Pop Quiz on Ethics

Say you’re the new mayor, and you’ve just defeated an incumbent who oversaw an administration you called “the most investigated in recent history.” You want to signal quickly that, under your watch, City Hall is going to be run in a visibly open and fair manner. Under these circumstances, which of the following actions do you take?

(a) You work with the City Council to immediately enact four ethics laws, including one that bars city commissioners -- civilians appointed by the mayor to oversee departments and approve contracts -- from recommending and evaluating contractors. This gets to the core of recent “pay to play” allegations, making it harder for commissioners to demand political contributions for an inside track on city contracts.

(b) You name an ethics advisor and require your staff members and commissioners to sign an ethics pledge and attend annual training.

(c) The night before your inauguration, you throw a gala fundraiser for LA’s Best, the city’s well-regarded after-school program. Dozens of companies -- many having business before the city -- pay $100,000 a pop for their executives to attend the exclusive black-tie dinner. When asked whether taxpayers should be concerned about special interests currying favor, you look insulted and say, “They should never be concerned when people are willing to support children in need and their after-school programs.”

If you are Antonio Villaraigosa, the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles, you chose all of the above. And you deserve nothing but praise for (a) and (b).

But when it comes to (c), you may recall that former Mayor James K. Hahn raised lots of money in 2002 to defeat San Fernando Valley secession, and causes don’t get much better than keeping Los Angeles from splintering apart. Yet donations to Hahn’s anti-secession campaign helped spark ongoing inquiries into whether City Hall officials repaid big donors with fat city contracts.

Yes, LA’s Best is a good cause. So is restoring L.A.’s reputation. And taxpayers have a right to be concerned that big corporations could care more about winning city contracts than supporting after-school programs.

To Villaraigosa’s credit, he at least required that donations to the gala be made public. That’s a step. It just doesn’t compare with the first two.