City Ethics Panel OKs Disclosure Ordinances

Alarmed by stealth campaigns, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission recommended Wednesday that political parties and other groups be required to disclose what they raise and spend to communicate with members in support of city candidates.

The panel also voted 4 to 1 to support requiring identification of groups that send 1,000 or more substantially similar, recorded phone calls to voters for or against candidates. Those techniques roiled the first round of the Los Angeles mayoral campaign, where two candidates--Antonio Villaraigosa and Steve Soboroff--were the beneficiaries of substantial support from political parties.

The ordinances supported by the panel next go to the City Council for consideration, but Commissioner Dale Bonner and others said it has a slim chance of winning approval in time to apply to the June 5 city elections.

The panel also adopted a resolution asking political parties and others to voluntarily disclose expenditures for and against candidates.

Commission President Miriam Krinsky said she is less pessimistic about the chances that the council will act on the ordinances in time for the June election.

“If they don’t, I don’t think that alters our obligation to do what is right here,” Krinsky told her colleagues.

Under current laws, political parties do not have to disclose what they spend to communicate with members for or against city candidates this year until July 31, nearly two months after the runoff. The proposed ordinance would require disclosure before the election.

Villaraigosa, who finished first in this month’s election, has received a boost from spending by the Democratic Party, as well as organized labor. Villaraigosa has called for additional disclosure requirements to be imposed, as has City Atty. James K. Hahn, the other candidate for mayor in the runoff.

The panel also supported requiring groups sending recorded phone messages to voters to identify in the message who they are and provide the Ethics Commission with a script of the message.

Commissioner Dale Bonner said he generally supports more disclosure but voted against the ordinances. “I am very much troubled by the fact that we are rushing to do this with less than 60 days left before the general election,” he said.