Taxi Firm Wins Approval to Absorb 250 ‘Bandit’ Cabs

The Bell Cab Co., which recently agreed to pay a $40,000 fine to settle charges of campaign money laundering, received approval Thursday to absorb 250 illegal “bandit” cabs, a move that will make it the largest operating taxi firm in Los Angeles.

The city Transportation Commission voted unanimously to allow Bell Cab to more than triple its 100-car operation by taking in drivers from the Union de Taxistas Independientes, a group of unlicensed Latino cabbies.

Commissioners said the decision will reduce the city’s bandit cab problem by putting the illegal cabs under the city’s authority. The action comes two weeks before a new state law gives city officials the power to impound the cabs of unlicensed drivers.

The commission voted at a hearing in which it was also scheduled to consider penalizing Bell Cab for making illegal campaign contributions totaling $10,500 to City Council members and candidates in 1990 and 1991. The penalty hearing, however, was postponed a month.

The contributions were made at the same time that the firm was trying to obtain a lucrative city permit to operate at Los Angeles International Airport. In July, 1990, the council gave Bell Cab the permit.

Bell Cab admitted in October to 54 counts of campaign money laundering and agreed to pay a $40,000 fine under a settlement with the city Ethics Commission.

As a further penalty for the laundering scheme, the city Department of Transportation has recommended that the Transportation Commission ban Bell Cab from LAX for 30 days--a severe penalty, considering the profitable fares generated by airport passengers.

Schaffer said he asked the commission to delay the penalty hearing so that it would not influence the panel’s decision on the expansion.

Lobbyist and former City Councilman Art Snyder, who represents Bell Cab, said he was glad that the panel did not reject the expansion because of the campaign violations. “One has nothing to do with the other,” he said.

Still, Snyder vowed to fight the proposed penalty because he said a punishment should come from ethics officials, not transportation officials. He conceded that a previous Bell Cab president “did something wrong” but he said the firm has changed management since then.