Ethics Panel Says It Won’t Act in Woo Controversy

Complaining that current laws are too vague to enforce effectively, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission said Tuesday that it plans no action against mayoral candidate Michael Woo, after completing a review of controversial expenditures by a special Woo political account in the months before the councilman formally declared his candidacy.

Commission officials referred their findings on the Woo account, and on 16 similar funds used by other City Hall elected officials, to the state Fair Political Practices Commission for a routine review to ensure compliance with state campaign laws.

The reports will not be released publicly until the FPPC completes its review, said Rebecca Avila, the agency’s deputy executive director. But at this point, Avila said, ethics officials are recommending no city enforcement action against Woo or any of the other officials.

FPPC spokeswoman Jeanette Turvill said the agency had not yet received the ethics agency’s reports.

Woo’s extensive use of his officeholder account to boost his profile and broaden his base of political support prior to entering the race has drawn criticism from rivals, including Woo’s opponent in the June 8 election, businessman Richard Riordan.

Woo spent thousands of dollars from his officeholder account in 1991 and 1992 assembling computerized information on potential donors, and hiring staff and political fund-raisers--some of whom later switched to his mayoral campaign. He also traveled across the United States to cities he later revisited as a candidate to collect campaign funds.

Critics said Woo’s use of the officeholder account gave the councilman an unfair head start in the mayoral campaign and violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the new City Hall ethics laws that Woo has claimed credit for writing.

A Woo spokesman could not be immediately reached, but Woo previously has denied doing anything improper. He has said the activities paid for by his officeholder fund were legal and not part of his mayoral campaign.

The Ethics Commission has come under fire from unsuccessful mayoral candidates Richard Katz and Joel Wachs for not aggressively pursuing Woo’s use of the officeholder account. Neither could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Riordan was reserving comment, an aide said, until he had a chance to review the Ethics Commission findings.

Avila denied that the ethics agency was going easy on Woo. She said weaknesses in the law make any enforcement difficult.