Compromise Ethics Reform Plan Prepared for Council : City Hall: The proposal revives the idea of public campaign financing. A pay raise is also linked to the ballot measure.

A revived proposal to establish public financing of political campaigns emerged in Los Angeles on Tuesday as part of a new ethics-in-government compromise that will be brought before the City Council next week.

Details of the compromise still were being worked out, but sources said it includes a proposal to put ethics reforms and a pay raise for council members together on the same ballot measure. Linking the ethics and pay raise proposals is meant to be an incentive to win the votes of some council members who oppose public financing, sources said.

Public financing would be placed as a second ballot proposal, the sources said.

The compromise is a late attempt by Councilman Michael Woo to revive public campaign financing in time to place it on the June ballot as part of an ethics reform package approved by the council last month.

The council killed a proposal on Jan. 19 to establish public financing of political campaigns, upsetting an agreement worked out between Woo and Geoffrey Cowan, the head of an ethics-in-government commission appointed last spring by Mayor Tom Bradley.

Cowan’s commission had drafted a broad ethics package that called for public financing, a ban on outside income for public officials and a prohibition on lobbying by public officials for a year after they leave office. Cowan said he would call for a citizen’s initiative if the council failed to pass an ethics package that included the commission’ major proposals.

With a flurry of amendments two weeks ago, the council “tore the guts out of the proposal,” according to Woo, who has since been trying to win support for restoring many of the provisions thrown out by the council.

Woo said Tuesday he is close to having the eight votes needed to recall the measure and amend it next Tuesday, when matter comes before the council for a final vote.

In a 10-5 vote, the council decided Tuesday to give Woo an extra week to gather support for his effort.

Woo said he has given up on trying to win the support of Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Ernani Bernardi--both staunch opponents of public financing--but added that “everyone else is fair game.”

Several sources said Tuesday that council members want Cowan to push publicly for the pay raise in order to take the political heat off them.

“I’m not sure that is an appropriate role for the commission,” Cowan said, adding, however, that he would not oppose the pay raise if it included a ban on outside income and honorariums.

“If the pay raise were also included, I’m confident that it would be a measure that we could still back with enthusiasm,” Cowan said.