Ferraro Names Allies to Head Key L.A. City Council Committees : Government: Foes fare less well, but president says, ‘I don’t think I’ve punished anyone.’ Some are surprised that no blacks are assigned to economic panels.

Making key City Hall work assignments Thursday, Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro predictably put his allies at the helm of coveted council committees while treating his foes less kindly.

But Ferraro’s assignments also had a few surprises: The council’s three African Americans failed to win seats on two economic development committees and two pro-labor council members were put on a panel that--under the direction of its chairman, Councilman Joel Wachs--has been the source of austerity initiatives that city workers have often resisted.

Ferraro said his goal was to “achieve effective, well-balanced committees that will reflect the diversity of our city.”

“I don’t think I’ve punished anyone, although some might think I did,” said Ferraro, who added that he received two phone calls from colleagues about his decisions. “One of them was [mad], the other was happy,” said Ferraro, who refused to identify the callers.

Ferraro’s announcement was closely watched as a clue to who’s in and who’s out in City Hall’s well-recognized hierarchy of committee assignments.

Slipping down on the pecking order were Councilman Marvin Braude, who mounted an abortive coup against Ferraro’s presidency last month, and Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, Braude’s chief lieutenant in the ouster bid.

Braude was made chairman of the Environmental Quality and Management Committee, after having headed the more prestigious police committee (formally called the Public Safety Committee).

Ridley-Thomas, an African American, lost his chairmanship of the Housing and Community Redevelopment Committee and was put at the helm of the obscure Administrative Services Committee.

Braude said he leaves the police committee with “mixed feelings, because of its heavy responsibilities,” but that he welcomes his new post. Ridley-Thomas would only say cryptically of his new assignment: “Tell John Ferraro that I thank him. He’ll understand better what I mean by and by.”

But Ridley-Thomas called the new makeup of the housing committee--which deals with issues of importance to minority and low-income communities--”startling.” Councilman Rudy Svorinich, a conservative from San Pedro, was moved from the administrative services panel to head the committee; its other members are Richard Alatorre from the Eastside and Hal Bernson from the north San Fernando Valley.

Another City Hall observer called it “terrible” that no blacks were assigned to the housing panel or the Community and Economic Development Committee.

Meanwhile, others at City Hall were surprised by Ferraro’s appointment of Jackie Goldberg and Mike Hernandez to the Governmental Efficiency Committee. While the committee’s chairman is still Wachs, the appointment of Goldberg and Hernandez, both pro-labor, may blunt the chairman’s efforts to streamline City Hall, some speculated.

Asked for his reaction, Wachs said: “I don’t air dirty laundry in public.”

Ferraro said he did not believe that the panel’s two new members would stall Wachs’ initiatives.

Meanwhile, Ferraro loyalists Alatorre and Bernson kept their jobs as heads of the powerful Budget & Finance and Planning & Land Use Management committees, respectively. Another Ferraro ally, Councilwoman Laura Chick, took over as chairwoman of the police committee.

The budget, planning and police committees are widely considered the council’s most-desired panels.

By day’s end, three council members--Chick, Ruth Galanter and Michael Feuer--had issued press releases celebrating their assignments. Galanter remains chairwoman of the Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Feuer, the council’s newest member, was made chairman of the Rules and Elections Committee.

The council has 15 committees; each council member serves on three and chairs one. The council president makes new committee assignments every two years.

The chairs of the other committees are: Rita Walters, arts, health and humanities; Hernandez, community and economic development; Nate Holden, transportation; Richard Alarcon, public works, and Goldberg, personnel. Ferraro named himself to head the Intergovernmental Relations Committee.