Feuer Seeks to Cut Lobbyists’ Contributions : Ethics: Proposal would end donations to accounts that council members use to pay expenses related to their duties.

Los Angeles’ newest council member on Friday moved to cut off a lucrative avenue of funds for municipal lawmakers’ officeholder accounts.

A proposal introduced by Councilman Mike Feuer and seconded by Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg would prohibit lobbyists from raising money for the accounts used by council members to pay expenses related to their duties as elected officials.

The proposal, sent without discussion to the council’s Rules and Elections Committee, marks Feuer’s second attempt to strengthen the city’s anti-corruption rules since he took office July 3. Earlier this month, Feuer and Councilman Joel Wachs proposed barring ethics laws violators from doing further business with the city.

Feuer’s more recent proposal came the same day the city’s Ethics Commission released its quarterly report of lobbyists’ contributions and other activities.

From April through June, lobbyists spent more than $1 million to influence city decision-making, the commission’s report said. It showed that Waste Management Inc., which held a contract to haul away debris from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, spent the most on lobbying activities, $100,000.

The report also noted that 47 lobbying firms or individuals contributed almost $99,000 to municipal officeholders or candidates during the same period. Lobbyists and their employers represent a substantial source of campaign funds for local officials, and the latest report showed that all but two of the 15 council members--Rita Walters and Marvin Braude--received at least some lobbyist contributions this past quarter. Mayor Richard Riordan and City Controller Rick Tuttle also received funds from lobbyists, according to the report.

The city’s ethics laws, which in 1994 underwent their first comprehensive revision and expansion in 30 years, deal in detail with contributions to be used during political campaigns but are less specific when it comes to constraints on lobbyists who raise money for elected officials to spend in the course of their duties once they have won their elections, Feuer noted.

Feuer’s proposal, scheduled for an initial hearing in the next three weeks, will also be reviewed by the Ethics Commission. Commission officials said the commission had sought a provision in the 1994 lobbying ordinance that was similar to what Feuer is proposing but that it was dropped during council deliberations.