Rail agencies tangle over legal spending.

At a time when the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is cutting its spending on lobbyists, a regional rail transit authority is insisting on hiring its own lawyers and lobbyists -- with the MTA footing most of the bill.

The MTA commissioners are not thrilled with this recent muscle flexing at the Southern California Regional Rail Authority -- which governs the Metrolink commuter rail project -- and have scheduled a special work session on the subject later this month.

"We're funding them (SCRRA) so they can sue us or lobby against us!" said Antonio Villaraigosa, alternate MTA board member for County Supervisor Gloria Molina. "I think we don't need any more lobbyists. We have enough of them. We have enough lawyers. ... They can use our lawyers."

Villaraigosa also is annoyed with the MTA staff, which he said "watered down" a recommendation from the MTA's Executive Management Committee on the subject, before presenting it to the full MTA board for approval.

MTA spokesman Bill Hurd said the staff made an "honest attempt" to reflect the committee's intentions when drafting the recommendation motion and the board report on the committee meeting.

"The discussion was emotional at times," said Hurd. "Not to my knowledge was there any attempt to make it (the recommendation) different."

The controversy dates back almost a year, to December 1992, when the SCRRA board first decided to hire its own lobbyists and lawyers. Previously, the SCRRA had used MTA employees for these services.

The SCRRA budgeted $200,000 for legal and other services and $1.01 million for contingency expenses, which could include lobbyist services. The SCRRA is funded by the five Southern California county transportation authorities it serves, with 63.3 percent of its general and administrative costs being paid by the MTA.

Villaraigosa said part of the MTA's high bill is due to the fact that the MTA is "loaning" Ventura County its share of the SCRRA costs.

At the same time that the MTA is encouraging the SCRRA to use MTA lobbyists, the MTA board voted last month to reduce its own budget for lobbyists by $376,823 per year -- a 25 percent cut.

At a meeting last May, SCRRA board members expressed frustration with the MTA's failure to approve its funding request for staff. They stated that the MTA acts as if it controls the SCRRA and can overrule the SCRRA board.

"Part of the problem seems to be the lack of understanding by the MTA that the SCRRA is a separate legal entity of its own," stated the minutes of the SCRRA's May meeting.

Villaraigosa insisted that the MTA is not trying to control the SCRRA, but only to ensure that "Los Angeles is getting its fair share."

The MTA's Executive Management Committee has adopted a recommendation that the MTA "strongly recommend" to the SCRRA board that the SCRRA continue using MTA staff for legal and lobbyist services and "refrain from selecting individuals to fill permanent positions of general counsel and lobbyists."

The committee also recommends that MTA staff "review and report back possible conflicts between SCRRA, MTA and any other subsidiaries."

Villaraigosa said the committee's recommendation was even "more critical" of the SCRRA before the MTA staff "watered it down." At the MTA's October meeting, Villaraigosa accused the SCRRA of "misusing public funds."