Mayor Is Criticized for Jet Use

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa faced criticism Monday for requesting the use of a jet owned by Ameriquest, a mortgage firm that has a City Hall lobbyist assigned to press its interests with the mayor.

Villaraigosa, who once worked for the firm, flew last week on the private jet to Detroit with an aide and his security detail after receiving a last-minute invitation to speak at the funeral of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

“Because of the short notice and the need to fulfill his official duties, the mayor needed the services of a private jet,” spokeswoman Janelle Erickson said.

Ethics watchdogs said the mayor should not accept the use of private jets provided by corporations doing business affected by the city.

“It’s very troubling. It doesn’t set a good standard for the new administration,” said Robert Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. “It’s one of those perks the mayor should do without.”

City ethics laws bar officials from accepting gifts worth more than $100 from restricted sources, which include firms that employ City Hall lobbyists.

Erickson said the mayor planned to tap a political account, not taxpayer money, to reimburse the company $438 each for himself and the aide, the amount it would cost to fly a commercial carrier to Detroit.

Ameriquest, which is based in Orange, writes higher-cost “sub-prime” mortgage for borrowers with credit problems.

The firm is in negotiations to settle an inquiry into its lending practices by California, 32 other states and the District of Columbia. The company, which has been accused of bait-and-switch tactics that inflated costs for borrowers, has set aside $325 million for penalties and restitution to settle the case.

The mayor has long-standing ties to the company.

Ameriquest gave $75,000 to a political committee that Villaraigosa controlled while he was speaker of the Assembly from 1998 to 2000.

When Villaraigosa left the Legislature, Ameriquest paid him more than $10,000 in 2001 and again in 2002 to serve as a consultant for the firm. At the time, Ameriquest was trying to blunt proposed consumer legislation in Sacramento and at City Hall.

Villaraigosa has said he did not advise Ameriquest on lobbying politicians but on “strategic thinking and problem solving.”

Ameriquest and its employees have contributed more than $21,000 to Villaraigosa’s 2001 and 2005 mayoral campaigns.

Ameriquest contributed $100,000 to underwrite his inaugural gala at the Music Center in June, an event that raised money for after-school programs.

And Villaraigosa recently wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate supporting the nomination of Ameriquest’s principal owner, Roland E. Arnall, for ambassador to the Netherlands. A group of senators has objected to Arnall’s nomination because he is “under a cloud of investigation.”

Villaraigosa would not allow the use of the jet to influence his decisions on matters that might affect Ameriquest, Erickson said.

“It will not interfere with his official duties,” she said.

Villaraigosa was elected on a campaign to bring ethics to City Hall, saying, “Let’s be clear about one thing: Honesty and ethics in city government start at the top. They start with the mayor. The mayor sets the tone at City Hall through his own conduct.”

Ameriquest has provided millions of dollars in campaign contributions to politicians. Critics, including minority rights advocates, say the donations are meant to limit the number of politicians who publicly attack the firm’s practices and to head off efforts to enact laws that take aim at so-called predatory lending.

Robert Gnaizda, general counsel of the Greenlining Institute, a group that advocates for fair treatment of minority borrowers, said it was obvious why the firm would agree to lend its plane to a politician.

“It’s a general desire by Ameriquest to have the politicians sewn up in case they are under accusations of predatory lending or redlining,” he said.

But Gnaizda said the use of a jet was not likely to silence Villaraigosa, who has criticized other lenders for unfair lending practices.

“I don’t think you can buy Antonio,” Gnaizda said, who has been encouraged by the mayor’s past actions on the issue.

Still, Gnaizda said, he would prefer the mayor not accept flights from Ameriquest.

“Was it a good judgment, given the accusations against the company? Probably not,” he said.

Erickson said the city municipal code allows the mayor to reimburse a company for the cost of coach fare when flying on a private jet.

Stern, of the Center for Governmental Studies, questioned whether the amount allowed under the ethics law was adequate.

The cost to rent a small private jet for five people to fly from Van Nuys to Detroit is $19,500 at Clay Lacy Aviation, one of the charter services at Van Nuys Airport, said Chris Roca, a spokeswoman for the firm.

Villaraigosa’s flight left from Van Nuys on Nov. 1 and returned the next afternoon, Erickson said. Besides the mayor, the jet also carried mayoral education advisor Carolyn Webb de Macias, the Rev. John Hunter of First AME Church, and two LAPD officers assigned to the mayor’s security detail.

Other than a pilot, there was no Ameriquest representative on the plane, Erickson said.

Villaraigosa won’t be reimbursing Ameriquest for the pastor’s costs or those of the LAPD officers. Erickson said the Police Department will reimburse Ameriquest for the travel costs for the officers.

Ameriquest hired former state Assemblyman-turned-lobbyist Mike Roos in 2003 to represent its interests at City Hall.

In the first nine months of this year, Ameriquest paid him $63,000 to “monitor activity regarding sub-prime lenders,” according to a disclosure form filed by Roos with the city Ethics Commission.

Where the form asks Roos to identify “city agencies lobbied,” the former legislator listed the City Council, the city attorney and the mayor’s office.

In a letter to the city authorizing Roos to lobby on its behalf, Ameriquest Senior Executive Vice President Adam J. Bass said Roos was to “act as our representative on matters relating to home equity lending.”

Bass and Roos did not return calls for comment.

Villaraigosa has made news recently by announcing initiatives that could affect mortgage lenders, including the proposal for a $1-billion ballot measure to build affordable housing in the city.

The mayor also recently announced that he would add $50 million to a trust fund set up to provide low-cost housing in Los Angeles.