RIORDAN'S RULE IS THE MAYOR ABUSING CHARTER REFORM TO FURTHER POLITICIZE CITY GOVERNMENT?

WELL, it didn't take long.

The new Los Angeles City Charter has been in effect for a mere three weeks, and the politicians appear to have found a way to abuse it already.

Outgoing Harbor Commission President Ted Stein and former Airport Commissioner Leland Wong appear to be the first victims: fired for supporting City Attorney James Hahn in the mayoral race against Richard Riordan's pal Steve Soboroff.

Under the new charter, commissioners serve at the mayor's pleasure - he can fire them at will, without being overruled by the City Council.

That's a good rule which together with the mayor's expanded authority over department heads makes him accountable for the city's vast bureaucracy.

But this expanded power is subject to abuse when it is used for political reasons rather than for good government.

In the last two weeks, Riordan has used this power to ax Stein and Wong - his onetime friends and allies, who were by all accounts competent commissioners.

But they crossed Riordan by supporting Hahn, and their firing sends a very wrong message to every citizen who serves the community: Serve the mayor or else.

Riordan denies their surprise termination was a political hit.

But the City Council, in its role of providing checks and balances of the new mayoral power, has a duty to explore the issue much more closely.

The purpose of the new charter was to make city government more efficient and accountable - not to turn it into a cheap tool for political payback.