City Ethics Panel Calls for Hiring of Special Prosecutor

The staff of Mayor Tom Bradley’s commission on ethics recommended Friday that the city hire special prosecutors to “perform full-scale investigations” of public officials suspected of corruption.

In a report to commissioners, the staff recommended that special prosecutors be granted legal powers far greater than those of the city attorney, including the authority to subpoena witnesses and question them under oath.

“The arguments for and against a special prosecutor have been well developed in the course of the investigation of Mayor Bradley,” the staff wrote. “We believe that it is important that the public perceive that decisions regarding prosecution of its elected officials be the product of independent investigation and judgment.”

Bradley--who created the Commission to Draft an Ethics Code for Los Angeles City Government in April, after questions were raised about his employment by a bank that conducted business with the city--has pledged to abide by the panel’s findings and seek to have its recommendations adopted into law.

Effect on Mayor Unlikely

But while it appears that the commission will call for extensive reforms in the city’s ethics code and enforcement, its recommendations are not likely to have an effect on the inquiries into the mayor and his finances. The changes in city law necessary to establish the process for appointing special prosecutors could take years to complete, commissioners said.

Bradley and his professional relationship with a bank that did business with the city has been investigated, along with other allegations of conflict of interest, by the city attorney and city controller. No criminal charges have been brought, but the city attorney filed a civil lawsuit against Bradley earlier this month alleging errors in his financial disclosure forms.

Commission staff member Bert Deixler said Friday that conducting an investigation with the limited powers of the city attorney--who in the Bradley probe was not empowered to issue subpoenas or force witnesses to testify under oath--is like having “one hand tied behind your back.”

Providing for appointment of special prosecutors in corruption cases is just one of several ways the commission staff recommended the city bolster enforcement of ethics rules.

At the proposal’s core is the formation of an independent city ethics agency to monitor campaign and other financial disclosures, investigate breaches of the ethics code and prosecute offenders civilly. It is this office that could seek appointment of a special prosecutor by applying to a panel of three judges, who would then make a selection.

The staff also recommended that the city attorney be granted greater legal powers and authority to investigate and prosecute ethics breaches.

‘Private Attorney General’

And, as the ultimate backstop, the staff proposed that private citizens be empowered to bring actions against officials as “private attorney general . . . if the independent agency or other existing governmental agencies did not initiate such actions” within a reasonable time period. Citizens would be allowed to sue for injunctive relief and financial penalties and would be entitled to keep half of all fines ultimately levied in a case.

“We have to send a message that a breach of ethical standards will be found out and punished,” said Deixler, a former prosecutor now in private practice who helped prepare the report. “Compliance is the goal. And scrutiny is the way to obtain it.”

The commissioners, who will make their final report to the mayor and City Council in November, appeared to be generally in favor of the recommendations, though Commissioner Gilbert Ray cautioned that “I’d like not to invent a cannon to kill flies.”

Ray, an attorney with the powerful downtown law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, said he did not want to “create a huge bureaucracy that would investigate once a year.”

Any ideas the commission endorses would become law at the mayor’s direction, action by the City Council and potentially through a ballot measure.

“I want a proposal with the maximum potential of being adopted,” Ray said.

Despite Ray’s concerns, the idea of an independent agency and mechanism for appointing special prosecutors appeared to be accepted by other commission members and was quickly endorsed by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who appeared before the commission Friday.

“I think there are circumstances where a special prosecutor is desirable,” Reiner said. “In fact, there are circumstances where a special prosecutor is essential.”

The concept was also embraced by City Councilwoman Gloria Molina, who has often criticized the city’s investigation of Bradley as flawed because the city attorney lacked important law enforcement tools, such as subpoenas to compel testimony and authority to place witnesses under oath.

“Now that we’ve gone through the process, many of us sense deficiencies. This (proposal) could be a good way to address those deficiencies,” said Molina, who is a member of the council’s ad hoc committee on ethics. “I think all of us in council are looking for a way to put that (special prosecutor) mechanism in process. This might be the way.”

The commission staff report said “the public has a particular concern in ensuring that such judgment is made fairly and independently.”

The staff report on ethics enforcement submitted to the commission Friday is the last of six reports covering the spectrum of ethical issues in government service, including financial disclosure, outside income and employment by public officials, conflicts of interest, campaign finance and ethics education.