Villaraigosa alleges corruption

Length: 30 seconds

Images: Newspaper headlines about the corruption investigation and resignations. A picture of Hahn with his hands out, superimposed near a suitcase of money.

Announcer: A federal grand jury is investigating corruption in the Hahn administration.

Jim Hahn’s personal e-mails and documents subpoenaed. Resignations amid charges of no-bid contracts and pay-to-play at DWP, the harbor and LAX. A PR advisor indicted. A Hahn fundraiser charged with money laundering.

Where will the investigation end?

They say “follow the money” and almost all the corruption is tied to fundraising for Hahn’s campaigns.

Isn’t it time for a change?

Analysis: The Hahn administration has been under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office since at least February 2004, when federal investigators subpoenaed documents related to contracts with the city’s harbor, airport, and water and power departments. While the departments are semi-independent from the mayor’s administration, the mayor’s opponents have made it a point that he appoints the commissions that oversee each agency.

In addition, a subpoena was served for Hahn’s e-mail, although no charges have been filed against the mayor.

Airport Commission President Ted Stein and Deputy Mayor Troy Edwards quit last year after The Times reported that executives of engineering company URS Corp. informed authorities that their lobbyist told them the firm needed to contribute $100,000 to the campaign against San Fernando Valley secession led by Hahn in 2002.

When URS did not make a donation, one of its executives told law enforcement authorities, Stein said that the San Francisco-based company would never see another dollar of airport work. Stein denied any wrongdoing.

The indicted “PR advisor” was John Stodder Jr., an executive with the firm Fleishman-Hillard, which was under contract to provide public relations services to the Department of Water and Power, but also provided some pro bono work for the mayor. The indictment alleges that bills to the DWP were padded.

The “Hahn fundraiser” is a reference to developer Mark Alan Abrams, who was a member of Hahn’s executive committee of fundraisers for his 2001 campaign and was recently fined $270,000 by the Ethics Commission for reimbursing others for contributions they made to Hahn’s 2001 campaign as well as other candidates.

Overall, the ad makes a suggestion that has been a common refrain for Hahn’s opponents: that granting city contracts is tied to campaign contributions to Hahn and his causes. Hahn has not been implicated directly in any illegal activity.