City Council Panel Delays Vote on New Ethics Rules

A Los Angeles City Council panel balked Monday at a proposal to prohibit elected officials from acting on issues involving lobbyists who also serve as their political consultants or fund-raisers.

The head of the city Ethics Commission told council members that the city needs the new rules. They would require elected officials to abstain on matters involving lobbyists who had raised or delivered $1,000 to any committee controlled by the official in the previous 12 months.

“Our goal . . . was to help ensure that those seeking governmental decisions don’t perceive that they have to participate financially to gain equal footing with the elected official they are seeking to influence,” said LeeAnn Pelham, the commission’s executive director.

She said the new rules also would allow elected city officials to make decisions based on merit without having to weigh who has helped them raise funds or get elected.

The reforms, already approved by the Ethics Commission, came in response to a story in The Times revealing that two-thirds of council members used political consultants who doubled as lobbyists seeking help for clients from the officials they helped elect.

But the council’s Rules and Elections Committee delayed sending the proposals to the full council for at least 45 days, deciding that more study is needed.

“How are we possibly going to enforce all of this?” asked council President Alex Padilla, who chairs the committee.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski said she generally supports the concept, but she joined Padilla in voicing concern about a provision banning an elected official from voting on a lobbyist’s issue if the official asked the lobbyist to contribute to a nonprofit group.

That rule was proposed after Councilman Nick Pacheco asked lobbyists to contribute thousands of dollars to a nonprofit group that he set up after his election.

Padilla and Miscikowski worried that the rule would prevent elected officials from urging lobbyists to contribute to legitimate charities.

“That’s the one element that causes me pause,” Padilla said.

Both Padilla and Miscikowski have, in the past, paid political consultants who have worked as lobbyists at City Hall. Padilla asked the council’s chief legislative analyst to report back in 45 days.