PANEL HOPES TO UNDO PROP. 208.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Moving to release themselves from tough new fund-raising restrictions approved by the voters in November, City Council members approved on Friday a measure for the April ballot that would restore the old rules governing their political officeholder accounts.

Council members said their communications with constituents would be unreasonably hampered by the campaign financing and political fund-raising reforms of Proposition 208, which limits annual contributions to officeholder accounts to $10,000.

Taking advantage of a section in the new law that allows local jurisdictions to set their own limits with voter approval, the council measure will ask Los Angeles city voters to restore the previous annual cap on the officeholder accountfund raising of $75,000.

Before the council's 11-1 vote Friday, council members Nate Holden and Jackie Goldberg said that $10,000 is not enough to send mailers to constituents on important city issues.

Goldberg said it costs $12,000 to send a mailer to the 60,000 households in her district.

``To not do something like this (city measure) means you can really communicate with about a third of your constituents a year, one time, and that's appalling, given the need and desire of people in our areas to be informed about what is going on,'' Goldberg said.

Proposition 208 co-author Craig Holman called the council action an ``outrageous'' attempt to preserve a much-abused perk and he predicted that city voters will reject the council measure.

``We consider $10,000 a very reasonable amount. I think $75,000 is outrageously high,'' said Holman, project manager for the Center for Responsive Government.

Councilman Mike Feuer cast the lone vote against the city ballot measure, saying he does not think it is appropriate to second-guess the voters.

``The people of the state of California and the people of Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly to support Prop. 208,'' Feuer said. ``I think it is important to abide by the rule of the people.''

When it was approved Nov. 5, Proposition 208 set off a flurry of money-raising efforts among some council members working to beat the Jan. 1 deadline when the new limits took effect.

The state measure also lowers the maximum individual contribution to the accounts from $1,000 to $250 and prohibits lobbyists from contributing to the accounts.

But the measure also exempts locally set limits on officeholder accounts that are approved by local voters.

Los Angeles' officeholder rules, including the previous $75,000 fund-raising cap, were approved by the council in an ordinance, not by the voters.

Holman said officeholder accounts are not supposed to be used for campaign purposes, but he said the accounts have frequently been used in Los Angeles in ways that boost the candidate's position with voters.

``We wrote Proposition 208 specifically with Los Angeles in mind,'' Holman said. ``They (council) are just trying to secure their incumbency advantage. I find that outrageous.''

Holman noted that Proposition 208 was approved by 61 percent of state voters and 59 percent of Los Angeles city voters.

``I don't think the voters of Los Angeles will approve raising it to $75,000,'' he said.

Officeholder accounts are supposed to be used to help elected officials do their job but not to help their campaigns. Officials have spent them on mass mailings on constituent issues, donations to community groups in their districts, travel to government conferences and for entertainment such as dinners at which government business is discussed.

Council President John Ferraro has the largest officeholder account, holding a balance of $535,526 as of September, the last filing.

The Daily News reported in 1993 that Councilman Mike Woo bought computer equipment later given to his mayoral campaign and traveled across the country to address groups and then returned to them later for contributions to his mayoral campaign.

The Ethics Commission accused Councilman Hal Bernson last month of misusing his officeholder account to buy season tickets to the Hollywood Bowl. Bernson is fighting the accusation, saying he used the philharmonic concerts to talk about city issues with constituents in a relaxed setting.

Holman said he also is concerned that the council is rushing the city measure through without letting voters provide input about whether it should be placed on the ballot.

The council voted initial approval Friday of an emergency motion without even having the ballot measure in writing.

Some council members voiced similar concern, but the ballot measure was detailed verbally to the council by city legislative analyst Ron Deaton.

``I want to know what I'm voting on,'' said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who joined the council majority after hearing Deaton's briefing.

Deaton noted that each council district has 250,000 residents, which means any council district would alone be the ninth-largest city in the state.

Ferraro said Los Angeles is being regulated with the $10,000 limit the same as cities with only hundreds of residents, where it is easier to communicate with residents.

Holden said Prop. 208 may have been well-intentioned but that people may not realize how it would hurt the ability of City Council members to communicate with the people they represent.

``It (city measure) will afford a better opportunity for us to communicate with our constituents,'' Holden said. ``Some of these things are well intended but they drive a wedge between information from government and constituents and we're trying to bridge that gap.''

``The public needs to know what we are doing and what's going on and we need to be able to communicate,'' Holden said.

Galanter said Prop. 208 does allow the city voters to decide the matter.

``The whole state of California will not stand in the way of the people of Los Angeles,'' she said.