The union representing some 9,900 rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers has endorsed Forescee Hogan-Rowles in her bid to unseat City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, the former police chief who is running for his third term representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League’s backing of Hogan-Rowles, who runs a nonprofit group in South L.A., reflects the contentious history between the union and Parks, who served one five-year term as chief before he was ousted in 2002 by then-Mayor James K. Hahn's civilian police commission.

The commission's decision not to reappoint Parks to a second term followed an intensive campaign against him by the police union. Parks, a 38-year veteran of the department, had clashed with the union repeatedly, particularly over his approach to discipline, which many rank-and-file officers viewed as too punitive. In a union poll at the time Parks was up for reappointment, 93% of union members surveyed said they had no confidence in Parks. The union’s board of directors described Parks in a 2002 statement as “a failure.”

Parks’ campaign spokesman said the union was still “holding a grudge from his tenure at LAPD, where he fired 140 problem police officers.” The union also opposed Parks when he ran for mayor in 2005 and for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 2008.

During his tenure on the council, Parks has continued to be at odds with the union over contract negotiations, some hiring decisions and schedules in which officers work three 12-hour shifts a week.

When the group offered him an interview, the councilman said, “We laughed and said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ ”

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti canceled the council’s regularly scheduled 10 a.m. meeting Tuesday after two members –- Jose Huizar and Paul Koretz -– failed to show up on time.

Garcetti said five members of the 15-member council had excused absences: Janice Hahn, Bernard Parks, Bill Rosendahl, Herb Wesson and Dennis Zine. That left the council with the minimum 10 members needed for a quorum.

When Huizar and Koretz failed to show up by 10:17 a.m., the meeting was called off. Both had unexcused absences, Garcetti said. “We need to respect the public’s time, as they respect ours,” said Garcetti, who last canceled a meeting because of a lack of a quorum on Oct. 12.

Huizar spokesman Rick Coca said his boss was late to the meeting because he had been at a 9 a.m. news conference announcing the opening of two restaurants in downtown Los Angeles -– Two Boots Pizza and Umami Burger. Huizar was “in the City Hall elevator” when the meeting was called off, Coca said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar sent an e-mail to his reelection supporters on Tuesday trying to explain his use of lists prepared by his office that graded civic leaders on their support for him.

He said the practice was done by “a former staff member” and has been abandoned.

“While the list has not been used in years, it was not, as my opponent claimed, some kind of Nixonian ‘enemies list,’” Huizar wrote.

“It most definitely was not used to determine who received services, or had their potholes filled.” Huizar said his opponent, Rudy Martinez, “cannot cite one single example of the misuse of that list for any purpose. Not one.”

The e-mail went out one day after The Times reported on the lists, which ranked dozens of civic leaders on their clout in the district, with 5 being the best score. The list also graded community leaders on their support for Huizar using a ranking of 3 to indicate a strong supporter and a minus 3 for a die-hard foe.

Huizar sent his e-mail after Martinez posted three separate lists--one for Boyle Heights, one for El Sereno and one for Northeast neighborhoods such as Eagle Rock and Mt. Washington--on his campaign website. “If Mr. Huizar was in touch with the community, he wouldn’t need to have a list,” said Martinez.

RELATED:

Huizar staff graded civic leaders on their clout and support for him

-- David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall

The race for campaign money among candidates for the Los Angeles Board of Education would suggest a sleepy, low-stakes election, but appearances are deceiving: An electoral shootout is still expected between the city’s teachers union and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the March 8 election.

The latest filings, which were due last week, cover the last quarter of 2010. Four of seven school-board seats are up for grabs in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

As of year-end, the most money has accumulated in District 5, where one-term incumbent Yolie Flores is not running for reelection. Luis Sanchez raised about $80,000 trying to establish himself as the frontrunner. Most observers expect he’ll claim the endorsement of Villaraigosa and the campaign funds that come with that. The mayor is vying to maintain a friendly majority on the seven-member school board. Sanchez is currently chief of staff to school board President Monica Garcia, the mayor’s closest ally on the board.

Bennett Kayser, a teacher, raised $1,900, more than half that amount a loan from himself. John Fernandez, a retired teacher, recorded no fundraising — not one dollar. But that picture will alter because he’s the endorsed candidate of United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union.

District 5 spans Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Eagle Rock and the southeastern portions of the L.A. Unified School District, including the cities of Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate.

A rules change in this election cycle will affect how money is donated and controlled. For the first time, donors to candidates will be limited to $1,000 contributions, said David Tristan, deputy director of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

The big money in this race is likely to come from independent expenditures — again with the teachers union and its allies pitted against the mayor and his allies. Before it's over, hotly contested campaigns could easily exceed a million dollars in spending.

To wit, in District 7, candidate Jesus Escandon reported raising $59 in the last quarter, but the union has endorsed Escandon and is expected to make a run at unseating one-term incumbent Richard Vladovic, a mayoral ally. Vladovic raised $50,676 in the last quarter of 2010.

A third candidate, Roye Love, has loaned himself $1,000 toward his campaign.

The union also is backing District 1 two-term incumbent Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, who raised $3,200 in the last quarter and reported having just $170 cash on hand. Challenger Eric Lee raised $7,943.

