The City Council That Ate an Ethics Code : Monkey business and willfulness derail anti-corruption law

When Proposition H was passed, by a considerable margin, a year ago, the new citywide measure was described as the toughest ethics code in the nation. That turned out to be true, but in an unexpected way. It has mainly been tough on the staff and members of the new ethics commission.

It is not just that the commission staff members--all of seven so far--have had to tough it out in a corner outpost of City Hall. They got office space nobody else wants, with furniture that looks to have been rejected by Sam Yorty, with a draft of cold air from some City Council members that’s windy enough to almost compensate for the lack of adequate ventilation. And they got an executive director--a vigorous and respected former law school dean--who took the job only when Common Cause head Walter Zelman turned it down after the council unceremoniously and pointedly whacked the position’s salary by 15%. The latest anti-commission gambit: One respected ethics commissioner will not be reappointed because of City Atty. James K. Hahn’s pique.

It has also been tough on the commission and its staff because of the poorly drafted ordinances passed by the City Council to “implement” the June proposition. These laws turn out to be so complex that almost no one can figure out--or wants to figure out--what they mean (prompting a group of L.A. officials and lobbyists to file a lawsuit against them). They also contain loopholes so large that you have to wonder where the council’s head and heart were when they were drafted.

Actually there’s little wonder at all. Some City Council members rather openly despised the whole idea of ethics reform from the start. Some others, with more circumspection, simply hoped the whole thing would go away. The startling triumph of Proposition H dispelled that hope, so the council was left with its only viable option: Toy around with the commission and its staff and leave it with laws virtually impossible to understand or enforce.

One loophole in the ordinances, drafted by the City Council, allows appointed commissioners to act as lobbyists at City Hall while they are on commissions--but forces them to cease such lobbying activity after they step down. Figure that one out.

Another loophole in the law has the effect of exempting most city employees from any penalties at all. Don’t ask for the details of how. Just admire the Machiavellian craftsmanship of the City Council--these are your tax dollars at work.

Indeed, it looks as if the only part of Proposition H that the City Council managed to implement smoothly was its pay raise. The ethics measure said that if the city was going to demand that council members adhere to higher ethical standards, they should be paid more because of all the new restrictions on outside income.

Wouldn’t you know that part got implemented without a hitch?

For all this, the most amazing part of the most incredible implementation mishmash anyone has ever seen is the indefatigable commitment of the ethics commissioners and their overworked staff. Despite everything, they still believe the law can be made to work--that Los Angeles can be a model of municipal government for the nation and that the public trust need not be betrayed.

Last week they were negotiating with the City Council, asking for new legislation to fix existing problems and prevent new ones, rallying allies and friends to the cause of better government, fighting the good fight under odds that are becoming so long that it’s hard to see how they will win.

But they’re on the right track. The problems with the new ethics law can be solved. The obstacles are not insurmountable. And an ethics bill in Los Angeles can be made to work.

All it takes is people of good will. City Council, any takers?