City For Sale
The real power in Los Angeles is the power of the green
In Los Angeles, the famous Lord Acton's saying about power corrupting needs to be tweaked: Here, it's money that corrupts, and massive amounts of money corrupt massively.
In the 2005 mayoral election, special-interest money is flowing heavier than at any time in history, making it clearer than ever that the green determines pretty much everything at City Hall.
Just a week and a half before the May 17 mayoral runoff, and the independent expenditures -- the money individuals or groups spend on a candidate outside of the campaign -- for the two candidates collectively have reached about $2.6 million.
That's about $1 million more than in any other election.
Mayor James Hahn and his rival, City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, have also collected millions of dollars through their traditional campaign fundraising -- and that means leaning on unions, companies, contractors and developers who expect something in return.
All this free-flowing cash makes a mockery of public financing of city elections. If Hahn and Villaraigosa are going to take millions from people who expect favors in return, the least they can do is return the $3 million in taxpayer money they have taken to the city treasury so it can be spent on something useful, like hiring 30 more cops.
Why do the taxpayers provide money to candidates who can clearly collect plenty on their own?
Certainly the taxpayers don't get much for their involuntary contributions. The developers, the special interests all get more service per dollar than the public.
The sources of the campaign contributions, not surprisingly, relate directly to the priorities of elected officials. Public employee unions are one of the consistently biggest backers of the Los Angeles elections, and they have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in this campaign. For example, the United Fire Fighters of Los Angeles, Local 112, made an independent expenditure worth $270,000 on behalf of Hahn back in April.
That sure sounds like a lot of cash just to garner some goodwill. But, of course, the reality is that such spending is a sound investment. This mayor in particular has done a good job of fattening public employees' paychecks and sweetening their benefits, even as he cuts services to the public and raises rates and fees sharply.
Developers, too, are loose with the cash.
For example, developer Mark Abrams funneled $336,000 into Hahn's campaigns -- for which he was fined $270,000 by the City Ethics Commission and potentially faces more serious penalties in court. Another wealthy developer, Richard Maruelo, has spent $82,000 in independent expenditures on behalf of Antonio Villaraigosa, obviously hoping for a friend in high places.
Sadly, this is how politics have always been played in Los Angeles -- the city treasury is little more than a slush fund for insiders.
At this dawn of a new century, it's time for the rules to change, for Los Angeles to move beyond its oligarchical form of government to something more authentically democratic, one that puts the needs of the entire city before those of the moneyed interests.
It's a prime time for change. Local and federal investigators have been poring through the actions of Hahn administration figures for 18 months in search of evidence of pay-to-play contracting practices.
More than just putting a few crooks in jail will be needed. The city's ethics rules must be dramatically tightened, and enforcement put in the hands of an agency independent of the control of the politicians who are the beneficiaries of this corrupt system.
But prosecutions and reforms will mean nothing unless the communities across the city become highly organized and engaged. In the end, only the ordinary citizens and taxpayers -- through vigilance and activism -- can restore trust in city government.
DAILY NEWS ENDORSEMENTS
L.A. city election, May 17
Mayor: Antonio Villaraigosa
Charter Amendment A: No
Charter Amendment B: Yes
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