Panel Endorses Part of Hahn’s Reform Package

Mayor James K. Hahn’s plans to impose broad new restrictions on how political campaigns are funded in Los Angeles won a partial endorsement Tuesday from the city Ethics Commission.

But it remained unclear whether the panel, which regulates local election financing, would support the mayor’s most ambitious plan: banning political contributions by city contractors and land-use permit applicants.

After a lengthy hearing Tuesday, commissioners split on whether to endorse that plan. They expressed more support for Hahn’s proposals to ban campaign consultants from lobbying elected officials and to prohibit lobbyists from raising funds for such officials.

The commission is scheduled to formally vote on the mayor’s five-point plan next month. The panel will then send the proposal to the City Council, whose members to date have expressed little support for the initiative.

Hahn unveiled the sweeping campaign finance plan in February as his administration was coming under increasing pressure to address allegations that political donations were corrupting decisions about contracting and other public policy.

Federal and local authorities are investigating contracting by the city’s port and airport agencies and the Department of Water and Power, and have subpoenaed members of Hahn’s administration. The mayor has steadfastly maintained that he knows of no wrongdoing, but he has been selling his reform proposal as an important step to address the perception of corruption at City Hall.

Expressing more enthusiasm than they have in the past, Ethics Commission members Tuesday in large part endorsed the mayor’s approach.

“It does send the right message,” said Gil Garcetti, commission president and former district attorney.

But amid debate over enforcement of new rules, the four commission members at the meeting Tuesday split 2 to 2 on Hahn’s proposal to address the current controversy over an alleged “pay to play” environment.

Hahn went before television cameras Tuesday morning to repeat his arguments that a ban on contributions by city contractors and those seeking land-use permits would end even the perception of corruption.

” ... As long as that perception is out there, we need to deal with it,” he said.

The mayor’s allies, including Center for Governmental Studies President Bob Stern, argue that enforcing such a ban would be relatively easy, given the experiences of other communities with similar policies.

But several commissioners expressed doubt that the city could keep track of the political activities of thousands of contractors, subcontractors and applicants for land-use permits.

“I just don’t want to vote for another reform that won’t do anything,” Commissioner Bill Boyarsky said.

Ethics Commission staff, who last week released a preliminary assessment of the impact of such a ban, said they would research enforcement before the commission formally voted on the mayor’s proposals next month.

As to the other parts of Hahn’s plan, the commission supported the proposal to stop campaign consultants from lobbying elected officials whom they may have helped elect.

The commission went further than the mayor in supporting a ban on fundraising not only by individual lobbyists, but also by lobbying firms and by companies that use their own in-house lobbyists. And the commission endorsed a new requirement that elected officials disclose their fundraising on behalf of causes such as charities and campaigns by other elected officials.

The panel unanimously rejected Hahn’s proposal to ban elected city officials from asking members of municipal boards and commissions to raise funds for political causes. Such members are already banned from fundraising for city officials.