Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, July 26, 2001

 

Page 3

 

Hahn Names Los Angeles County Bar Assn. Chief Roland Coleman to City Fire Commission

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Los Angeles County Bar Association President Roland L. Coleman Jr. was named yesterday to the city Fire Commission by Mayor James Hahn.

Coleman, a partner in the law firm of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman and Dicker, took the helm of the county bar’s Board of Trustees on July 1.

Attorney Jay H. Grodin also was appointed to the five-member fire board. Grodin is managing partner of the WKM Group.

Both were major donors to Hahn’s mayoral campaign. City records compiled through May 1 show that Coleman gave $4,000, and Grodin $5,000, in Hahn’s successful run for mayor.

Coleman’s appointment continues a traditional link between the huge bar association and City Hall. Recent LACBA president Patricia Schnegg, now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, served on the Airport Commission, and past president Gerald Chaleff served on the planning, information technology and police panels.

Next year’s Los Angeles County Bar Association president, Miriam Krinsky, is currently president of the city Ethics Commission. The association’s executive director, Richard Walch, is the ethics panel’s vice president.

The other Fire Commission appointments were Corina Alarcon, president of the Larkspur Homeowners Association in Sylmar, Thomas J. Curry, a 31-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department who retired as an assistant chief two years ago, and Louise Frankel, president of both the Mountaingate Community Association and Mountainview Homeowners Asso­ciation.

Alarcon is the former wife of state Sen. Richard Alarcon, an ex-member of the Los Angeles City Council. The Alarcons’ bitter divorce several years ago had repercussions in the San Fernando Valley’s Latino political community, as elected officials and kingmakers took sides between the two.

The separation came as Corina Alarcon announced her intention to run for her husband’s council seat. Richard Alarcon endorsed another candidate.

Corina Alarcon joined Northeast Valley Latino leaders Sen. Tony Cardenas, Councilman Alex Padilla and political consultant James Acevedo in backing Hahn in the mayoral race. Richard Alarcon joined other Latino leaders in supporting former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa.

Frankel has served on the county civil service and economy and efficiency commissions.

The appointments are subject to the confirmation of the City Council.

Hahn also made three appointments to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, through whom he is able to exercise a great deal of control over regional transportation operations.

Hahn reappointed City Councilman Hal Bernson, who already has served on the MTA board for nearly two years. The mayor also appointed Paul Hudson, president and CEO of the Broadway Federal Bank, and Allison Yoh, a UCLA graduate student in urban planning.

The Broadway Federal Bank is the oldest and only publicly traded African-American bank west of the Mississippi, according to the mayor’s office.

The MTA appointments are effective immediately.

Hahn is also a member of the board and with his three appointments has the single largest voting bloc. The other members of the 14-person board are the five county supervisors, a gubernatorial appointee and four representatives of smaller cities in the county.

 

Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company