EDITORIAL BUYING CITY HALL INFLUENCE AND ACCESS FOR SALE IN L.A. GOVERNMENT.

THERE'S a reason why special interests spent 15.6 percent more on lobbying City Hall in the year 2000 than in 1999: The city government is up for sale - and the bidding war is still on.

Last year, 80 different lobbying firms combined to spend more than $15 million lobbying for their pet interests in City Hall.

The City Ethics Commission, which likes to pretend that it runs a tight ship, will never come out and admit that special interests are buying their way into City Hall. But that's the clear intimation in its report documenting the last year's lobbying expenses.

And for every suspicious intimation, there's a damning allegation.

In a recently filed $10 million lawsuit, House of Blues Concerts charges the city with running a ``sham competitive biding process'' over the Greek Theatre's operating concession.

That certainly seems believable, given the ``pattern and practice'' of the well-connected receiving special treatment in City Hall.

There's no shortage of intimations or allegations to confirm an overlooked but glaring problem in city politics: the corrupting influence of money.

The evidence is everywhere - in the LAUSD's long history of scandal- tainted contracting, in April's mayoral campaign that could easily end up costing more than $10 million, in a single school-board race that promises to carry a $1 million price tag.

And, of course, the problem isn't confined to just Los Angeles. The U.S. Senate is in the midst of a two-week-long debate on campaign-finance reform, searching for some cure for the ill of a government that trades access for campaign contributions.

But while Washington finally grapples with the problem, City Hall continues to indulge in it - raising big bucks and selling out the public interest.

It would be nice to see one of the well-heeled mayoral candidates play the part of Sen. John McCain in fighting to clean up the political money chain at City Hall.