Justices’ Ruling May Send Snyder to Jail

In a ruling that could send former Los Angeles City Councilman Art Snyder to jail, the California Supreme Court decided Thursday that anyone who launders political contributions is guilty of a crime, not a mere administrative violation.

The ruling reinstates misdemeanor criminal convictions against Snyder, a legendary city lawmaker who served 18 years on the council before stepping down in 1985.

Snyder then became a lobbyist. In 1996, he pleaded guilty to funneling more than $100,000 under a false name to political candidates important to his clients. He was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $200,000.

A Court of Appeal later overturned the convictions on the grounds that Snyder was subject only to administrative sanctions, not to criminal penalties, under the state Political Reform Act of 1974.

But the California Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision written by Justice Janice Rogers Brown, said the law did not exempt lobbyists.

“Only by after-the-fact casuistry can defendant claim ignorance of his criminal liability for violation of the act’s proscription against making campaign contributions in a false name,” Brown wrote.

Snyder will go to jail or serve house arrest unless he prevails in another appeal or a pending claim that prosecutors illegally seized his confidential legal records in the case.

Reached at his Los Angeles law office, Snyder, 67, said he was “exhausted” by the legal appeals and complained that they had drained him financially.

“I thought I was going to retire, but all my net worth has been eaten up in attorneys’ fees and just staying alive,” he said.

Mark J. Geragos, Snyder’s attorney, said he is optimistic that Snyder will still prevail.

Geragos said he will either appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or argue before the state Court of Appeal that prosecutors illegally seized Snyder’s confidential client files to build their case.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Marc J. Nolan praised the court’s ruling. “The decision today really clarifies who is covered by the law, and the answer to that is everybody,” he said.

Nolan said the ruling has implications beyond Snyder’s case. A 1996 state initiative that specifically called for criminal charges

against lobbyists who conceal the source of political contributions has been blocked by a federal court. That leaves the older law still in force.

If Snyder had been subject only to administrative penalties, he probably would have faced a cease-and-desist order and fines of as much as $2,000 for each violation, Nolan said.