Posted on 02/05/2005 7:21:43 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mayor James K. Hahn has issued an order to clarify ethical standards for city commissioners and ensure that contracts are awarded through a competitive bidding process, following recommendations by a panel that reviewed allegations of pay-to-play city contracting.
"I will accept nothing less than assuring that public funds are being spent in the best interest of Los Angeles residents," Hahn said during a news conference Friday to announce the order.
Hahn, who is in a tight race for re-election, issued the order days after the panel issued its report.
The mayor established the panel on the heels of federal and county grand jury investigations into the city's contract process.
The city has already taken some action to improve the contract process. In response to concerns that contractors were getting jobs after donating to political campaigns, the city banned most commissioners from fund-raising on behalf of city officials. The law went into effect in April. Hahn initially opposed the ban but has since called for even greater limits on donations by city contractors.
The agencies and commissions, which include water, power, harbor and airport, are independent under the city charter and thus not obligated to follow the reforms, but they are likely to do so because Hahn appoints the commissioners.
Federal prosecutors are reviewing contracting documents involving the water and power, airports and harbor departments. District Attorney Steve Cooley, is also looking into whether city contracts were tied to political contributions.
One prominent attorney has been charged with a series of misdemeanors for allegedly asking associates to donate to Hahn four years ago then reimbursing them.
In a separate case, a former executive at a public relations firm with lucrative City Hall contracts, was indicted on federal fraud charges in an alleged overbilling scheme.
Hahn has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing in his administration.
Wouldn't you think ethics would have been something he instilled at the beginning of his term?
After the way Gray Davis handled things, pay-for-pay looks like pristine government at its finest by comparison.
I wouldn't doubt it. Thanks for the comments. I appreciate it.
This guy got caught LAST WEEK for violating several campaign rules....the Daily News caught LA City workers making Hahn signs on City Property during work!....
Rubalcava overheard at Hahn fund-raiser
By Beth Barrett, Staff Writer
The head of the commission overseeing the Department of Water and Power introduced Mayor James Hahn at a fund-raiser Thursday at an expensive downtown restaurant, according to a witness to the event.
Fred Gaines, a prominent Encino attorney and past president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, said he was eating at a nearby table at the Pacific Dining Car restaurant and saw DWP Commission President Dominick Rubalcava sit at the head of the table and heard him introduce Hahn and thank the 10 or so contributors for attending.
Under a city law enacted after local and federal investigations of alleged corruption engulfed the Hahn administration, commissioners are barred from hosting fund-raisers -- or even providing lists of potential donors. Hahn signed the ban last year.
The mayor's re-election campaign said Rubalcava did not actually participate in the event and that no laws were violated.
Kam Kuwata, Hahn's campaign spokesman, said the mayor was holding a fund-raiser at the downtown Pacific Dining Car, where Rubalcava was eating breakfast separately. Rubalcava greeted a few of those in attendance but otherwise didn't say anything, he said.
"Dominick wasn't part of the event. He saw (Hahn) there, and after he was done he walked in and listened in. ... He can have breakfast at the Dining Car, but he can't raise money -- and he did not."
Rubalcava, who oversees the utility including the awarding of contracts that have included those given to the controversial public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, did not respond to calls for comment.
Gaines, a supporter of mayoral challenger Bob Hertzberg, said Rubalcava was sitting at the head of a table when Hahn arrived.
After Rubalcava's introduction, the mayor then thanked his supporters and urged them to raise more money to pay for upcoming campaign ads on TV, Gaines said.
"It was a fund-raiser," Gaines said. "Rubalcava thanked them for coming."
Ethics Commission Executive Director LeeAnn Pelham declined to comment.
The incident is another in which Hahn's campaign has overlapped with city officials.
On Monday, more than 20 campaign lawn signs for Hahn produced by Service Employees International Union Local 347 were stored at a municipal yard, despite campaign laws that forbid political activity on city property.
The union said it erred in leaving the signs at the North Central Yard, and that they were supposed to have been given to members on their way home, without going onto city property.
Not to be too sticky, but were they directly working for his office? Can they be tied directly to him? If so that's going to be problematic.
This is going to be a very dirty election...but the unions all work for the incumbent LA candidates, it is a Tom Bradley tradition.
Yeah, I thought of asking if they were union related. Officials are so damned corrupt these days.
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