Wachs to Leave Council for N.Y.

Joel Wachs, the spirited dean of the Los Angeles City Council, said Wednesday that he will resign to head an arts foundation, accelerating a dramatic shift at City Hall as term limits overtake many veteran lawmakers.

A 30-year member of the council who finished a disappointing fourth in last month’s mayoral election, Wachs said he will vacate his seat Oct. 1 to become president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York City.

Between Wachs’ departure, the recent death of Council President John Ferraro and city elections to fill six other open seats, the 15-member City Council will soon feature a majority of newcomers, creating fresh challenges for a government struggling with charter reform and police scandal.

“It will be a real loss to the city,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who, with 22 years at City Hall, will become the last of the old guard. “You are losing experience, you are losing abilities, you are losing institutional memory.”

Wachs, whose term ends in 2003, vowed to retire from politics if he lost his third mayoral bid. The 62-year-old said his three decades on the council have been “extraordinary.”

“It’s a big change,” Wachs told reporters at City Hall. “I’ve been in this job, in this house, for 30 years. And now to change jobs and cities and challenges--a lot of people I know would just go ahead and retire, but I’m not one for retiring.”

Wachs has a reputation in the art world as a supporter and collector of contemporary art who has made a practice of buying the early works of artists before they become international names. Wachs’ collection, which includes works by Warhol, Sam Francis and Helen Frankenthaler, was valued a decade ago at $500,000.

He will move from his home in Studio City to New York City to oversee a foundation that has provided $56.2 million in cash grants to museums and arts organizations during the last 14 years.

“This is probably the main foundation in the country that supports contemporary artists,” said Wachs, a five-year member of the foundation’s board. “It fights for freedom of expression and it values creative activity in our society. It’s a terrific opportunity.”

Wachs, who last year revealed that he is gay, has been an independent and populist voice on the council, often standing alone or with the minority to challenge proposals such as taxpayer subsidies for Staples Center and for last summer’s Democratic National Convention.

A former Republican who became an Independent, Wachs’ passionate denunciations of government waste and tax breaks for big business endeared him to many constituents, but his sometimes shrill approach grated on others, including some of his council colleagues.

Other council members praised him for standing on principle.

“He has been effective in his own, different way, as an independent voice that is not part of a faction or group,” said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.

She knew he was crushed by his poor showing in the April 10 election. Wachs won only 11% of the vote and failed to carry even his own 2nd Council District, which extends from Studio City to Sunland-Tujunga.

“Many of us realized that he took very personally the loss in the mayor’s race,” said Miscikowski. She said the announcement nonetheless “caught us all by surprise because he has been such a fixture at City Hall.”

Wachs said his loss was tough but denied that his decision to forsake the remaining two years of his term was a sign of disenchantment.

“If this offer didn’t come, I would be here as a council member staying for the next two years, fighting for campaign reform and neighborhood councils and the arts,” Wachs said. “But this opportunity came along.”

But hints of disillusionment have been apparent. In 1999, Wachs quit as president pro tem of the council to protest the majority’s vote against charter reform proposals that he supported.

Wachs’ move to the Warhol foundation promises a hefty salary increase. Wachs earns $133,051 annually as a councilman, but his new job is likely to pay upward of $200,000, said Archibald L. Gillies, the Warhol Foundation’s outgoing president. Gillies said Wachs’ salary had not yet been decided but that the average pay for directors of comparable foundations in New York is $210,000 per year.

“We’re absolutely thrilled,” Gillies said Wednesday. He described Wachs, who established L.A.’s $17-million arts endowment, as a dedicated member of the Warhol board with a national reputation for supporting contemporary art.

The foundation’s plan to recruit Wachs has been brewing for some time, Gillies said. Two years ago, Gillies, now 67, advised the board that he planned to retire. Wachs’ name began to emerge as a possible successor over the last year, “but we kept away from him because we knew he was running for mayor.”

The day after Wachs lost, foundation chairman Werner H. Kramarsky called to ask if he was interested in the job, Wachs said.

He was formally offered the post at a May 23 foundation board meeting. He decided over the weekend to accept the position and informed his staff and council colleagues Wednesday morning.

City Clerk Mike Carey said he will probably propose a special election for mid-January to fill the remainder of Wachs’ term, with a runoff possibly consolidated with the March 5 state election.

A special election cannot be called until Wachs vacates his seat, and Carey wants to give candidates time to campaign. The opening is likely to set off a political scramble.

Those who said Wednesday they are seriously considering a run for Wachs’ seat include Mark Dierking, a legislative deputy to Councilman Alex Padilla, and Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn.

Wachs said he does not have a successor in mind. He said he delayed leaving office until October, a month after the planned special election to fill Ferraro’s seat, to ensure a smooth transition and to help choose the council’s next president.

The election to fill Wachs’ seat may be complicated by the fact that the City Council must adopt new district boundaries by July 2002, Carey said.

Council President Ruth Galanter, a 14-year member, agreed that a special election before March is preferable to having the council appoint someone to serve out Wachs’ term. As it did after the death of Ferraro and the recent election of Jackie Goldberg to the Assembly, the council would probably appoint a caretaker to run Wachs’ office between the day he leaves office and the day the seat is filled through election.

Galanter, like others, reacted to Wachs’ decision with mixed emotions.

“I’m sorry to lose him,” Galanter said. “He has more experience than anybody else left on the council, but this is a wonderful opportunity.”

Mayor Richard Riordan said Wednesday on his monthly KFWB-AM (980) radio call-in show that Wachs was “one of the great council members.”

“He’s been somebody who challenges any expenditures of taxpayers’ money,” Riordan said. “Sometimes he goes a little over the line, but we need people like that who just don’t accept the status quo.”

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Times staff writer Michael Finnegan contributed to this story.