Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-24
COMMISSIONERS
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EDELMAN AND YOUNG ARE
SLATED TO GO
MAYOR WILL ASK COUNCIL TO
COOPERATE
Alexander Says They Have Violated
the Spirit of Civil Service by
Breaking Their Own
Rules

On the ground of "pernicious activity
in politics." Mayor Alexander will ask
the council to confirm the removal of
DR.. d. w. Edelman and Milton Kelley
Young from the civil service commits
sion. The mayor has asked both these
men to resign, as well as other mem
bers of the civil service commission, and
they have refused.
Other members of other commissions
were also politically active, and as soon
as the mayor has disposed of the cases
of Edelman and Young he will turn
his attention to them, but in the case
Of the civil service commissioners the
activity was especially fragrant in that
they Violated one of their own rules. =
A rule of the civil service commission
which had the hearty Endorsement of
the very commissioners who have vio-
lated 1t forbids any civil service en-
ploye from participating inN politics.
They have the right to vote as they
please, but political work on their part
is considered sufficient cause, on proof.
for their dismissal. The mayor believes
that by violating this rule themselves
the commissioners set a bad example to
those whom they have forbidden to
enter into politics and are violating the
spirit of civil service.
OnOulu NC NOU5GOHtiSat
1.-THE civil service board above all
others, should be out of politics" said
Mayor Alexander yesterday. And by
violating one of their own rules the
commissioners are going contrary to
civil service. The charter specifically
provides that men appointed to the
civil service board shall be known to
be in sympathy with civil service.
81 certainly will ask the council to
remove DIR. Edelman and Mr.. Young
for their participation in politics dur
ing the recent recall election. 1 do not
expect to take such action at once and
may not send my message on the mat
ter to the council for two or three
weeks"
The specific instance of pernicious
activity is that DIR. Edelman and Mr.
Young were members of the commit
tee of one hundred that supported
Harper during the recall campaign. AS
members of that committee their names
appear to an infamous open letter up
holding Harper and his administration
and condemning Mayor Alexander. Fol-
lowing are some excerpts from this
letter:
''IIis (Iarper's) appointments to Of
fee upon the commissions were made
generally from his friends and sup
porters as was expected under the
system controlled by party politics."
ut seems to us that whenever a
slender thread of truth was found it
has been enlarged and magnified and
distorted When facts were missing,
when guilt could not be found, then
deliberate SANDER and malicious false
hood was invoked to smirch the
mayor"
"He (Alexander) stands for pro-
ceeding that involves the good name of
the city; he is backed by clique and
class, and not by popular will-he
must be condemned as unworthy and
unfit by reason of the methods and the
cause he represents"
1--WE believe that the effect of this
recall movement has already caused
great injury to our city; that it has
placed its government and our people
in a false light before the world; that
it has impaired the reputation of the
city for sobriety, morality and Gull
ture; that the men responsible for
this result deserve censure and repro
bation."
EdeIman Denies Signature
Mayor Alexander says that when
this matter was brought to the atten-
ton of DR.. Edelman, and it was sug-
gested that he resign, as he could not
possibly be in sympathy with the adj
ministration, DIR. Edelman fatty denied
having signed the letter and declared
he had never even seen the document
The only thing that the mayor had to
guide him in his surmise that DR.. Edel-
man had signed the letter was the fact
that his name was attached to 1t. If
this signature was a forgery the mayor
did not know it, and frankly declared
he did not believe it. Mr.. Young, adj
mitted In an interview with the mayor
yesterday that he had signed this letter
and intimated he did not regret 1t and
was politely defiant.
"But he was manly about it," said
the mayor with the instructive respect
of a fighter for a strong antagonist.
''He met me in the open and frankly
told me he had signed the letter, DR..
Edelman said he had never even
seen it,
When asked what he was going to
do about the case of Dan Laubers-
heimer, who did not sign the letter, but
who strongly sympathized with Harper.
the mayor declared he did not know
what he would do, but declared he was
keeping Mr.. Laubersheimer in mind.
He has asked Laubersheimer to resign,
but the commissioner, like other mem
bers OF the board, has refused.
The mayor does not know whether or
not the council will be in sympathy
with him in his effort to remove the
political civil service commissioners.
ST have discussed this matter with
several of them in an informal man.
ner" he said, "but do not know how
q single member of the council will
vote. / am simply doing my duty as I
believe 1t should be done, and If the
council does not agree with me, that is
something cannot control.
Believes In Civil Service
'T do not want anyone to get the
impression that I am against civil
service or an advocate of the spoils
system" continued the mayor. IT am
acting in the interests of civil service,
not against it. I do not believe these
two men should be on this commission,
after what they have done in partisan
politics, and 1t is to remove this politi-
cal atmosphere that I would remove
these commissioners"
Other members of official bodies of
the city government and who owed
their appointments to Harper had the
bad taste to sign this open letter. They
were I. B. Dockweiler, member of the
library board; r. F. Del Vale, member
of the water board; both still hold their
positions, and H. G. Dillon, who was
a member of the police commission I'M
der Harper. Mr.. Dillon was among the
first to resign when Mayor Alexander
came into office. All the others who
movement and its candidate still cling
nail, in spite of their publicly ex-
pressed disapproval of this recall can
didate who is now their mayor.
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