Ethics Board Asked to Reject Parts of Reform

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission should reject key elements of Mayor James K. Hahn’s campaign finance reform proposal because they appear to be unenforceable and would do little to reduce the influence of political donors on city decision-makers, the panel’s executive director said Friday.

Other Hahn proposals -- to ban fundraising by lobbyists and lobbying by political consultants -- will probably be considered by the commission when it meets Tuesday, but it is unlikely that they will be adopted by the City Council, Executive Director LeeAnn Pelham said.

Hahn said Friday he would continue to push for passage of his reform package.

“It is disappointing that the Ethics Commission staff would take a negative view of such strong ethics reforms,” Hahn said in a written statement. “No Los Angeles resident has ever said to me that we had too many ethics laws.”

Hahn proposed the reforms after county and federal grand juries launched investigations into contracting practices at city departments. Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said this week that the probe is intended to discover whether mayoral aides and city commissioners improperly tied fundraising to the awarding of airport contracts.

Pelham’s opposition to main components of Hahn’s proposal represents another setback for the mayor, who proposed the five-point reform plan Feb. 20 to “eliminate any perceived role that fundraising might play in gaining access to city officials.”

Council members already have reacted to Hahn’s plan with skepticism, in part because it was offered after he raised $1.3 million for his reelection campaign. Some also were miffed that he formulated it after resisting a City Council proposal to ban city commissioners from fundraising for city candidates.

The council unanimously approved its plan this week and Hahn signed it into law. At the same time, the mayor said the commission fundraising ban did not go far enough.

On Friday, Pelham sent a report to the Ethics Commission urging it to reject a Hahn proposal to ban city contractors, contract bidders and developers seeking land-use approvals from contributing to or raising money on behalf of city candidates.

She noted that the City Council had decided last year to address concerns about conflicts of interest by requiring those doing business with the city to disclose their fundraising activities.

The report said the panel also should not ban contractors and developers from contributing to political parties, ballot measures and charities at the request of elected officials. It would be difficult to prove that elected officials had requested a contribution to a particular cause or candidate, according to the report.

“I think it’s simply not enforceable,” Pelham said in an interview.

In addition, the ethics report cited “questions ... as to whether this approach would truly insulate or ‘safeguard the integrity’ of contract and land use decisions.”

Similar concerns were raised by Pelham and senior ethics analyst Nora Pollock in recommending against approval of Hahn’s proposal to prohibit elected officials and candidates from asking city commissioners, most of whom are appointed by the mayor, to raise money for campaigns for county, state or federal offices or for ballot measures and charities.

Pelham said the Ethics Commission should consider Hahn’s proposals to ban lobbyists from fundraising and prohibit campaign consultants from lobbying city officials, though she noted that the council had recently rejected both ideas.

Pelham’s report said such a law “could help remove the ... perception that government decisions are tied to political contributions.”

A Hahn proposal to require elected city officials to disclose fundraising they do for other elected officials, political parties and charities also could be explored, but should be narrowly crafted to avoid violating free-speech rights, Pelham said.

“I agree with the report that my proposals are far-reaching and may not be universally welcomed in the political arena,” Hahn said in his statement.

Councilman Jack Weiss was skeptical of Hahn’s proposal.

“The central ethics question in the city today is not whether we need additional regulations, but whether there is a culture of permissiveness in the administration that fostered the commission of serious felonies,” Weiss said Friday.

The ban on commission fundraising that was approved by the City Council on Tuesday will take effect April 11. City officials acknowledged Friday that politicians had been asking commissioners to hold fundraisers before the law goes on the books.

Police Commissioner David Cunningham said council members, whom he would not identify, have called him in recent weeks to ask him to hold fundraisers. “The message was, if I intended to support them, that it was important to do it sooner than later,” Cunningham said.