Use of Tobacco Funds for Rampart Suits Opposed

Twenty community groups have voiced their opposition to Mayor Richard Riordan’s proposal to use the city’s tobacco settlement funds to pay for lawsuits stemming from the LAPD’s Rampart Division scandal.

In a letter to the mayor, the groups called Riordan’s proposal “ill-advised and counterproductive.”

“If the city lacks funds, it should impose a moratorium on police salary increases that exceed inflation until sufficient funds are available to compensate all victims,” First AME Church Pastor Cecil Murray and 19 others wrote. “In effect, your proposed use of tobacco money is a bailout of and reward for L.A.’s failure to effectively audit the police, and it is unlikely to compel effective police reforms.”

Others who signed the letter Thursday include representatives from the West Angeles Church of God, the Black Business Assn., Hermandad Mexicana Nacional and the Asian Pacific Publishers Assn.

Last week, Riordan proposed diverting $300 million in expected tobacco settlement money to pay the cost of resolving lawsuits that arise from the scandal. The City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee is set to discuss the matter at its meeting next week.

The money at stake is from the settlements of lawsuits filed by the city, the state and other governmental agencies against tobacco companies. It does not include tobacco tax revenues, such as those used for community programs under Proposition 10.