Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Page 3
Mayor Nominates Skobin to LAFD Board
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragoisa has nominated attorney Alan Skobin to the city’s Board of Fire Commissioners.
Skobin currently serves on the city’s Police Commission. He was named to the commission by then-Mayor James K. Hahn in 2003, was the only commissioner retained by Villaragoisa when he succeeded Hahn in 2005, and was named to a second term in 2008.
He was elected vice president of the commission in 2010 when Andrea Ordin resigned to become county counsel.
The mayor said Skobin would bring “robust civilian oversight” to the Los Angeles Fire Department, which has been under a harsh spotlight in recent weeks over accusations that it has misled the public over response times, among other things. The mayor last week also ordered the department to establish a new statistical unit.
Skobin, vice president and general counsel of Galpin Motors Inc., was appointed by Hahn to the city’s Board of Transportation Commissioners before being tapped as a police commissioner.
Skobin is a graduate of California State University, Northridge and the University of LaVerne College of Law. He has worked for Galpin Motors since 1977 and was admitted to the State Bar in 1988.
He also worked as a judicial extern for U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew, who now holds senior status, when Lew first joined the federal bench.
Skobin’s government service includes a stint as president of the state’s New Motor Vehicle Board and membership on the county’s Institutional Inspections Commission, along with more than 22 years as a reserve deputy sheriff.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement yesterday that Skobin has been a “tremendous asset” to the LAPD, and that the department will miss his “courage, insight, and leadership.” Skobin would be forced to leave the Police Commission next year in any event because of term limits.
Copyright 2012, Metropolitan News Company