Lobbying by L.A. Panel Member Raises Questions

If Allan Abshez had stepped down from Los Angeles’ Central Area Planning Commission within the last 12 months, city ethics laws would bar him from lobbying city planners on behalf of a company that is seeking to expand a Westwood cemetery. But Abshez is allowed to lobby for the firm because those restrictions don’t apply to a person in his position: He’s an active member of the commission.

For the past year, Abshez has represented Service Corp. International at hearings before the City Planning Commission, which approved the cemetery expansion, and the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, which will vote this month on the controversial design for a new mausoleum.

City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo has reviewed Abshez’s activities as a paid lobbyist and has concluded that he is acting legally in his dual role. He concluded that state law permits Abshez to lobby all city planners except the members of his own Central Area Planning Commission.

But Delgadillo said the case raises concerns about city laws that restrict lobbying by former commissioners but fail to regulate the actions of current ones.

Partly because of Abshez, some ethics advocates are recommending that the city impose additional restrictions on lobbying by sitting city officials.

Having a commissioner lobby City Hall, Delgadillo said, “doesn’t pass the smell test.”

“Commissioners are privy to sensitive information,” have inside knowledge about policy makers and “have intimate access to the decision-makers,” Delgadillo said in a written statement.

“It would appear to be unfair for someone to benefit financially, even if it were technically legal, from the work they do as a city commissioner,” Delgadillo added.

Abshez, who was appointed to the Central Area Planning Commission by Mayor James K. Hahn in April 2002, said he does not see any conflict of interest in advocating for a client in front of the citywide and West Los Angeles commissions.

“The fact that I am an area planning commissioner had no weight on what they did,” said Abshez, a partner in the law firm of Irell and Manella.

Still, residents fighting to limit expansion of Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, as well as some city officials and ethics watchdogs, say the company gained an unfair advantage by exploiting a loophole in city ethics laws.

“He’s got a huge conflict of interest,” said Tamar Hoffs, a filmmaker and president of Friends of Westwood Village Memorial Park, which is fighting the project. “He is making big pots of money from this company that I’m sure is not unaware of the fact that he has privilege from being a commissioner.”

During an April 30 hearing, West Los Angeles Planning Commissioner Elvin W. Moon publicly objected that Abshez appeared as a paid lobbyist before a city planning commission.

“He interfaces with the same staff. They have to work with him just like they work with us. I think that’s a conflict,” Moon said.

Another city commissioner said he had complained to the city Ethics Commission about Abshez’s activities. “I think it’s outrageous,” said the commissioner, who asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing his appointment by Hahn.

Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that researches political ethics issues, also questioned the logic of allowing Abshez to lobby other commissioners.

“It certainly doesn’t make sense to say you can’t lobby after you leave office but you can while you are in office,” he said. “If the [ethics] commission “feels it is important to impose a ban on lobbying after someone leaves office, it certainly is as important to impose a ban while he is a sitting commissioner.”

In fact, the Ethics Commission recommended in 1996 that the city prohibit commissioners from serving as paid lobbyists at City Hall, but the measure was never acted on by the City Council. Abshez is one of five lobbyists appointed to city commissions.

Ethics Commission President Miriam Krinsky said the issue should be revisited by the panel.

“You have more power to lobby while sitting on a commission than you do after you step down. That strikes me as odd,” Krinsky said. “It certainly sounds like a loophole worth serious consideration.”

Westwood Village Memorial Park is famous as the final resting place of Marilyn Monroe, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood, director Billy Wilder and other Hollywood stars.

SCI bought the cemetery at 1218 Glendon Ave. in 1996. Last year, it proposed building two mausoleums -- one of them 18 feet high -- to hold 475 caskets.

A spokesman for SCI said the company hired Abshez to help shepherd the project through the permit process because it has used his law firm, Irell and Manella, for some years and Abshez is experienced in planning issues. “We hired him because he is an expert in this type of matter,” said CSI spokesman Terry Hemeyer.

The cemetery’s neighbors complained that the additions would be too close to homes and that their design would not be consistent with existing mausoleums. Nonetheless, the project was approved in July by the City Planning Commission after the panel heard testimony from Abshez.

The Friends group appealed the decision, arguing that the plans conflict with the cemetery’s designation as a city historical monument. The group seeks to shift the front of the mausoleum away from homes and save several trees on the property.

That appeal is pending before the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, which is expected to vote today.

On Friday, the City Council approved a recommendation by Westside Councilman Jack Weiss to extend the hold on building permits by 60 days. The Cultural Heritage Commission had urged a six-month extension. Weiss said he supported an extension to give the two sides time to work out a compromise on remaining issues.

Weiss is a former attorney at Irell and Manella for whom Abshez held a political fund-raiser. In all, Abshez has directly contributed $8,000 to city politicians in the last five years, including Hahn and Weiss.

Weiss said he was not influenced by whether involved parties are political supporters. “All I’m looking at is the merits,” he said.