`CLEAN MONEY' PROPOSAL SCRUTINIZED.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

Amid warnings that it could face an uphill battle with voters, a ``clean money'' campaign-financing proposal that includes a parcel tax was put off Tuesday by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

Commissioners set a study session for Oct. 24 on the plan, designed to reduce the impact of special-interest contributors in the electoral process and to level the financial playing field for candidates.

Under the proposal, two-thirds of voters would have to approve assessing a tax on their property that would raise $9 million a year. Preliminary estimates show it would cost owners of a 2,000-square-foot property about $8.14 a year.

Ethics Commission staff said the parcel tax would supplement $2.6 million a year from the city's general fund to create a fund that would spend up to $36 million on political campaigns for Mayor, City Council, Controller and City Attorney.

But even supporters of campaign finance reform and the so-called Clean Money Initiative urged a closer look at how the program would be funded and whether it was realistic to try to force through changes.

``You have a public matching-fund system that works pretty good now,'' said Bob Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies. ``What is unclear to me is the goals you have for going to a complete public financing system.''

Stern also questioned whether voters would approve a plan that includes a parcel tax. ``That seems to me to be a non-starter,'' Stern said.

Commissioner Sean Treglia also voiced concern over whether the proposal would have any impact on independent expenditure committees.

Commission Executive Director LeeAnn Pelham said the city cannot control independent expenditure committees because of previous court case rulings, and also cannot force candidates to participate in public financing programs.

The proposal by the Ethics Commission staff also would set up requirements for candidates to qualify for the program by raising more than 1,000 $10 contributions from donors to show they have broad support.

Commission President Gil Garcetti questioned whether such requirements were practical and whether the fund would provide enough for individual contests.

Under the proposal, the city envisions spending $6.7 million in a mayoral contest -- some $2 million less than was actually spent in the 2003 contest between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Mayor James Hahn.

Susan Lerner of the California Clean Money Campaign, the group behind a statewide campaign finance measure on the Nov. 7 ballot, also urged the commission to take its time and allow public interest to develop.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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