Keeping with a long tradition of Los Angeles City Hall appointing political confederates to the governing board for the Port of Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday named his former chief of staff, Robin Kramer, to the port commission.
The 57-year-old Kramer, who served as Villaraigosa's chief of staff from 2005 to 2009, also served as former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's chief of staff from 1994 to 1997.
Kramer will fill a seat left vacant by the departure earlier this year of Commission Vice-President Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza.
The five members of the port commission, who can serve up to two six-year terms, set policy for and oversee the administration of the port.
The current president of the commission, Cindy Miscikowski, served as a Los Angeles City Councilmember before being appointed to the commission. Former commission president S. David Freeman was also a long-time ally of the Villaraigosa administration.
The Los Angeles Port Commission is often given greater direction by Los Angeles City Hall than the governing board at the neighboring Port of Long Beach, which is overseen by a semi-autonomous city department and typically kept at arms length by Long Beach City Hall.
Friday, September 10, 2010
