Voters Should Know Who Paid

The Los Angeles City Council should close a loophole that allows political parties, unions and other unidentified big spenders to pay for a flood of slate mailers, automated telephone messages and other campaign costs without disclosing the amount spent or the source of the money. Voters need to know who is supporting or attacking a candidate before the June 5 municipal runoff election.

Following the money in politics has become much harder since voters approved Proposition 34, the misnamed campaign finance reform measure in November. The new state law allows organizations--for example, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, labor unions, the Sierra Club or the National Rifle Assn.--to accept and spend large contributions to finance communications, such as telephone calls and mailers, with their members without having to report them until after votes have been cast.

Two ordinances proposed by the city Ethics Commission would require full and timely disclosures. The City Council should quickly approve them and allow the new requirements to take effect in time for the general election.

The ordinances would establish a $10,000 reporting threshold for the April 10 primary and the June runoff. The retroactive ordinance would require a full report, within two weeks of the effective date of the new law, on how much was spent to communicate with members in support of or against a city candidate for the primary. The ordinance applying to the general election would require full disclosure of contributions and the sources of the money no later than seven days before the runoff.

Any group that spent more than $1,000 to communicate with members would be required to report the payment within 24 hours.

Recorded telephone calls, like the one with a voice impersonating Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina during the mayoral primary, would be required to carry the name of the committee paying for the call, in the same way that television ads are labeled. Three weeks after the April 10 mayoral primary, voters still do not know who paid for the last-minute bogus phone calls that attacked former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and businessman Steve Soboroff. The new telephone reporting requirement would prevent similar calls before the runoff.

Money is not called the “mother’s milk of politics” for nothing. Millions flow as candidates and their backers sing their praises and slander their opponents. Voters need to know who’s paying before they decide on a candidate.