Buying Your Way In? : Ethics Commission report finds big money behind the scenes

In its first public report, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, which has been in operation less than a year and still isn’t fully staffed, suggests that money--Big Money--is the root of access at City Hall. This conclusion won’t surprise many people--but the report does gives credence to two cliches that contradict honest government: “Money talks” and “It’s not what you know but who you know.”

The commission found that businesses and special interests paid the top 25 lobbyists in Los Angeles about $1.2 million over a three-month period this year. One lobbyist--an old buddy of the mayor--collected more than $160,000. Two former councilmen parlayed their insiders’ experience into lobbying fees. One lobbyist hid the details of his work behind a questionable claim of attorney-client privilege, circumventing financial disclosure requirements.

Who’s paying is as revealing as who’s collecting. A waste management firm based in Charlotte, N.C., shoveled out nearly $80,000 in April through June in an effort to drum up business. The developer of the controversial Porter Ranch project in the northern San Fernando Valley dumped $45,000 to combat slow-growth rules. A tobacco conglomerate laid out $36,000 to monitor legislation such as smoking bans.

It is of course not illegal for firms to lobby--or for lobbyists to charge fees for their labors. But the public has every right to know who is paying whom to do what at City Hall.

The news media often spotlight lobbyists and their clients and/or projects. But until the voters enacted the ethics ordinance, there was no one in government to call ongoing attention to the role of money in obtaining “access” in City Hall.

The Ethics Commission is one government agency that, despite tremendous odds, looks as if it’s determined to give voters their money’s worth.