Prosecutors Offer Deal to Ex-Councilman Snyder : Court: If he agrees to plead guilty in campaign ethics case, D.A.’s office will not seek a state prison term. But his lawyer says the lobbyist is not willing to accept a jail sentence.

The district attorney’s office will not seek state prison time for former Los Angeles City Councilman Arthur K. Snyder if he agrees to plead guilty to charges that he used hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to curry influence as a lobbyist.

In a pretrial settlement memo sealed by a Superior Court judge Friday, prosecutors say they would demand that Snyder serve a year in county jail, lawyers in the case told The Times. At a previous court hearing, prosecutors said they would request a 16-month state prison term for the colorful and controversial lobbyist, indicted last January after nearly three years of investigation by state and local campaign ethics organizations and prosecutors.

“County jail is actually harder time than state prison,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Mader, when asked about the scaled-back offer. “And we’d be saving the expense and time of a trial.”

Snyder, however, is not ready to accept any deal that calls for incarceration, his lawyer said.

“They’ve scaled it down,” acknowledged defense attorney Mark Geragos. “But it’s still our position that [Snyder] did not commit a crime.”

Judge John Ouderkirk, saying it appears that the two sides remain far apart, ordered the parties back to court Jan. 5 and said they should be prepared for a swift trial if a settlement cannot be reached.

Ouderkirk said he sealed the prosecution memo in order to give Geragos a chance to file a response. In what prosecutors deem a groundbreaking effort to police political fund-raising practices in Southern California, Snyder and several associates are accused of funneling campaign checks to city and state politicians from a vast network of friends, relatives and associates, who in turn were secretly reimbursed with cash.

Prosecutors allege that a far-reaching scheme in which paybacks were made with wads of $100 bills was aimed at helping boost the political influence of Snyder, a former Eastside councilman.

“We’re truly concerned with the deterrent value to other individuals who might be contemplating monkeying around with the political process the way Snyder did,” said Mader.

Defense attorneys have sought to convince Ouderkirk that Snyder’s activities did not constitute a criminal act, but the judge, after an initial ruling favoring Snyder, later decided that he would have to stand trial.

If Snyder refuses to withdraw his not-guilty plea, Mader said, any deal would be off and he could face a maximum three-year state prison sentence if convicted.

Meanwhile Friday, Snyder received tentative permission from Ouderkirk to leave the country for a Christmas trip to China and Taiwan, where his wife, Taiwan native Delia Wu Snyder, has been living since the indictment. She was also indicted in the case but has failed to appear in court.

Ouderkirk said he would allow Snyder to go abroad if he signs a waiver stating, among other things, that he would be tried in absentia if he does not return.