Just days after a Charter Reform Commission meeting ended abruptly with public comment cut off and the room cleared by LAPD officers, one of the commissioners is now formally asking city leaders to intervene in what he describes as serious problems inside the reform process itself.

In a letter sent Friday to the Los Angeles City Council and the Mayor’s Office, Commissioner Rev. Dr. James Thomas raised concerns about political interference, unequal treatment of community groups, and decisions that could limit meaningful discussion of police accountability. He called for an immediate meeting with city leaders, an independent review of staff conduct, and new transparency requirements governing communications involving the commission.

Thomas wrote that concerns about the commission’s independence have been building for months. “For several months, I have raised concerns that Commission staff have been coordinating with the Mayor’s Office in ways that compromise the Commission’s independence,” he wrote. “These concerns are no longer speculative.”

According to the letter, staff recently acknowledged that they routinely copy the Mayor’s Office on communications related to their work. Thomas argues that this practice raises serious questions about political influence in a process that is supposed to operate independently.

The letter also addresses the same meeting this week in which mayoral candidate Rae Huang continued speaking after her microphone was cut during public comment, an incident that quickly circulated online. Thomas wrote that the treatment of community participants has been a recurring problem, particularly for Black and Asian Pacific Islander organizations. “At nearly every juncture, when these organizations have attempted to provide input, they have been treated differently from other stakeholders,” he wrote, adding that proposals have been dismissed without deliberation and perspectives not afforded equal consideration. Referring to the recent meeting, he added, “Such actions are unacceptable and antithetical to the spirit of inclusive governance.”

Beyond the handling of public comment, the letter raises concerns about internal decision-making, including allegations that certain agenda items reflecting community concerns have not been allowed to reach the full commission and that an API committee chair was excluded from participation in an ad hoc committee process.

Thomas also questioned how the commission is approaching the issue of policing, which has been one of the most contentious topics in the reform effort. Advocates and some commissioners have argued for months that police oversight and accountability must be central to any serious charter reform, since the city charter determines how authority over the LAPD is structured.

In the letter, Thomas warned that political considerations should not shape those decisions. “Political expediency cannot override democratic accountability or community demands,” he wrote.