VOTE Should Open Books

Few experiences beat the frustration of attending a Los Angeles City Council meeting. For the average resident who takes a day off work to drive downtown and wait hours to address the council, the day often feels wasted as council members talk among themselves and appear not to listen to the public they serve. So it’s easy to understand the desire of some residents to split the city of Los Angeles in the name of better, more responsive, more open government.

At least, that’s what secession advocates say. Until last week, though, meetings of the group spearheading the San Fernando Valley secession drive were closed to the media--and, by extension, to virtually all of the 1.3 million Valley residents the group purports to represent. The decision to open meetings of Valley VOTE was a good step forward, but the group still refuses to disclose its financial records, making it guilty of the same kind of secretive behavior for which it often casts stones at the City Council.

The Times opposes secession as a way to deal with the very real problems of Los Angeles city government. Instead, a rational and thorough revision of the city’s charter holds the promise of keeping a dynamic city alive while making it a better place to live. That said, we support the right of residents to vote on the split for themselves and endorsed successful legislation last year that eliminates the City Council’s unilateral power to veto breakaway movements.

But the public must understand what it’s voting for. That includes understanding the people and motivations behind the movement. Although Valley VOTE has no legal obligation to make its financial records available, it has a very strong political and moral obligation to come clean with voters about who pays its bills. Voters correctly doubt the veracity of a politician whose campaign war chest comes mainly from special-interest groups and lobbyists. Voters should feel no differently about a group seeking to dismantle what is viewed widely as a dysfunctional government.

Valley VOTE has the potential to advance the debate over local government by forcing Los Angeles residents to examine what they want and need from a city. But it can’t do that by using the same sorts of legal smoke and mirrors it criticizes.

Open the books.