Snyder and Prosecutors Ponder the Future

An appeals court decision to overturn the political corruption conviction of former Los Angeles City Councilman Arthur K. Snyder left prosecutors and government watchdog groups scratching their heads Thursday, wondering what went wrong and what to do next.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission, whose rules Snyder was accused of violating while working as a City Hall lobbyist, said it is still reviewing the court’s ruling. An agency spokesman said the commission may ask the Legislature to toughen state political corruption laws to avoid such reversals in the future.

Rebecca Avila, director of the city Ethics Commission, expressed puzzlement at the ruling. But she and others who enforce government ethics rules insisted that Los Angeles’ ethics laws--touted as the most stringent in the state--have teeth.

“If people have the idea that they can get away with something, they are mistaken,” Avila said.

Snyder pleaded guilty two years ago to eight misdemeanor counts of conspiracy and money laundering stemming from what investigators contended was the state’s largest and most complex political corruption case.

The case involved allegations that Snyder helped Evergreen America Corp., a huge shipping conglomerate, launder $170,000 in illegal donations to City Council members and others.

He was sentenced to six months in County Jail and three years’ probation, pending an appeal.

On Wednesday, the appeals court ruled that Snyder was guilty of administrative offenses and not criminal violations, and should have been punished with fines by the commission.

“It follows that the judgment be reversed,” the ruling stated.

The case was originally filed by the district attorney’s office but it is up to the state attorney general’s office to file an appeal. A spokesman for the attorney general said a decision has not been made.

“Obviously, we are disappointed with the court’s ruling,” said Matt Ross, a spokesman for the attorney general. “We may appeal. We may not.”

It is too late for the commission to impose administrative fines because the statute of limitations on the offenses has expired, said Snyder’s attorney, Mark Geragos.

In 1996, two years after Snyder pleaded guilty, California voters approved Proposition 208, the so-called political reform initiative, which was designed to toughen the state’s political corruption laws. The proposition specifically called for criminal charges against lobbyists who conceal the source of contributions to candidates.

But Proposition 208 remains unenforced and in limbo because a federal judge struck down the core elements of the initiative in January.

Geragos suggested that the commission and the attorney general’s office will have a tough time appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court because they must argue that the political corruption laws on the books at the time Snyder pleaded guilty allowed criminal prosecutions. He noted that the commission vehemently campaigned for Proposition 208 in 1996, arguing that the political corruption laws at the time were too lax.

(The Legislature has passed a bill pending Gov. Pete Wilson’s signature that would allow prosecutors to charge lobbyists such as Snyder with nothing more than administrative violations in money laundering cases.)

Snyder said he was relieved by the court’s ruling but fears that the attorney general will appeal the ruling to make life difficult for him. He noted that during the course of the case he suffered a bout with cancer and a heart condition.

“If the [attorney general] wants to kill me, they can appeal to the Supreme Court,” he said.

Snyder--a resilient, redheaded attorney whose 30-year career in politics has been marked by scandals and investigations--insists that he is innocent, despite his guilty pleas. He said he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges because he feared he could have been convicted of felony charges if he had gone to trial.

He also suggested that his prosecution was politically motivated.

“I got stuck in [Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s] reelection campaign,” he said.

Despite the reversal of Snyder’s conviction, political observers say the case will not dishearten voters about the political process.

Political scientist Fernando Guerra, director of Loyola Marymount University’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles, noted that the ruling comes at a time when City Councilman Richard Alatorre is entangled in a federal corruption probe and City Councilman Mike Hernandez is attending drug and alcohol rehabilitation classes after being arrested in a drug case last summer.

But Guerra said voters realize that Los Angeles has adopted tough ethics laws and is still considered “the least corrupt city around.”

“It’s not that the politicians are getting corrupt, it’s that the rules are getting tougher,” he said. “What Snyder did was not illegal 10 years ago.”