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LA WATCHDOG -
“The depth of power that a council member has around development in their own districts almost facilitates the level of corruption that took place. That level of power still exists today.” Miguel Santana, the former City Administrative Officer.
A recent lead article in The New York Times, How a Real Estate Boom Drove Political Corruption in Los Angeles, outlines the “extraordinary” levels of corruption at City Hall, focusing on the multimillion dollar pay-to-play schemes orchestrated by Jose Huizar. We have also seen Councilmen Mitch Englander and Mark Ridley-Thomas convicted of corruption while Councilman Curren Price has been indicted on a series of charges.
Ray Chan, a former deputy mayor in the Garcetti administration, was also convicted of corruption while a slew of others has pled guilty to charges of corruption or are awaiting trial or sentencing.
You think that our City Council would want to clean up its act. Hardly, and not in this one party state where politicians and their leaders turn a blind eye to corruption. Rather, it is business as usual.
The City Council has discussed reforms, including ballot measures establishing an independent redistricting commission and calling for greater independence for the Ethics Commission. There is also talk of increasing the size of the City Council.
But will these changes make any difference if rascals are occupying the City Council? No, and that is why we need additional reforms.
At the top of the list is a ballot measure to eliminate Section 245 (e) of the City Charter that allows the City Council to assert jurisdiction over (as opposed to reviewing) decisions by the Planning Department on land use and planning issues. This loophole allowed Jose Huizar to implement his pay-to-play schemes to extort real estate developers for millions in campaign contributions and payoffs. But this proposal by Councilmen Koretz and Ryu never saw the light of day.
Ryu and Koretz also proposed the establishment of an Office of Anti-Corruption and Transparency. This independent organization would be “focused on land use, development and construction in the City of Los Angeles, tasked with identifying and preventing fraud, corruption, and misconduct, and with the authority to conduct investigations of all government entities, the ability to issue subpoenas, examine all city documents, contracts, and monetary expenditures, compel testimony from City employees and elected officials, and recommend administrative discipline and policy improvements.” No way was this proposal going to see the light of day.
By eliminating the ability of the Councilmembers to meddle in land use and planning decisions and by increasing the oversight of the City Council, we may be able to limit the level of corruption at City Hall and begin the process of building trust and confidence in City Hall, This will require leadership, especially from Councilman Harris-Dawson, the next President of the City Council. Don’t hold your breath.
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Note: There have also been calls for an Office of Transparency and Accountability to oversee the City’s budget and finances, for open and transparent labor negotiations, and for a prohibition on allowing the City to enter into any labor agreements that result in budget deficits. But these reforms have died on the vine.
Note: Meaningful ethics reform was torpedoed by the public sector unions. As a result, we have a watered down ballot measure that does not allow the Ethics Commission to propose ballot measures when it disagrees with the City Council. The unions also objected to the requirement that the City Council respond within 120 days to policy recommendations by the Ethics Commission and the ability of the Commissioners approved by the City Council to select five additional members to the eight person commission.
Note: U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said that Mr. Huizar’s corruption offended him as a Latino. “It feels like a real betrayal. Because for those of us whose families came from Latin America, and know that system, there’s just rampant corruption there. You come to this country, you have more opportunities, you are offered to be part of a system that is theoretically supposed to operate cleanly.”
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, the Budget and DWP representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. He can be reached at: [email protected].)
