4 Candidates in 2001 L.A. Mayor's Race to Pay Fines

By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer

Four candidates for Los Angeles mayor in the 2001 election have agreed to pay $33,000 for campaign finance and disclosure violations.

Kathleen Connell, Joel Wachs, Steven Soboroff and Xavier Becerra signed off on the amounts in settlements the city Ethics Commission will consider Tuesday.

Connell, the former state controller, and her campaign treasurer agreed to pay $4,500 in fines and repay $1,000 in matching funds for accepting contributions that exceeded legal limits.

Wachs, a former city councilman, agreed to pay $4,500 in penalties for accepting contributions that exceeded limits and for spending $112,815 more than the $75,000 limit on expenditures by officeholder accounts.

Becerra, a congressman, agreed to pay a fine of $11,000 and $7,000 in repayment of city matching funds after admitting that he accepted matching funds for contributions he returned and that he failed to provide the Ethics Commission with copies of his campaign's mailers.

Soboroff, president of Playa Vista, agreed to pay $5,000 after acknowledging that his mayoral campaign failed to provide copies of 10 mailings to the Ethics Commission.

The Ethics Commission on Tuesday will also consider approving $147,000 in additional fines against subcontractors of Casden Properties Inc. and employees, relatives and friends of the subcontractors for participating in a political money-laundering scheme aided by a vice president of the firm. An additional $1,000 in fines is proposed for a couple who made contributions reimbursed by developer Mark Abrams.

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