Pacheco Puts Fund-Raising Group on Hold

Amid a swirl of controversy over his fund-raising activities, Los Angeles City Councilman Nick Pacheco has shut down his nonprofit organization, which raised money from City Hall lobbyists and others.

Pacheco’s group, CAL (Community Action and Leadership) Inc., also is considering selling the phone bank that it purchased with $125,000 in donations, according to the councilman’s attorney.

The councilman and his organization are under investigation by the district attorney’s office, which is looking into complaints that Pacheco pressured people or groups with city business to give money to CAL Inc. in exchange for his support on key projects.

Pacheco denies any wrongdoing. He said he set up the organization to raise money for projects and outreach efforts in his Eastside council district. He said lobbyists were encouraged, but not required, to give money. “It would be stupid for any official to sell their vote,” he said.

Officials in the district attorney’s office have been interviewing lobbyists over the last few months about their experiences with CAL Inc. They say their investigation is continuing.

Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley launched the probe in May after CAL Inc. emerged as a peripheral player in controversial telephone calls to thousands of potential voters by Rep. Xavier Becerra’s unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

In that case, Cooley discovered that the political organization La Colectiva had placed the calls, in which a woman impersonating county Supervisor Gloria Molina attacked mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa. La Colectiva, which was hired by the Becerra campaign, leased the phone bank from CAL Inc.

Lobbyists Say They Felt Pressure to Contribute

After announcing that discovery, Cooley’s office received information that a number of prominent lobbyists were listed on CAL Inc. literature as members of its finance committee, which requires a $50,000 contribution.

Several lobbyists, who asked not to be identified, said in interviews with The Times that they felt unusual pressure from Pacheco to contribute to his group. Others, however, said they had no problem with Pacheco’s solicitation of donations and didn’t feel they risked retaliation if they chose not to contribute.

Pacheco, who set up CAL Inc. after being elected to the council in 1999, has acknowledged that he made an aggressive effort to tap city lobbyists and downtown business leaders to contribute at least $10,000 to the group. He said CAL Inc. focused its fund-raising efforts on those leaders because they were in the best financial position to make donations.

Earlier this summer, the organization was promised dozens of donated tickets to the Madonna concert at Staples Center. Officials had hoped to auction the tickets to raise money for the group’s community outreach efforts.

But fearing more controversy, CAL Inc. scraped those plans and halted all fund-raising activities. The tickets were later declined.

The group then began to consider closing its doors. Pacheco’s attorney, Stephen Kaufman, confirmed this week that CAL Inc. has decided to go on an indefinite “hiatus.”

“I think it’s fair to say that they’ve decided to take a step back and evaluate everything,” he said. “They are not presently engaged in any activities.”

Kaufman said CAL Inc. has received several offers from people who are interested in purchasing the phone bank, which was shut down in June. He declined to release details.

Because the group is registered with the IRS as a nonprofit organization, it is not regulated by campaign contribution laws and is not required to follow disclosure laws that apply to political action groups.

Pacheco has declined to release details of the group’s fund-raising activities, but Kaufman estimates that about $145,000 had been raised.