Councilwoman Perry to Fill In for Mayor

While all the attention is focused on the campaign to recall Gov. Gray Davis, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn plans to quietly cede power next week to Councilwoman Jan Perry.

That’s the price of a Hawaiian vacation. Whenever the mayor leaves California, the president of the City Council gets to be in charge.

But council President Alex Padilla will be in Mexico, visiting his father’s family, and President Pro-Tem Cindy Miscikowski and Assistant President Pro-Tem Eric Garcetti are also on vacation.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, the next in line in terms of seniority, will be frolicking on tropical beaches with her brother the mayor and their families.

So the task of governing the city falls to Perry, one of the few city officials who is not taking a vacation during the council recess in the last two weeks of August.

The councilwoman is already hatching big plans. “I’m going to have myself designated as queen,” she said.

Joking aside, Perry said what she really intends to do while in power “is to make sure that business proceeds as usual.... The last few weeks of August, I hope, will be quiet ones for all of us.”