Los Angeles Officeholder Accounts

* I was greatly disappointed with the tone of The Times’ Jan. 21 editorial, which referred to the purpose and value of a city officeholder account as a “slush fund” and elected officials’ arguments on the merits of these accounts as “transparent nonsense” that shows “contempt for public opinion” by opposing the passage of one provision of Prop. 208.

These private monies, which are not taxpayer dollars, are used for such purposes as district mailings, dissemination of information to constituents, scholarships, charitable organizations and flowers for bereavements.

Our constituents often make demands on council offices to provide special needs for them that require expenditures of funds. Council offices choose not to use taxpayers’ money to do this. The officeholder accounts are composed of private donations and are a salvation to our offices in meeting the needs of our thousands of constituents.

The City Council is asking voters to amend the charter by adopting the officeholder expense account recommended by the Ethics Commission that was adopted in 1994. The passage of Prop. 208 drastically lowered the limit of these funds and put residents of large cities like Los Angeles at a major disadvantage, compared to residents of much smaller cities or towns. This “one size fits all” approach is clearly wrong.

It’s time to stop all of the name-calling and to start acknowledging that the officeholder accounts are an enormous no-cost benefit to the taxpayer and one of the best means available to the public.

NATE HOLDEN

Councilman, 11th District

* What a surprise. City Council members are upset that Councilman Mike Feuer is trying to reform the way city government operates (Jan. 19). I never would have thought it.

Imagine my surprise to read that Feuer had drawn criticism for proposing “reforms” such as maintaining a spending limit on officeholder accounts.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas says, “If the point is . . .to clean up local government, there’s an implication . . . that you are saying that something is dirty.” Hmm, I think he might be right.

DAVID KONJOYAN

Studio City