Corporate interests take the lead in city lobbying.

For the first time in recent memory, corporate lobbyists plying Los Angeles City Hall outpaced their colleagues in real estate, snagging the biggest share of the $1.46 million earned by special-interest advocates in 1992's initial quarter, the city's Ethics Commission disclosed this month.

Total compensation for the 132 lobbyists reporting January-March income fell 13 percent from a year earlier, a drop attributable to the recession and the city's budget crisis. Altogether, corporate interests paid their lobbyists roughly $447,374 in the quarter, or 31 percent of all reported income by legislative advocates working to influence L.A. City Hall.

Overall last year, City Hall lobbying was a $6.4 million trade.

Developer advocates, traditionally the city's most powerful because of their fund-raising prowess and knowledge of arcane zoning and entitlement laws, received only $369,918 in the latest quarter, despite being the top pay-for-influence money-getters for much of 1991 and the 1980s.

"Banks aren't making loans to developers and developers are cutting back," said one advocate. "That, combined with escalating development fees, are hurting lobbyists who rely heavily on real estate for their income."

Leading the pack for the most fees paid in the first quarter was Otto Industries, a North Carolina garbage-can maker seeking to expand its $25 million contract with the city's curbside recycling program. Otto ponied up $163,667 to seven lobbyists, records show.

No. 2 were the cigarette interests, including the Tobacco Institute and Phillip Morris U.S.A., which reported legislative advocate bills of $91,500. For the second consecutive year, tobacco and eatery interests joined forces to snuff out a restaurant smoking ban proposed by Councilman Marvin Braude last March.

Coming in with the third heftiest lobbyist tab was Browning-Ferris Industries, which paid out $62,400 to its six local hired guns. The Houston-based waste company is pushing for a city recycling pact and the reopening of the Sunshine Canyon landfill.

While Los Angeles has 294 registered lobbyists, who coax officials on everything from city equipment purchases to city zoning changes, a select group earns most of the dough. According to the report, the 25 highest-compensated advocates -- many of them former city employees -- rang up more than $1 million in last quarter's fees, or more than two-thirds of the total.

For the second consecutive quarter, the top money-earning lobbying outfit -- with billings of $229,680 -- was Ken Spiker & Associates, led by Los Angeles' former chief legislative analyst, Ken Spiker. His Sherman Oaks firm represents Otto Industries, which paid him $114,638, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and the Official Police Garage Association of Los Angeles, which is fighting a plan to impose a franchise fee and increase competition in the scofflaw towing business.

Industries that use lobbyists
First quarter 1992 results
                               Fees reported         % of all
Client type                 for the period ($)    fees reported
Business/Corporate              $447,374.18             31
Real Estate/Development          368,918.74             25
Business/Other                   197,907.34             14
Other                            156,367.09             11
Entertainment/Media               89,820.41              6
Business/Transportation           59,698.00              4
Business/Finance                  41,437.25              3
Trade/Professional/Union          22,503.72              2
Religious/Church                  20,664.35              1
Hotel/Restaurant                  18,025.00              1
Government                        14,877.00              1
Education                         12,752.50              1
Health/Medical                    12,277.50              1
Utilities                         750.00 0
Total                         1,463,373.08
Source: Los Angeles City Ethics Commission

"We're booked solid," said Spiker, who employs his two sons and two daughters. "The recession has little effect on us."

Close behind Spiker was Rose & Kindel, a downtown Los Angeles-based public affairs and lobbying firm headed by Maureen Kindel, the ex-president of the city's Board of Public Works and a longtime fund-raiser and adviser to Mayor Tom Bradley. Kindel's company raked in $193,530 from a diverse set of clients, among them the Tobacco Institute, Browing Ferris Industries, Catellus Development Corp. and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

With $119,000 in first-quarter billings was third-ranked Boonshaft-Lewis & Savitch, a Westside government-public relations outfit whose president is Frances Savitch, another mayoral money-raiser and Bradley's former redevelopment liaison. Her firm took in $30,000 from City Centre Development, which is seeking permits to build an office tower in Central City West, $22,500 from Landrum & Brown and $10,000 from airport commuter service, Super Shuttle.

Empowered to police City Hall conflict-of-interest rules under 1990's Proposition H, the Ethics Commission is devising legislation that would force increased disclosure by lobbyists, including their official expenses and their fund-raising activities. Separately, commission officials are trying to close loopholes under state law enabling lawyers who lobby to downplay their contacts with officials on legislative matters.

"The current disclosure laws are still inadequate for both the public and the lobbyists themselves," said LeeAnn Pelham, the commission's associate director, who predicted a major confrontation over the lobbyist-lawyer issue.

And some advocates say the stepped-up scrutiny is giving them heartburn.

"There are some lobbyists, myself not included, who feel the Ethics Commission is trying to put them out of business," said Kindel. "Like all other industries, there is a certain sleaze factor in lobbying and the way to correct that is by total disclosure."

Fees paid by large companies, like Shell Oil Co., Host International, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., are lumped in the "business-corporate" category by the commission. Shell and Mobil Oil Co. last quarter paid a combined $36,000 to two other "top 10" lobbyist outfits, Fitch/Davis Associates and Cerrell Associates, to obtain aid in securing land-use permits at Los Angeles Harbor.

One of the largest fees paid to a real estate lobbyist, $21,043, went to Afriat/Blackstone consulting, a company run by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky's former chief of staff, Steve Afriat. The firm helped Warner Ridge Associates win approval to commercially develop 21 acres in the northwest San Fernando Valley, despite a controversial effort by Councilwoman Joy Picus to block it.

In the "business-other" category are trade groups and smaller interests -- which paid out nearly $200,000 to lobbyists last quarter -- like the Tobacco Institute and Malibu Grand Prix. In another category, entertainment, the largest fee went to advocate Jeanne Spinner LaMar, who was paid $20,817 to battle against a cable-television tax for L.A.'s Cable Operators Association.

Submitting first-quarter reports for their employers and clients, though reporting no lobbying activity for themselves, were heavy hitters Afriat and ex-Los Angeles Planning Commission President Daniel Garcia, now a Warner Bros. executive. Also in that group was Mickey Kantor, an attorney with the politically connected law firm of Manatt, Phelps, Phillips & Kantor and campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton. Kantor and his firm represent Lockheed Corp., which is interested in buying or operating Los Angeles International Airport.

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