Spending by City Lobbyists Under Review : Budget: Controller questions $80 dinner tabs in Washington and $220 meals in Tokyo. He calls for a reduction in expense accounts.

Concerned that city lobbyists are spending too much public money entertaining officials during out-of-town trips, Los Angeles City Controller Rick Tuttle on Monday launched a review of dinner tabs and hotel charges.

The financial inquiry will review expenses charged by city lobbyists in Washington, and will incorporate an ongoing review of costs incurred in Tokyo by the trade representative for the city Harbor Department, Tuttle said.

“If we think there have been inappropriate expenditures,” Tuttle said, “we will deny payment or reimbursement.”

Questioned charges include a $3,221 dinner for 40--about $80 per person--hosted by city lobbyists at a Washington restaurant last March. Also under review is a $220-per-person dinner, previously criticized by Tuttle, which was sponsored by city Harbor Department officials at the Alaska Prince Hotel in Tokyo last year.

In February, Tuttle, who is the city’s financial watchdog, limited city officials to $40-per-person dinners in the United States and $170-per-person meals in Tokyo under most circumstances. The controller will not reimburse liquor expenses for city employees.

Also on Monday, the city’s chief legislative analyst said he intends to request that lobbyists under contract with the city streamline their budgets to approximate the cuts of up to 10% that all city departments are being asked to plan for amid the current fiscal climate.

“If city departments are being asked to tighten the belt, everybody has to tighten the belt,” said William McCarley, chief legislative analyst whose office hires lobbyists. “I’ve already admonished them to be extra vigilant in these tough economic times.”

McCarley plans to request the budget cuts when the City Council begins debating next year’s budget in April.

McCarley also expressed concern about the dinner last March hosted by Washington lobbyist James Seeley for visiting city commissioners, council members and other officials during a National League of Cities conference.

“When the bill came in, we decided it was pretty expensive and decided not to do that anymore,” McCarley said.

Breaking with tradition, no group dinners were sponsored by city officials during league conferences held in Las Vegas in December and in Washington two weeks ago.

Los Angeles has contracted with Seeley’s firm, the National Center for Municipal Development, for 15 years at an annual cost of about $300,000. During that time, Seeley has promoted the city’s position on an array of issues involving Los Angeles’ airport, harbor, transportation and water and power departments, officials said.

The city’s contractual agreement with Seeley expires in June, 1994, officials said.

In a telephone interview, Seeley defended the expenditures, saying that the cost of conducting business in Washington is higher than in other cities. “After all, this is where the power lunch was invented,” Seeley said.

However, he also said: “Tuttle is right, we have to keep these things down in tough economic times because it doesn’t play well with the taxpayers.”

City Council President John Ferraro agreed.

“When you take out an important person in Washington--and I’m not talking about a city council member--they don’t want to go to a fast-food restaurant,” Ferraro said. “But we have to watch our expenses because of the seriousness of the economic situation.”

Indeed, City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie has said it will take a full economic recovery and enough staff and service reductions to save $300 million over the next two years to balance the city’s budget for the 1993-94 fiscal year.