BOON FOR CITY LOBBYISTS ETHICS COMMISSIONER SAYS PROP. R HURTS REGULATION.Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer A voter-approved ethics-reform and term-limits measure, touted as a way to get tough on special interests in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , could actually make it harder to regulate lobbyists, a city ethics ethics, in philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles. Moral principles may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed for themselves or as the body of obligations and duties that a commissioner said Tuesday. The City Ethics Commission In the United States, an Ethics Commission is a commission established by State law to discourage dishonest practices by their public employees and elected officials. Almost all American states have such a commission. called for a review of the impact of Measure R, the referendum on last week's ballot that extends term limits for City Council members and also includes a series of ethics reforms. While much of the controversy before the election focused on term limits, the discussion Tuesday focused on who is considered a lobbyist under the new law and the requirements for registering. ``I just think the public was sold a bill of goods bill of goods n. pl. bills of goods 1. A consignment of items for sale. 2. Informal A plan, promise, or offer, especially one that is dishonest or misleading: "The salesman himself . , and it will make it more difficult for us to regulate lobbyists in the city,'' Ethics Commissioner Bill Boyarsky said. Measure R bases requirements for lobbyists on the amount of time spent trying to influence votes on issues. The current law is based solely on the amount of money paid to lobbyists. ``It will make it more difficult to administer because there is no way to determine how many hours the lobbyists work,'' Boyarsky said. ``We are just taking their word for it with no proof.'' But backers of the measure insist the proposal will work if officials embrace its goals. Under the measure, lobbyists have to register if they are paid and if they work at least 30 hours in any consecutive three-month period trying to influence city officials. Ron Gastelum of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, which helped craft the measure, said the new regulations were designed to make it easier to determine who is a lobbyist. ``They will have all these public records of letters, testimony, correspondence and other records to find out if someone is lobbying,'' Gastelum said. ``Right now, they only can determine who is a lobbyist by looking at financial records, and those are not easy to get.'' Gastelum and Liza White of the Los Angeles League of Women Voters League of Women Voters, voluntary public service organization of U.S. citizens. Organized in 1920 in Chicago as an outgrowth of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, it had as its original nucleus the leaders of the latter organization. said they submitted the measure to the Ethics Commission staff for review and did not hear major objections. The chamber and the league forwarded their proposal to city leaders in the summer, just about three weeks before a deadline to place initiatives and referendums on the Nov. 7 ballot. The City Council fast-tracked the measure, bypassing neighborhood councils Neighborhood councils are governmental or non-governmental bodies composed of local people who handle neighborhood problems. They can be found in many cities throughout the world. and the Ethics Commission, which was denied an opportunity to vet vet common idiomatic version of veterinarian. the proposed ethics-law changes. ``You can always say you would have liked to have more public hearings and more involvement,'' White said. ``We did the best we could with the time we had. We believe it is better than what we have now.'' Ethics Commissioner Sean Treglia said he wants the commission to consider holding additional public hearings on the measure. Treglia said he also wants to request a report on whether the City Council could make additional changes without having to submit a new proposal to voters. Before the election, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo Rockard John "Rocky" Delgadillo (born July 15 1960) is the current City Attorney of Los Angeles, California. Career
A legal challenge to the measure was filed before the election by the U.S. Term Limits U.S. Term Limits (or USTL) is a non-profit organization that lobbies for term limits for elected officials at every level of government in the United States. Among other activities, USTL supports ballot initiatives in numerous states. Association, but the group said it planned to drop the case if voters approved the measure. It was unclear Tuesday whether any other local opponents would be able to raise the money to pursue an appeal. In an unrelated action, the commission also asked the City Council to consider placing a measure before voters that would create a public financing system for all city elections. A similar statewide proposal was rejected by voters last week. Boyarsky -- who said he felt hamstrung ham·string n. 1. Any of the tendons at the rear hollow of the human knee. 2. or hamstrings The hamstring muscle. 3. The large tendon in the back of the hock of a quadruped. tr.v. during the Measure R debate because of regulations that prohibit pro·hib·it tr.v. pro·hib·it·ed, pro·hib·it·ing, pro·hib·its 1. To forbid by authority: Smoking is prohibited in most theaters. See Synonyms at forbid. 2. commissioners from speaking out during elections -- asked for a review of those restrictions before future elections. ``We ought to be able to speak out on issues like public financing and campaign reform since we are the ones who enforce the laws,'' Boyarsky said. rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 |
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