Council Members Seek to Toughen L.A. Ethics Laws

Hoping to add teeth to the penalties for violating the city’s ethics laws, two Los Angeles City Council members proposed an ordinance Wednesday that would prohibit the city from doing business with firms or individuals breaking those laws.

Councilmen Mike Feuer and Joel Wachs jointly introduced the motion that bans those who are penalized for willfully violating ethics law from doing business with the city or lobbying city officials for four years.

“We want this . . . to give people notice that you have to abide by the ethics rules or you will face a stiff penalty,” Feuer said.

What further incensed Feuer, Wachs and others is that the City Council voted in January to waive nearly $200,000 in city fees for Los Angeles Marathon Inc., less than a year after the city’s Ethics Commission fined the firm $200,000 for laundering campaign funds.

“This city should not reward people who flout its laws, but that is exactly what it’s been doing,” said Wachs, one of five council members who voted against the fee waiver.

Under the motion, the prohibition would target any individual or firm fined $5,000 or more by the Ethics Commission and found guilty by the panel of willfully violating ethics, campaign financing and lobbying laws.