Ethics Reforms May Limit Bradley’s Defense Fund

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley would be unable to use money collected from his friends and political supporters to pay fines and legal bills stemming from investigations into his financial dealings under reforms recommended Wednesday in a city ethics panel report.

The report does not specifically address Bradley’s problems or his recent fund-raising efforts, but it calls for a citywide ban on using contributions to committees controlled by elected officials “to pay fines or legal fees.”

Margaret Morrow, an ethics commissioner who worked on the report, said the prohibition would apply to so-called “officeholder committees,” such as the one set up by Bradley to pay for his mounting legal expenses, which are reportedly running $100,000 a month.

But both Morrow and ethics panel Chairman Geoffrey Cowan said they are uncertain the proposal will be included in the commission’s final recommendations to the mayor and City Council. Also, it is possible Bradley will have resolved his legal troubles before any of the recommendations are enacted.

The spending ban is among a dozen recommendations contained in the 41-page report, which calls for sweeping changes in the way elections are run in Los Angeles. The authors said the overhaul is necessary because campaign fund raising is “the most vulnerable point . . . for corruption” in local elections.

The report recommends two major reforms that parallel proposals last month by the California Commission on Campaign Financing: First, campaigns should be paid for in part with public funds; second, limits should be placed on total campaign spending.

Under the proposal, the city would match each dollar a candidate raises, up to a maximum yet to be determined.