Boldness by Ethics Panel Has Its Risks

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission raid on City Atty. Jim Hahn’s office was a gutsy first strike for the fledgling agency.

The five-member commission could have taken a safer route, moving against some unknown mid-level bureaucrat who accepted a couple of free dinners or a weekend in Palm Springs.

Instead, the commission authorized the raid on the office of one of L.A.’s more powerful politicians. As the son of county Supervisor Kenny Hahn, Jim Hahn is heir to the family political organization and is carefully grooming himself for a race either for state attorney general or district attorney.

Hahn, himself, is not a target of the probe, officials said.

Rather, the investigators are concentrating on one of Hahn’s top political advisers, chief administrative aide Charles P. Fuentes, who also is vice chairman of the state Democratic Party.

While the commission is not commenting, Times staff writer Rich Connell reported that investigators are focusing on a special community relations unit that operates under Fuentes. The probe centers on allegations that Hahn employees were paid for city work they did not perform. Another allegation is that employees worked on political campaigns on city time.

One focus of the investigation is Anthony Roland, a Fuentes subordinate and computer expert who figures out ways of keeping track of candidates’ campaign contributors and other supporters.

There’s nothing illegal about Roland designing computer programs for political candidates--but he can’t do it on city time.

The Ethics Commission left an opening for a strong counterattack when it moved on the Hahn office.

You can expect the commissioners and Executive Director Ben Bycel to be accused of conducting a political vendetta against Hahn.

Hahn is not considered a commission friend. Some commissioners and staff believe Hahn and his office have made it tough for the commission to pursue its task of regulating campaign contributions and eliminating conflicts of interest.

As some commissioners see it, Hahn’s lieutenants, jealous of their own authority in the campaign contribution and ethics field, issued nit-picking rulings that weakened ethics law enforcement.

For example, Hahn’s office advised City Council President John Ferraro that, because of the new campaign ethics law, he couldn’t be a guest at the annual downtown St. Patrick’s Day luncheon. Under that interpretation, ethics investigators would have to spend their time chasing down recipients of free lunches instead of going after big violations.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s role in the Hahn investigation could be another source of political controversy.

After Bycel and his chief aide, Rebecca Avila, received a telephone tip about the alleged misdeeds in Hahn’s office, Bycel called on Reiner for help.

Reiner’s forces conducted their raid with the ferocity of feds raiding a suspected inside trader’s office. Search warrants in hand, they hauled away computer equipment, personnel records and assorted files.

While members of Reiner’s staff were just doing their job, it turned out they also were doing a political favor for their boss.

As a possible candidate for D.A. next year, Hahn is a major worry in Reiner’s life. And the two could run against each other in a future election for state attorney general, an office Reiner unsuccessfully sought in 1990.

So, expect Hahn’s supporters to accuse Reiner of dirty politics. And expect them to say the D.A.’s not so pure himself when it comes to mixing electoral politics with the duties of public office.

Two of Reiner’s top aides are Barbara Johnson and Steve Teichner. Johnson is an ace political manager. Teichner is a well known pollster. Both were hired as the D.A. began his reelection campaign. As county employees, they are prohibited from spending working hours on Reiner’s campaign. But it is hard to believe their conversations with Reiner are restricted to criminal law.

Legal, as well as political dangers, face the commission. Fuentes hired one of the town’s highest powered lawyers, Neil Papiano, who convinced a judge Tuesday that the commission had exceeded its legal mandate in investigating the case. In a preliminary ruling, Judge Robert H. O’Brien said the D.A., rather than the ethics commission, should be the city’s ethics cop.

An eventual victory by the commission would be a major step in its effort to change the way business is done at City Hall. But the raid on Jim Hahn’s office could just as easily end up a political and legal disaster for the forces of reform.