Send Your Donations to City Hall : Times series raises serious questions about past Bradley fund raisings

A recent Times investigation into the fund-raising practices of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley provides more sobering evidence--as if any were needed--of the corrupting influence money has on government.

In a series of reports based on internal campaign documents obtained by The Times--with the help of a court order--reporters Rich Connell and Tracy Wood detailed how mayoral aides and city commissioners raised $700,000 for three different Bradley campaigns over the last five years. Lots of that money came from contractors and lobbyists who had business pending with the city, often before the very same commissions on which sat the very same commissioners who solicited the campaign donations. Even if nothing illegal occurred, the coziness of those relationships raises questions. Were city commissioners judging projects and proposals on their merits, or on how much money their proponents had donated to the mayor?

The reports also documented a City Hall campaign operation that was at best chaotic and, at worst, downright illegal. During two different Bradley campaigns for mayor, in 1985 and 1989, and his failed run at the California governorship in 1986, staff aides routinely did political work for Bradley on city time.

In response to the series, Bradley and Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani point out that City Hall staffers were told to keep their official duties separate from their political activities. Fabiani also notes Bradley’s strong support of the city’s new political ethics ordinance, which specifically prohibits some of the campaign activities documented by The Times, as evidence that the mayor sincerely wants to clear up the ethical haze that hangs over City Hall.

Indeed, city voters can take some reassurance from the fact the ethics reforms they wisely enacted last June will make it somewhat harder for officials to engage in dubious fund raising in the future. But promises to do better don’t excuse wrongdoing in the past, and there are some instances cited in the series that should be further investigated by the appropriate authorities, specifically some of the fund raising done by long-time Bradley aides. If Bradley aides or commissioners did anything illegal, they should be prosecuted and, at the very least, reimburse the city for any campaigning they did on public time or using public resources. That would send a clear message to everybody in City Hall--not just the mayor’s office--that the old rules not only don’t apply anymore but also that they can get you into a heap of trouble.