You Can’t Fight or Reform City Hall

Re “Campaign Reforms Target Influence of Special Interests,” April 16: The voters erred grievously when they overwhelmingly passed city ethics and election reform in 1990 but didn’t give the city Ethics Commission created in that reform the authority to bypass the City Council and go to the people through a ballot measure if the City Council and mayor either fail to preserve or, even worse, as it did on Tuesday, move to gut those reforms.

So far this year, the City Council has watered down to nothingness or rejected outright virtually every lobbyist and election reform transmitted to it by the Ethics Commission, no matter how much it is needed. Despite promising reform of City Hall during the secession battle, this council (with the exception of members Cindy Miscikowski, Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel) has managed to find whatever obscure or convoluted “what if” -- and then nod knowingly at each other -- to reject every crucial measure.

Michael Olnick

Sherman Oaks