Lobbyists Greet Class in Ethics With Yawns : Capitol: Attendance is required by an anti-corruption law passed last year. Many on hand say the session wasted their time.

It was something never before seen in the state Capitol: More than 200 lobbyists gathered in one room Wednesday to learn about ethics.

Lobbyists, including some of the most powerful in the business, had to sit through three hours of instruction on how to influence legislators without breaking the law.

The lobbyists were there because the Legislature, attempting to counter its image of widespread corruption, passed a bill last year requiring all registered advocates to take a course on ethics. But the first session--consisting of five lectures on laws against bribery, extortion and other forms of corruption--put many of them to sleep.

“This course was almost as interesting and informative as traffic school,” said Susie McCabe, a lobbyist whose firm represents Donald Trump, among others.

Noting that the class was taught by lawyers for the state, John Mockler, a lobbyist for the Los Angeles Unified School District, grumbled, “I appreciate the irony of having lawyers and state bureaucrats tell me how to be ethical.”

But the sponsors of the session--the Legislature’s Joint Ethics Committee--were taking no chances.

To make sure no one would cheat by sending a surrogate, all lobbyists were required to show their drivers’ licenses at the door. At the end of class, they each received a certificate that will permit them to continue lobbying for the next two years--when they will be required to take the course again. All of this came at the bargain-basement price of $50.

Some napped, including one woman who dozed in the second row behind her sunglasses. Some pulled out newspapers or documents and read. Others did crossword puzzles.

Afterward, many lobbyists complained that they had learned nothing they did not already know about ethics or state law.

“This was a colossal waste of time,” one said. “I’m wondering if charging $50 for this was extortion.”

The “Ethics Orientation” session was prompted in part by a federal investigation of corruption in the Capitol that so far has led to the conviction of Sen. Joseph B. Montoya, former Sen. Paul Carpenter and two legislative staff members.

Among those in attendance Wednesday were a lobbyist who was once the target of an FBI investigation, another whose offices were searched last year by the FBI and a third who testified at the Montoya corruption trial.

Seldom in the Capitol have so many lobbyists representing so many of the state’s powerful interests come together in one place. Lobbyists for such groups as insurance companies, the timber industry, oil companies, banks, manufacturers, retailers and real estate firms--as well as environmentalists and farm workers--attended the first session.

Representatives of the Fair Political Practices Commission, the Legislature’s Joint Ethics Committee and the attorney general’s office gave a detailed explanation of laws governing gifts to legislators, a new ban on the payment of honorariums, conflict-of-interest restrictions and bribery laws.

“This was punishment of some sort,” protested one lobbyist. “To do this again in two years is a reason not to register (as a lobbyist).”

Three more sessions are scheduled so that all of the more than 800 Capitol lobbyists can undergo the training. After that, the class will be repeated every six months for new lobbyists.

Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), chairman of the Assembly Ethics Committee, acknowledged in opening remarks that the class was unlikely to upgrade morals around the Capitol.

“You can’t really teach ethics,” he said. “But you can set a tone.”

Legislators, who must cast the votes that lobbyists are always trying to influence, must attend ethics lectures as well. But unlike the lobbyists, they will attend class in private.

BACKGROUND

The Legislature, in approving a wide-ranging ethics bill last year, adopted the requirement that legistors, staff members and lobbyists attend an ethics course each legislative session. The ethicss measure, which was linked to the passage of Proposition 112, also banned honorariums for legislators, restricted gifts and requires legislators who leave office to wait 12 months before coming lobbyists. It was designed to improve the tarnished image of the Legislature, which has been the subject of a lengthy federal corruption investigation.