It's hard to know how Mayor Karen Bass chose former L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell to lead the Los Angeles Police Department, because her selection process had largely remained cloaked in secrecy. Now, through interviews with the candidates, LAPD records and sources familiar with the chief’s search who requested anonymity to speak openly about the confidential process, The Los Angeles Times confirmed the names of 14 people who were interviewed. Many have not been previously named. The list reveals who among the LAPD’s top brass angled for the position, and also sheds light on the heavy politicking that went on behind the scenes to replace former chief Michael Moore. When asked this week about the chief candidates and how she made her decision, Bass released a short and simple statement: “A professional search requires a certain level of discretion and the priority at all times was to find the right person, at the right time, to lead the Department. We found him.”
By most accounts, the names were a closely guarded secret shared by only a handful of top deputies inside Bass’ office, including Brian Williams and Karren Lane, her deputy mayors of public safety and community safety, and her deputy chief of staff, Celine Cordero. The applicants said the Police Commission, the LAPD’s civilian watchdog that conducted the hiring process, promised to keep their identities under wraps. Yet some candidates said they too were kept in the dark as the field narrowed, learning they hadn’t made the cut only when the three finalists’ names appeared in The Times. Other semifinalists for the job, according to The Times’ reporting, were former LAPD Deputy Chiefs Donald “Donnie” Graham and Alan Hamilton; LAPD Cmdrs. Elaine Morales and Lillian Carranza; LAPD Assistant Chief Blake Chow; Sandy Jo MacArthur, the former LAPD assistant chief; Montebello Chief Paul Espinosa; and Santa Monica Chief Ramon Bautista. Robert “Bobby” Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief, was previously confirmed to be a finalist along with Emada Tingirides and McDonnell when he was spotted arriving at the mayor’s mansion for an interview. In the end, the mayor went with McDonnell — despite his support for Rick Caruso during the billionaire developer’s mayoral campaign against Bass. Working in McDonnell's favor was a long-standing relationship with former Chief Bill Bratton, who was among those Bass consulted when making her decision.
Comments