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As Los Angeles braced for a closely watched Police Commission ruling on the shooting of a mentally ill black man last week , Mayor Eric Garcetti said he needed to leave town to discuss issues of importance to the poverty- and crime-afflicted communities of South L.A. with officials at the White House.

But the mayor had another time-consuming commitment to keep in Washington on the eve of the Police Commission’s decision on the killing of Ezell Ford, The Times has learned. In addition to two short meetings with Obama administration officials, Garcetti also attended an event for his reelection campaign held by one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent fundraisers.

In an interview Monday, Harold Ickes — a veteran political operative and former top campaign and White House aide to President Clinton — said the mayor was at his home in Georgetown on the evening of June 8 for a fundraising reception for Garcetti’s 2017 campaign.

Ickes said Garcetti was present throughout the two-hour event, and “stayed afterward” to talk with some attendees. By contrast, the mayor had two meetings scheduled to last half an hour each at the White House on Monday, according to his office.

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