Disclosure Rule Suggested for L.A. Panelists

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission recommended Friday that city commissioners be required to disclose political fundraising they conduct in the year before they are appointed, but stopped short of banning people from taking city posts if they have raised money for city candidates.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, a candidate for mayor, had sought the ban to close what he said was a loophole in the recently enacted prohibition that bars commissioners from conducting fundraising for city candidates.

Parks is concerned that city commissioners could circumvent the ban by quitting their city posts to raise money for the mayor and then being reappointed to their commission posts after the election.

LeeAnn Pelham, executive director of the Ethics Commission, argued that disclosure was preferable to a ban because it balanced the need for the public to know when fundraisers were appointed to commissions with the rights of fundraisers to participate in the political process.

“Disclosure is an attempt to provide more transparency about the role commissioners play in fundraising,” Pelham said.

The new requirement would help inform the public about whether it was a widespread practice to appoint people who engaged in fundraising to city commissions.

The city recently banned commissioners from fundraising after the county grand jury launched an investigation to determine whether commissioners were awarding contracts based on which bidders contributed to campaigns.

Mayor James K. Hahn, who appoints most of the city’s 340 commissioners, received tens of thousands of dollars from fundraisers held by his commissioners before the ban took effect.

Because the disclosure rule must be approved by the City Council before it becomes law, Parks said he would work to persuade the council to ban people who raised funds from later becoming commissioners.

“I’m disappointed,” Parks said of the Ethics Commission vote.

“I’m concerned that the issue does not go away,” he added. “We have a rule, and then we allow people to get around the rule.”

Parks said disclosure requirements for other controversial activities had not curbed the behavior.

“It’s just after the fact,” he said.

Parks could not come up with the name of anyone who had quit a city commission, raised money for city candidates, and then rejoined the commission.

“We don’t see it widespread enough to come down in such a hard manner,” said Rebecca Ronquillo, an analyst for the Ethics Commission, in testimony to the panel.

Added Ethics Commissioner Dale Bonner: “I don’t think there is anything inherently bad about fundraising.”

After attorneys for the city warned that there were 1st Amendment rights at stake in banning fundraisers from becoming commissioners, Ethics Commission President Gil Garcetti directed the city attorney’s office to look further into any potential legal pitfalls.

Another possible problem is that it may require a City Charter amendment to be approved by a vote of the people to change the qualifications for serving as a city commissioner.

Also on Friday, the Ethics Commission approved $4,000 in fines against Controller Laura Chick and her campaign treasurer for violations by her 2001 campaign committee.

Chick said it was “uncomfortable, painful and embarrassing” to admit that she had inadvertently accepted contributions that exceeded the limit allowed by city law.

The commission also levied $7,000 in fines against 10 businesses and individuals who had exceeded contribution limits in donations to the 2001 city attorney campaigns of Rocky Delgadillo and Mike Feuer.