They Deserve Applause and a Raise

The Los Angeles City Council did the right thing on Wednesday when it voted to put on the June ballot a political reform package unequalled in scope since the Progressive Era. It also did the prudent thing when it agreed to amend the package so that council members’ salaries would be linked to those of Municipal rather than the more highly paid Superior Court judges.

The pay-raise issue became the most controversial one advanced by the reform movement--and the issue the reformers’ more subtle opponents are counting on to kill the entire effort. It is their cynical calculation that the people of Los Angeles are so disenchanted with government and so vindictive toward politicians that they will sacrifice any hope of ethical reform for the cold pleasure of keeping their elected representatives from getting a pay raise.

Let us hope the cynics are wrong. To its credit the reform coalition put together by Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Michael Woo went the extra mile Wednesday and adopted a recommendation by a city commission on salaries that council members be compensated at the same rate as Municipal Court judges. In a city where more than 1,500 public employees currently make more than a council member, most department heads will continue to be paid more than the council even if the raise is approved. So the pay hike of about 33%--to approximately $86,000 a year--is reasonable and warranted.

More to the point, popular approval of the entire ethics package will restore Los Angeles’ reputation as a city that conducts its affairs in an honest, open, fair-minded manner. The proposition approved by the council will allow the people to enact some tough, enforceable standards of governmental ethics, affordable public financing of campaigns and equitable compensation for elected officials.

It is, to borrow a formulation from the computer age, a program you might call “democracy friendly.”