emerson and Bob Duggan, resigned.

``I didn't know about the (ITA) resignations until they happened,'' Riordan said. ``It wasn't at my urging.''

Arkatov and Emerson were both said to be upset about a staff report recommending that cable companies not be required to provide open access to Internet service providers, but their letters of resignation said only that they had other commitments. Duggan, however, did cite his differences with the mayor over the access issue.

The staff recommendation conflicted with the views of the three commissioners as well as City Council members, but was in line with Riordan's position adopted several months ago.

``All I've been saying is look at what your staff recommends and what the (Federal Communications Commission) is saying,'' Riordan said. ``This is a national issue and not a local one.

``Right now, what we want to do is encourage the cable companies to spend billions of dollars to give broad-band access to every house in the city,'' Riordan said.