New Charges Against Attorney

The state Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday accused Los Angeles attorney Pierce O’Donnell of 26 counts of money laundering in connection with illegal contributions to James K. Hahn’s first campaign for mayor of Los Angeles.

The civil accusation was filed a month after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed an identical number of misdemeanor criminal counts against the prominent attorney.

In both cases, O’Donnell is accused of writing $25,500 in checks to 26 individuals, most of them associated with his law firm, who then contributed the money to Hahn’s 2001 campaign for mayor.

Los Angeles has a voter-approved $1,000 limit on contributions from individuals or businesses to a candidate in a citywide election.

Craig Parsons, a spokesman for O’Donnell and his law firm, O’Donnell & Shaeffer, said the FPPC’s civil complaint mirrors the district attorney’s case.

Parsons says O’Donnell feels that an administrative proceeding before the FPPC is the proper forum for the matter. O’Donnell is “continuing to cooperate fully with the agencies involved,” Parsons added, and looks forward to “a quick resolution” of the case.

Steven Russo, chief of enforcement for the state’s political watchdog agency, said the money-laundering allegations against O’Donnell were “very serious violations” of California’s campaign finance law.

The complaint alleges “the violations ... were committed with the intent to conceal the true source of the contributions in order to deceive and mislead the public, law enforcement and regulatory officials.”

O’Donnell faces a maximum fine of $94,000.

Russo said the FPPC has an obligation to enforce state law against money laundering in political campaigns, whether the violations occur at the state or the local level.

LeeAnn Pelham, executive director of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, would not comment on the specifics of the O’Donnell matter.

But she said L.A. voters in 1985 imposed contribution limits in City Council and citywide races so that “no one person or group of persons can have an undue influence on our city elections based on their ability to give money to city candidates.”

Pelham said money laundering is dangerous to the political system because it hides the true source of a candidate’s campaign funds.

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said the criminal case involving O’Donnell and seven other defendants will proceed along with the FPPC’s action.

“Obviously when we file criminal charges, it’s because we believe there is evidence of criminal conduct,” she said.

In addition to the allegations that O’Donnell contributed $25,500 to the Hahn campaign through associates, he made an independent expenditure of $25,000 for a mailer supporting Hahn’s election.

Hahn campaign chairman Bill Wardlaw said the case would not affect the mayor’s reelection campaign next year.