HAHN FUND-RAISER, 7 OTHERS CHARGED.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

In another blow to City Hall's ethical reputation, a prominent Los Angeles attorney and seven others closely tied to him were charged Tuesday with laundering campaign contributions to Mayor James Hahn's 2001 campaign.

Attorney Pierce O'Donnell, a trial lawyer who has represented many high-profile clients, was accused of 26 misdemeanor counts of attempting to hide the fact that he was the source of contributions made by seven people who worked for him or with him to Hahn's mayoral campaign between May 22-25, 2000, and Feb. 21-22, 2001.

O'Donnell and the seven others are are scheduled to be arraigned June 17.

``The charge is making a contribution under a different name,'' said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Steve Cooley. ``He said (to the others), Donate X number of dollars to the campaign, and then he paid them back. That's against the law.''

A statement issued by his law firm, O'Donnell & Schaeffer, said O'Donnell was disappointed that the District Attorney's Office was pursuing the matter with criminal charges rather than through an administrative hearing.

``Mr. O'Donnell has cooperated with the authorities and will continue to do so,'' said attorney Craig Parsons, who is representing O'Donnell, a trial attorney whose clients have included MGM, actress Faye Dunaway and columnist Art Buchwald.

O'Donnell has not done any legal work for the city, officials said.

Hahn said he was surprised by the case and had discussed the contributions with officials from the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which contacted him about the donations.

``I do remember going to a fund-raiser in his office and people writing checks,'' Hahn said. ``But when you go to a fund-raiser at an attorney's office, you presume they are following the law.''

Officials with the Ethics Commission, which forwarded details of the case to the district attorney as well as the FPPC, refused to comment on the charges.

If convicted, Gibbons said, O'Donnell could face up to six months in jail for each count. In addition, O'Donnell could face separate charges by the city Ethics Commission in a civil action.

Also accused were his personal trainer, David Bernstein, 51; his personal secretary, Dolores Valdez, 40; paralegal Linda Fraser, 55; legal secretary Hilda Escobar, 42; office administrator Else Latinovic, 51, and her mother, Anita Latinovic, 74; and Los Angeles attorney Neil Sacker, 42, a personal friend of O'Donnell's.

The charges are the latest controversy to involve the mayor and his fund raising.

County and federal grand juries are investigating contracting practices at City Hall, and whether there is a ``pay-to-play'' operation in which companies are compelled to make contributions to win city business.

Officials did not allege such a ``quid pro quo'' in the O'Donnell case.

David Demerjian, head of the District Attorney's Office's Public Integrity Division, said the case arose from information supplied by the city Ethics Commission and was not developed by the D.A.'s Office as part of its pay-to-play inquiry. He refused to comment further on the case.

In November, John Archibald, a top executive for real estate mogul Alan Casden, and 13 of his firm's subcontractors were indicted on felony charges of conspiring to violate Los Angeles political campaign finance limits in the 2001 city elections.

Cooley accused them of hiding the sources of campaign funds by reimbursing contributors.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com