District 1 covers substantial portions of south and southwest Los Angeles.

District 3 stretches roughly across the western half of the San Fernando Valley. There, one-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan reported raising $25,246. Challenger Louis Pugliese had no fundraising to report.

ALSO:

Decoding the March 8 L.A. city ballot

L.A. City Council candidates discuss unfair campaign accusations

Parks reelection challenger boasts of endorsements from two key L.A. unions

-- Howard Blume

The first forum held by two candidates running to represent an Eastside seat on the Los Angeles City Council veered into unusual territory when one reviewed details of his arrest record and the other said he had been falsely accused of being lazy.

Councilman Jose Huizar and his lone opponent, businessman Rudy Martinez, spent much of the one-hour event discussing typical council fare, such as graffiti removal and the city's budget crisis.

But a single question put a jolt into the evening when both candidates were asked to describe what they felt were unfair campaign accusations about themselves. Martinez, who owns a sushi bar in Eagle Rock, described two arrests -- one for drunk driving in 1988 and another for assault in 1991.

He said the latter case, which resulted in a battery conviction, occurred after a fight at his father's restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Martinez then told the audience, gathered in a meeting room of Hermon Community Church, that he had been accused -- falsely, he later said -- of beating his wife.

Huizar swiftly responded, interrupting Martinez to announce he had never made such an allegation. Martinez apologized to Huizar and told audience members he was willing to talk to them further about the arrests.

A challenger to Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks boasted Wednesday that she has secured the backing of two major public employee unions in the March 8 election, including one that represents workers at the Department of Water and Power.

Forescee Hogan-Rowles, a former appointee of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the DWP board, said she picked up the endorsement of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, which serves more than 8,600 DWP workers. That union was upset at Parks last year for attempting to give the council more control over pension benefits for utility employees.

Hogan-Rowles also said she had received the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents thousands of civilian employees at City Hall. That group has voiced disappointment with Parks, who heads the council’s budget committee and has repeatedly pushed for layoffs as a way of addressing a major financial crisis.

The city faces a shortfall of nearly $63 million this year and is expected to confront a $350-million gap in the fiscal year that starts July 1. So far, 2,400 workers have taken early retirement, while more than 360 have been laid off.

A retired police chief appears headed to becoming Inglewood's new mayor over a veteran politician and incumbent.

An unofficial tally released Wednesday by the Inglewood city clerk’s office gives James T. Butts 56% of the vote, compared with 44% for incumbent Daniel K. Tabor. About 5,700 votes were cast, but an unspecified number of absentee provisional ballots have yet to be counted, said City Clerk Yvonne Horton.

The runoff election held Tuesday followed a November general election in which no candidate received a majority of the votes required for election to office.

Butts, who served as Santa Monica police chief for 15 years and spent almost two decades with the Inglewood Police Department, was ready to claim victory Wednesday.

“I feel extremely grateful to the community for expressing their confidence in me to serve and lead the city forward,” said Butts, 57, who moved to Inglewood last year but lived in the city for a few years in the 1970s.

Twenty-six candidates have been certified to run for seven seats on the Los Angeles City Council in the March 8 election, officials with the city clerk’s office said Friday.

The field represents the largest crop of council candidates since 2003, when three City Hall veterans -- Hal Bernson, Ruth Galanter and Nate Holden –- retired because of term limits.

This time around, Councilman Paul Krekorian will face businessman Augusto Bisani in the 2nd District, which stretches from Sherman Oaks to Sunland-Tujunga.

Councilman Tom LaBonge has opposition from businessman Tomas O’Grady and writer-bicycle advocate Stephen Box in the 4th district, which takes in parts of Koreatown, Silver Lake and Hollywood.

A citizens commission created to redraw the state’s legislative districts proposed the appointment of six more Californians to the panel Friday, hoping to address concerns that its initial makeup did not adequately reflect the state’s diversity.

Nearly a month after the first eight commissioners were randomly selected by the state auditor from a pool of 36 finalists, they took the required second step of proposing half a dozen other people from the same pool to round out the 14-member commission.

The Citizens Redistricting Commission set a possible final vote on the six appointments for Wednesday in order to allow the public to weigh in on the proposed appointments.

The commission as proposed would be evenly divided by gender, and  includes four people primarily identified as Asian Americans, three as Latino or Hispanic, three as white, two as African Americans, one Pacific Islander and one American Indian.

Just days after warning "politician-types" against running to replace him in 2012, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley gave one of his own prosecutors his blessing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson, who has handled a number of high-profile murder cases, announced his candidacy Monday, echoing his boss’ intention to keep the office "in the hands of a prosecutor, not a politician."

Cooley told reporters last week he would consider running for reelection if no qualified candidates stepped up to succeed him or if any overly partisan contenders appeared likely to win. In an interview Monday, it appeared Cooley did not consider Jackson among that group, calling him qualified.

“He probably would follow my example of being a very nonpartisan D.A.,” Cooley said.

Still, Cooley said Jackson had guaranteed him a year ago, and several times since, that if Cooley did decide to run for a fourth term, Jackson would bow out.