Head of Secession Agency to Change His Job Policy

The government official in charge of how Los Angeles would be split under breakup proposals agreed Wednesday to take no more private consulting jobs without approval.

Larry J. Calemine, the executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, took the step “to avoid the appearance of impropriety,” said the commission’s board chairman, Thomas E. Jackson.

The Times reported last month that Calemine had accepted tens of thousands of dollars in fees from developers and other clients for advice on how to get real estate projects approved in the San Fernando Valley.

The scope of his consulting has alarmed some of the nine members of the autonomous commission. Calemine is paid $100,000 a year to supervise the study of proposals for the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the harbor area to secede from Los Angeles.

In a one-hour closed meeting Wednesday, commissioners questioned Calemine about his outside work. .

“County counsel has given us a written opinion that Mr. Calemine has not violated any conflict of interest laws,” Jackson said.

“The commission has full confidence in Mr. Calemine’s ability to continue doing an outstanding job as executive officer of LAFCO.

“However, Mr. Calemine has volunteered--in order to remove any appearance of conflict of interest--that in the future he will consult the county counsel and this commission, should he wish to take in any new clients, and will not do so without the full consent or approval of this commission.”

Calemine declined to comment.

Calemine’s consulting work has raised concerns that the public’s interest in the secession proceedings could conflict with clients’ interests.

He did at least $10,000 worth of consulting work for one attorney who was arguing a Valley secession group’s case before LAFCO.

The study Calemine is supervising will enable the commission to decide whether to put secession proposals on the ballot next year. The panel would rely on his recommendations as it sets settlement terms, from water rights and police protection to possible “alimony” payments from one city to another.

John M. Walker, a leader of the secession group Valley VOTE, said to the panel, “To orchestrate that some kind of devious thing is going on is an inappropriate perspective given by the media.”