officers - The Black Vault

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tent was to remove Chief Gates
. . . so that we could not make him
the issue, so we could ·get down to
the real work."
If Gates wins a court order today,
· Garcia added, "we . will clearly
comply with it."
Garcia .said the commission had·
~not decided on Sunday whether to
challenge the proposed settlement .
in court today. He· added that he
had not spoken with t~e mayor or
his staff in several days and said
the commission was not being
advised on the matter by the
mayor's office.
Bradley called for ·the chief's
resignation last Tuesday, but
has said he is not attempting to
influence the actions of the commission,
a .civilian panel that oversees
and sets policy .for the depart-
. ment.
Jay Grodin, one of Gates' attorneys,
said the chief's lawsuit will
allege tqat he was illegally removed
from his job and will name
the city and the Police Commission ·
as defendants.
:'This could conceivably be all
put to bed tomorrow,'' Grodin said.
A representative of the city
attorney's office is expected to be
in court today at the direction of
the City Council to settle tli.e
lawsuit immediately.
Grodin· said he doubts that the
civil rights groups will· succeed
with their lawsuit because they
lack legal standing in the matter.
The suit that civil rights groups
·!)Ian to file also will name City
Atty. James K. Hahn as a defendant,
Ripston said.
' 1 Jimmy Hahn has acted illegally
. and is guilty of a conflict of interest
because he advised the commission
.and now is advising the City Council
and, to some extent, Gates,"
Ripston said. '
Mike Qualls, a spokesman for
Hahn, said Sunday there was no
conflict of interest. "We advise
every city entity. That's our job,"
he said. "We maintained a position
of neutrality. The advice we gave
the Police Commission was general
in nature." '
Meanwhile, at a rally in South-:
Central Los Angeles on Sunday,
Bradley was applauded and
cheered for his -stand on the Gates
controversy.
. "It's not what I said or did that
brought about the misery in this
city," Bradley told a crowd of about
400 at the Afro-American Community
Unity Center. Waters also was
cheered when she called for Gates
to step down. ' ·
The crowd turned hostile, however,
when Councilman Nate Holden
tried to speak. Holden, who is
seeking reelection Tuesd~y. has
been a staunch supporter of· the
Police Department and has refused
to call for Gates' resignation. One
mal) yelled that Holden was a
~·sellout,'' another called him an
"Uncle Tom" and others interrupted
him with shouts that he was
,"jiving" them. ..
. Times staff writer Henry Weinstein
c~ntributed to this story.