L.A. Coliseum panel operates in obscurity

If you are not familiar with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, you’re hardly alone.

The officials who oversee the 84-year-old stadium near downtown are a collection of nine prominent business leaders, elected officials and political appointees who normally work out of the spotlight.

Each member gets free game tickets and entry to the Coliseum’s “hospitality tent,” among other things. Only when deals start to go south, such as the National Football League’s recent decision not to return to the Coliseum, does the obscure panel suddenly land in the news.

That was the case this week, when USC threatened to move its six home football games to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena if it cannot reach a new lease agreement with the commission. The quarrel quickly drew complaints from elected officials who said the panel’s structure is too unwieldy.

“There is nothing that that commission has [accomplished] in the 30 or 40 years that I know of,” said L.A. City Councilman Greig Smith, who offered a list of teams that have left the Coliseum and neighboring Sports Arena. “One government agency can screw up. Three government agencies can screw up a lot.”

The Coliseum operates under an agreement dating to 1955 that has seen only minor changes over the last three decades. Because the Coliseum is jointly operated by the city, Los Angeles County and the state, the commission is also carved up three ways, with the governor, the Board of Supervisors and the city of Los Angeles each getting three appointees.

One of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s representatives is Candy Spelling, widow of the late entertainment mogul Aaron Spelling. Another is Barry A. Sanders, who heads the Southern California Committee for the Olympics. Both are eligible because they were named to the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission by the mayor.

One of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s representatives on the commission is William J. Chadwick, whose Los Angeles-based investment firm hired former Mayor James K. Hahn in 2005 after he lost his bid for reelection. Another is Fabian Wesson, wife of City Councilman Herb J. Wesson Jr. Both are eligible because Schwarzenegger appointed them to the board of the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

Nearly half the commissioners are politicians: County Supervisors Yvonne B. Burke, Don Knabe and Zev Yaroslavsky as well as City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, whose district includes USC.

The last major effort to reorganize the commission was in 1999, when then-Assemblyman Rod Wright unsuccessfully tried to tip the scales so that the state had a greater number of members on the commission.

“Some see [the commission] as an appropriate body that represents checks and balances, others see it as a three-headed monster,” said state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), who is running against Parks for supervisor and has criticized the lack of an agreement with USC.

Parks defended the commission structure, saying the agency has a duty to include representatives from the city, county and state.

“You must give them the opportunity to have their interests protected,” he said.

Coliseum Commissioner David Israel said the panel was designed to protect the public’s access to the Coliseum. “It’s a public building and gathering place, and the commission gives an open forum for people who want to come and petition for use of the building for any variety of reasons,” Israel said.

“It’s more than a football stadium that is used six times a year -- much more than that,” he said.

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Coliseum Commission

Appointed by Los Angeles mayor or City Council president:

* Bernard C. Parks, Los Angeles councilman, commission president

* Candy Spelling, city parks commissioner, wife of late television producer Aaron Spelling

* Barry A. Sanders, retired Latham & Watkins international business attorney

Appointed by California governor:

* William J. Chadwick, Chadwick Saylor real estate investment banker, California Science Center board chairman

* David Israel, television producer, former sportswriter, California Science Center board member, commission vice president

* Fabian Wesson, wife of Los Angeles Councilman Herb J. Wesson Jr., California Science Center board vice chairwoman

Appointed by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors:

* Yvonne B. Burke, Los Angeles County supervisor

* Don Knabe, Los Angeles County supervisor

* Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County supervisor and board chairman

Source: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission