$3.8 Million Paid to City Hall Lobbyists

Lobbyists were paid $3.8 million to influence City Hall during the first three months of this year, according to a quarterly report issued Friday by the Ethics Commission.

The issue generating the most spending was the proposed $10-billion renovation of Los Angeles International Airport. A total of $181,501 was paid to lobbyists working on the issue. The city of El Segundo spent $50,000 in its attempt to limit expansion of the airfield.

A proposal to have the Port of Los Angeles turn the Los Angeles Export Terminal over to a private operator for 12 years sparked the spending of $161,744.

That proposal was rejected this week by the City Council, which said it wanted to phase out the operation sooner. Of that money, $99,000 was paid to former City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., who headed a team of lobbyists that argued against the plan.

Svorinich’s team was hired by Metropolitan Stevedore, which operates a competing coke export terminal in Long Beach that stands to benefit if the Los Angeles terminal is phased out.

The Ethics Commission also reported that lobbyists and lobbyist employers made, delivered or acted as an intermediary for $116,000 in political contributions to city candidates.