'DIRTY LITTLE SECRET' ISSUE AT FORUM.

Byline: Ryan Oliver Staff Writer

The process for awarding city contracts has always and will continue to be the main force feeding public cynicism toward Los Angeles city government, city leaders agreed on Tuesday.

``I think it's Los Angeles' dirty little secret,'' said City Controller Laura Chick. ``The city of Los Angeles has to hand out its dollars in an open, legal and honest way.''

Chick spoke Tuesday night at the Tarzana Property Owners Association's annual town hall meeting, which sought to raise the issue of ethics in city politics.

City Council members Dennis Zine, Wendy Greuel and Cindy Miscikowski also spoke in the panel discussion, as well as Ethics Commissioner Bill Boyarsky and local lobbyist Steve Afriat.

Greuel said a law passed by the City Council earlier this year barring city commissioners from raising money for city political campaigns will go a long way toward reducing the appearance of impropriety in the contract system.

``The new rule is you can either be a commissioner and not fund raise, or you can be a fund-raiser and not a commissioner,'' Greuel said.

Miscikowski said the problem was that commissioners who had control of the contract award process were also soliciting donations for city campaigns from the vendors placing bids.

Even if commissioners weren't favoring certain bidders, that still left a bad image for the public.

``Appearance is everything,'' she said. ``If the appearance is out there, then it doesn't pass the smell test.''

``When we have a pay-to-play philosophy, that's inappropriate,'' said Zine.

Ryan Oliver, [phone]

ryan.oliver(at)dailynews.com