A Phantom Ethics Code

Under the rules of the Los Angeles Unified School District, lobbyists are required to register and name their clients to prevent potential conflicts of interest and unfair influence. This is standard procedure at City Hall and elsewhere in government where big bucks are supposed to flow based on the best public policy, not on whom you know. But at LAUSD headquarters, some school board members approving contracts don’t know whom the lobbyists represent. Nobody keeps track.

The LAUSD needs credibility in the worst way. Yet, the district put a politically connected lobbying firm on the payroll even as it was pushing hard for contracts for clients. That allowed Rose & Kindel broad and unusual access to the district’s senior staff. Though legitimate, it was too cozy. (Eventually, Rose & Kindel gave up its private clients while keeping the LAUSD contract.)

This is no way to protect public money.

According to L.A. school board member Jose Huizar, a couple of lobbyists have tried to do the right thing and register, attempting to officially notify the district that they had contracts to try to persuade the LAUSD to favor particular clients. Huizar said they got nowhere, merely being passed from voice mail to voice mail.

One persistent lobbyist even peppered different departments with letters saying he hoped his attempt to register would somehow get to the right place.

Any strong ethics policy prevents the appearance of impropriety and misconduct. One has been on the books since the Los Angeles school board approved it two years ago, but it’s meaningless. So rarely is it enforced that LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax is expected to tell a school board committee today that most employees don’t even know it exists. Mullinax’s report results from a Huizar motion, approved by the board, calling for the inspector general to evaluate the ethics policy.

Huizar says he wants to know who influences the million-dollar contracts he votes on. That information should be public.

The cost of enforcing the ethics code, establishing a registry, hiring adequate staff to help the district’s lone ethics officer and providing training will be discussed today. Someone undoubtedly will sing the no-money blues, though $228 million magically appeared last week.

Schools Supt. Roy Romer needs to find the money so the ethics code is no longer ignored and a public made wary by years of bad deals and broken promises can learn to trust the LAUSD.