Candidates Get a Lesson in Ethics at Training Session

For politicians trying to wiggle out of Los Angeles’ ethics law, two excuses are old standbys.

“One is that a charge is politically motivated,” said Ben Bycel, executive officer of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. “The other is, ‘I didn’t know the law.’ ”

In convening the first campaign training session in the city of Los Angeles, Bycel had a clear message for about 80 candidates, campaign treasurers and consultants Wednesday evening: “This is a whole new ballgame. Now, it is your job to know the rules and abide by them.”

Wednesday’s session was an outgrowth of Proposition H, the 1990 ethics reform initiative that also brought campaign matching funds and rigorous financial reporting for city officials.

The training session and others to follow are designed to ensure that next April’s primary and the June general elections are the “cleanest and most open in the city’s history,” Bycel said.

Although some City Hall officials have criticized the ethics law as too intrusive, candidates at Wednesday’s session were quick to assert their support for the law.

“Some people laugh when they hear about these kinds of classes and say you can’t teach people ethics,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City), who is exploring a mayoral candidacy. “But what it does do is put everyone on notice and make sure they can’t claim ignorance later.”

Ethics officials said candidates and their treasurers will be expected to obtain a certificate for attending the course before their campaigns can proceed.

The meeting was also the first public forum to bring together several potential replacements for retiring Mayor Tom Bradley. Mayoral aspirants and City Council members Michael Woo and Nate Holden attended, along with lawyer and civic activist Richard Riordan.

Much of the focus in the inaugural session was on an $8-million fund of public campaign money that will be available to candidates for the first time in the April primary that will feature eight City Council contests along with the mayoral race.

The money will be available only to candidates who agree to limit their spending. Mayoral candidates who apply for the matching funds will be capped at $2 million in expenditures for the primary, while council candidates will be able to spend up to $300,000.

Contributions of up to $500 in the mayoral race and $250 in council races will be matched from the public campaign fund.

However, if one candidate chooses to exceed the limits, all others in the same race are free to do so. Other rules cannot be bent, Bycel warned.

He focused in particular on prohibitions on incumbents combining their official duties and campaign activities. It is illegal for city employees to use their offices or equipment for campaigning or to take contributions from anyone who has had business pending before them in the previous year.

For Larry Green--a Hollywood tax preparer and self-described “regular, honest guy”--the rules and the training session were a welcome development. Green has been waging a lonely, placard-waving campaign for mayor from the corner of Melrose Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

“This is good. It’s necessary,” Green said of the ethics forum. “When you run for public office, you have to be impeccably clean and honest.

“It gives people like me a chance to win.”