Polarizing police oversight official to keep post

A polarizing figure on the Los Angeles Police Commission will retain his seat despite having never received an approval vote from the City Council.

- BY LIBOR JANY

ERROLL SOUTHERS will remain on the L.A. Police Commission despite never receiving council approval.

(ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)

Erroll Southers, who previously served as president of the civilian panel that watches over the LAPD, has taken criticism for what some say is his unwillingness to supervise Police Chief Jim McDonnell, while also facing renewed scrutiny in recent months for his past counterterrorism studies in Israel.

New members of any city commission must typically be approved by a City Council vote within 45 days of their nomination. Mayor Karen Bass put forward Southers in mid-August, but his first scheduled vote was delayed because he was traveling, and the council continued the matter without explanation at a meeting last week in Van Nuys. Now that his 45-day window has elapsed, multiple officials told The Times that city rules allow Southers to continue in the position by default for a full five-year term because he was already serving on an interim basis.

Around City Hall, news of the council's inaction set off speculation about whether it was the result of a scheduling mix-up — or because Southers' backers didn't believe he could get enough votes.

Failing to vote on a member of one of city's most important and high-profile commissions is almost unheard of, said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former councilman and L.A. County supervisor now at UCLA.

"They have responsibility to confirm or not confirm," he said of the council. "I never understood why you would campaign for office, as hard as you campaign to get there, and not vote on something that's as important to the public."