ETHICS BOARD REJECTS CHARGE AGAINST HAHN MAYOR ACCUSED OF USING CITY RESOURCES TO FIGHT SECESSION.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

The city Ethics Commission has cleared Mayor James Hahn of one complaint about using city resources to defeat San Fernando Valley cityhood - but secessionists said Friday they plan to file additional complaints and will take their concerns to higher levels of government.

Secession supporters had filed a complaint in August claiming that Hahn was using city resources, including his staff, to campaign against the measure.

At that time, Hahn's office had acknowledged they were using city resources to criticize secession through July, but said they were within their legal rights because the measure was not placed on the ballot until July 25. After that, they said, the resources came from the mayor's campaign committee, L.A. United.

Deena Ghaly, the Ethics Commission's director of enforcement, agreed with the mayor's argument.

``The exact timing of the measure's approval is, as discussed below, crucial to correctly determining when state law considers a 'special reorganization proposal' to be a ballot measure and, therefore, when the City's prohibition on the use of City resources to support or oppose a ballot measure can begin,'' Ghaly wrote in a Nov. 4 letter to the complainants summarizing her findings.

The letter was released by the Ethics Commission on Friday following a public records request.

Normally, the names of persons filing city ethics complaints are kept confidential, and the name of the person Ghaly's letter was addressed to was blacked out, but several secessionists publicly disclosed the complaint when they filed it in August.

Jeff Brain, president of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, said he believes the Ethics Commission is misinterpreting the law. In his view, the provision pertaining to the date the measure is placed on the ballot actually applies to campaign disclosure requirements, but not issues relating to the use of city resources.

In any case, he and other cityhood supporters are preparing a series of new complaints focusing on the city's conduct after the issue was placed on the ballot. They believe the city was misusing resources and staff time to defeat secession - a charge city officials have denied.

Initially they had planned to file complaints with the federal and state governments about a week before the election, but Brain said they decided to wait so that the complaint wouldn't look like an election tactic.

``Our choice not to file before the election was because people might have viewed it as just politics,'' Brain said. ``We felt that it was not a requirement that it be filed right away. It wasn't going to alter the outcome of the election.''