Sam Under Siege

Running Los Angeles is like driving through that bewildering conurbation without a road map. The municipal charter diffuses power among the mayor, the city council and sundry city commissions, an arrangement that confuses all and pleases none--least of all the flamboyant, aggressive mayor. Sam Yorty. He complains that he has insufficient power to manage his urban empire; His critics, who are growing in number, reply that Sam has misused the very real power he has--and they are banding together to block his reelection next spring.

Criticism last week focused on a parks and recreation commission scandal. Three weeks ago, Yorty was stung by the conviction of two of his harbor commissioners for bribery, while two others await trial. And the criticism goes beyond his commissioners to the mayor himself. Negroes and white liberals claim that Yorty failed to move adequately to solve ghetto problems after the 1965 Watts riots.

The Los Angeles Times and other critics have assailed the mayor's frequent and protracted absences from the city--trips that have apparently helped boost trade but have kept him away too long from the critical problems in his own backyard. Yorty's most embarrassing gaffe, faithfully recorded on nationwide TV, was his gratuitous recital of possible evidence against Sirhan Sirhan. accused assassin of Robert Kennedy.

The newly organized critics, who call themselves, with Jacobin earnestness, "the Committee for the City," are a non-partisan coalition of activists from Los Angeles' professional, academic and artistic worlds. They have the strong and enthusiastic support of Los Angeles Times Publisher Otis Chandler, who allows that "it would be nice to have someone in office who would do good things for the city." At their first general meeting this week, the nearly 200 members will consider issues and candidates for the spring battle with Yorty. A leading contender is Frank Mankiewicz, Robert Kennedy's press secretary, who used to practice law in Beverly Hills.

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