VILLARAIGOSA EMPHASIZES INTEGRITY, ETHICS TO COMMISSIONERS.Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer To help head off the ``pay-to-play'' concerns that followed his predecessor's appointees, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. gathered more than 200 city commissioners Tuesday night for a review of ethics and conflict-of- interest rules. The meeting at the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. Center was designed to reiterate re·it·er·ate tr.v. re·it·er·at·ed, re·it·er·at·ing, re·it·er·ates To say or do again or repeatedly. See Synonyms at repeat. re·it the role of city commissioners and explain the mayor's goals and expectations. A private reception was held afterward. Some 222 men and women sit on some 43 commissions that set the city's policy on services ranging from animal control to redevelopment to the Police Department. Villaraigosa has appointed 179 new commissioners since taking office in July 2005, and he told them that integrity and ethics are his top priorities. ``It's very important that we all understand the key to our success and to restoring confidence is that people (have) to know you are above the fray,'' Villaraigosa said. Airport, Harbor, and Water and Power commissioners came under fire during the previous administration of James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California for heavy fundraising and allegedly fostering an atmosphere at those three departments in which businesses felt they needed to make political contributions to win city business. The play-to-play concerns spawned several investigations, prompting some commissioners to quit -- and recently resulted in the filing of bribery bribery Crime of giving a benefit (e.g., money) in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust (e.g., an official or witness). Accepting a bribe also constitutes a crime. , conflict-of-interest and perjury perjury (pûr`jərē), in criminal law, the act of willfully and knowingly stating a falsehood under oath or under affirmation in judicial or administrative proceedings. charges against former Airport Commissioner Leland Wong. Hahn responded by proposing a code of ethics Code of Ethics can refer to:
Villaraigosa and the City Council have also sought to distance political appointees from negotiating and handling contracts for millions of dollars in city projects and programs. After taking office, Villaraigosa removed lobbyists from city commissions and required commissioners and general managers to sign an ethics pledge. kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion