Picus, Citing Law, Returns $3,000 Given by 6 in Firm

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, co-author of a law that limits campaign contributions to council members to $500 a donor, said Thursday that she has returned $3,000 she received from six employees of a development firm.

“I will not be party to any attempts to circumvent the city’s campaign finance laws,” Picus said.

She said, however, that she will keep two $500 checks she received from the two partners in the company, which is building a multimillion-dollar housing project in her West San Fernando Valley district.

The city attorney’s office will look into the matter “to determine if further action is required,” a spokesman for the office said.

Picus’ comments came one day after a report in the Daily News that she accepted $500 each from eight employees of G. H. Palmer & Associates of Brentwood. A 1985 voter-approved law limits contributions to City Council candidates to $500 per source.

Individuals Can Contribute

However, it is not uncommon or illegal for several employees of the same company to each contribute $500 to a council member, said Assistant City Atty. Shelley I. Rosenfield.

“There would be nothing illegal, for example, about anybody in the company saying, ‘I think Joy Picus is a terrific councilwoman, and I urge each and every one of you to dig into your pockets to give.’ ”

But, if an employer requires an employee to make political contributions or reimburses an employee, it could violate the law, Rosenfield said.

The contributions from G. H. Palmer & Associates came from three secretaries, an office manager, an acquisitions manager, a project manager and the principals in the firm, Geoff Palmer and Don Saxon Palmer Jr. The contributions were transmitted to Picus by Art Snyder, a former councilman who is now a lobbyist.

Picus said she returned the $3,000 because of “the appearance of a possible attempt to skirt city law.” She said it is not customary for secretaries to make campaign contributions.

760-Unit Project

Representatives of G. H. Palmer refused to comment Thursday. The company is building a 760-unit condominium project on the 45-acre former Beachy estate bounded by Oxnard Street and Shoup Avenue in Woodland Hills.

Picus said she supported a measure that halved the building density of the project. “If you asked him what he wanted and what he got, he wouldn’t be very happy,” she said, referring to the development firm.

The project had been approved by the council and was under construction by the time the contributions were made, she said.

Picus said she was unaware of the G. H. Palmer contributions until Sunday night, when she signed a campaign report that had been prepared by her treasurer, Mooneen G. Lecce. She said she did not take action because the report had to be filed Monday.

“Phone calls from the press focused my attention on the problem more sharply, and I decided I had to return these contributions immediately,” she said.

Mistake Admitted

“I made a mistake,” Picus said. “It wasn’t until the names of these contributors and their employer all appeared together in my campaign report that I realized it gave the appearance of a possible attempt to skirt city law.”

Picus said she will ask the city attorney “for further advice as to how campaign committees can avoid any questionable contributions in the future.” She said, however, that she will not ask the city attorney to investigate whether the company violated the law.

“This is a new law,” she said. “We’re all learning as we work our way through it.”

Picus, up for reelection in April, 1989, raised $62,903 from July 1 to Dec. 31, her campaign report shows. She returned five contributions totaling $1,250 from Warner Center developer Robert Voit and his associates. She said she is refusing to accept contributions from developers of controversial projects in her district.

“I do it in order to avoid misperceptions,” she said of the policy.