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L.A. Building Panel Votes Draw Scrutiny

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Times Staff Writer

Before his recent removal as president of the Los Angeles Board of Building and Safety Commissioners, Efren Abratique voted three times to approve permits for an engineering firm that was paying at least $10,000 annually to a company he headed, according to city records.

Neighborhood activists who attended the votes involving Psomas Inc. said last week that Abratique should have recused himself because he faced an apparent conflict of interest.

“That’s pretty standard practice -- that if you have a financial interest then you should excuse yourself from voting,” said Randie Bamous, a neighbor of a West Manchester Boulevard project approved by Abratique.

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Kathay Feng, the executive director of California Common Cause, called on the Los Angeles Ethics Commission or state Fair Political Practices Commission to determine whether Abratique should have been disqualified from voting.

“Abratique should have recused himself from any commission decision where he has a financial interest in the outcome,” Feng said.

State law prohibits elected officials from voting on matters that could affect their pocketbooks.

“No public official at any level of state or local government shall make, participate in making or in any way attempt to use his official position to influence a governmental decision in which he knows or has reason to know he has a financial interest,” the law says.

Abratique, a San Pedro resident and civil engineer, did not return several calls for comment last week. He is president and owner of SafeProbe Inc., which provides pothole repairs and utility surveying.

In financial disclosure statements required by the city Ethics Commission, Abratique listed Psomas as a source of income of $40,000 or more for SafeProbe over the last four years. The disclosure forms do not require that the exact amount be provided. Instead they instruct commissioners to disclose the identity of “each source of income/loans of $10,000 or more.”

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The first time Abratique voted in favor of Psomas, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm often hired by developers to pursue permits, the company was applying for a controversial permit to remove 40,000 cubic yards of dirt from a lot planned for a development at 10776 W. Wilshire Blvd.

On March 21, Abratique voted with three other board members to approve the permit as well as to certify the project as environmentally benign, even though a neighbor of the property, Marie McGrattan, voiced concern that the grading could create dust and noisy truck trips.

McGrattan said last week that she was unaware of the financial relationship between Abratique’s company and Psomas at the time of the vote.

“I think it’s a great conflict of interest,” she said.

On June 13, Abratique was removed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa without public announcement or explanation.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said last week that the removal was part of Villaraigosa’s ongoing effort to replace officials left over from the previous administration.

Abratique was appointed in 2002 by then-Mayor James K. Hahn.

Abratique was one of several city commissioners who were issued “cautionary letters” that year by the Ethics Commission because their financial interests posed a risk that they might face conflicts.

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“Therefore, should any matter involving SafeProbe, Inc.... or any of their clients come before the board, Mr. Abratique should seek the advice of the city attorney before acting regarding whether he will be required to disqualify himself,” said the letter, written by Ethics Commission Executive Director LeeAnn Pelham.

Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said the attorneys assigned to advise the board could not recall Abratique asking them for an opinion on whether he could vote on Psomas’ permits.

Pelham declined to comment on whether the ethics panel would look into the commissioner’s actions, citing confidentiality rules.

The vote on Psomas’ application for the Wilshire project took place just minutes before Abratique voted to approve a similar permit sought by the Birba Group, which is headed by fellow board member and architect Pedro Birba.

To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Birba left the board room and did not vote on the project.

Psomas, whose representatives did not return calls for comment, also went before the board Oct. 18, applying for a permit to remove 153,000 cubic yards of dirt from a Playa Vista development at 7250-7270 W. Manchester Blvd.

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This time, Abratique was one of three board members who provided the bare majority vote to approve Psomas’ application and find that the project did not harm the environment.

The third vote occurred in August 2004, when Abratique was among three board members who approved a permit for Psomas, allowing the removal of 19,900 cubic yards of dirt from a construction site.

Pelham’s 2002 letter notified Abratique that if he was disqualified from acting because of the same financial interest three times in a year, the City Charter required the Ethics Commission to determine whether the panelist’s holdings presented a “significant and continuing conflict” that should require divestment.

Abratique has run afoul of the city Ethics Commission before, having been fined by the panel in 2003 for a campaign finance violation.

He contributed $1,000 each from two companies he co-owns to Hahn’s 2001 mayoral campaign and was found by the commission to have violated the $1,000 limit on contributions from the same source.

In calculating how much a source can donate, multiple firms with the same owner are considered to be one contributor.

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