Ethics Reform Stalled At LA City Hall, Despite Ongoing Corruption Cases

It's been nearly a year and a half since elected leaders at Los Angeles City Hall promised ethics reforms after a series of scandals forced the City Council president to resign and sent other members of the council to federal prison. In the wake of those events, political leaders said reform would be a top priority.

And yet there’s been no action — no hearings, no votes — on proposed changes to the City Charter that would make the Ethics Commission more independent and give it more power. The changes were first proposed by the commission in October 2022.

“Given all of the scandals that have been going on, all of the corruption at City Hall, it's really high time that they at least have a discussion on this,” said Sean McMorris, the Transparency, Ethics and Accountability Program manager for Common Cause, an organization that fights for government accountability.

“The clock is ticking,” he said.

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The City Council has until early July to act to place the proposals on the November ballot. The proposals include increasing the amount of fines the Ethics Commission can impose, giving the panel the ability to place reforms directly on the ballot, and providing the panel with attorneys who are independent of the city attorney, one of the elected leaders the commission watchdogs.

The proposals must first go through the Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform.

What do current City Council members say?

A spokesperson for City Council President Paul Krekorian, who chairs the committee, said a hearing to consider reform would be scheduled for later this month. Krekorian became council president after Nury Martinez resigned the position in October 2022.

Martinez's exit was part of the fallout from the leak that year of secretly recorded City Hall tapes in which she and others could be heard making racist and derogatory remarks.

Ethics reform “is very likely going to be on the agenda,” Hugh Esten, Krekorian's spokesperson, said to LAist, adding that the current council president “would be happy to see Ethics Commission reform on the ballot.”

But Esten also said Krekorian supports creating a charter reform commission to consider ethics reform instead of bringing it before the committee. That would be a lengthy process and likely mean no proposals would make it to the ballot until 2026.

“I share some of those concerns that we are not moving quickly enough,” said Councilmember Nithya Raman, a member of the government reform committee. She also said she supports strengthening the Ethics Commission.

Over the past three years, former council members Mitch Englander, Jose Huizar and Mark Ridley-Thomas have been sentenced to federal prison on corruption charges.

Councilmember Curren Price faces corruption charges in state court. And the city Ethics Commission has accused Councilmember John Lee of accepting illegal gifts from developers. He is not facing criminal charges.

What changes are proposed?

One proposed reform would double the fine the commission could impose to $10,000 per violation of ethics rules, such as accepting illegal campaign contributions. The fines have been the same for nearly 30 years. Under the proposed change, violators would also be liable for the cost of enforcement actions, which could run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Chicago has fines of $20,000.

“There are really really big things in there that would change the culture at City Hall and make it easier for the Ethics Commission to bring meaningful enforcement,” said Rob Quan of Unrig L.A., a City Hall watchdog group.

Another proposal would give the Ethics Commission the authority to place ballot measures directly before voters, bypassing the City Council. It's designed to avoid the current situation where the council has been slow to act on ethics reform.

“Right now, City Council can just sit on anything and everything,” said Jamie York, a longtime activist on ethics reform.

San Francisco’s Ethics Commission currently has the authority to place measures before voters.

“It's more a way to get the City Council to work with the Ethics Commission in the future,” said Jeffery Daar, president of the five-member L.A. Ethics Commission.

Other reforms include providing independent counsel to the commission and creating a budget with increases tied to the cost of living index so that City Council could not limit the effectiveness of the panel by cutting its budget.

“It's essentially City Council giving up some of their power and allowing themselves to be policed,” McMorris said. And that is not always popular with elected officials, he added.

York said city leaders have done a lot of “pontificating” about ethics reform, but have taken little concrete action.

“I think ultimately they’re scared of a power structure changing and I think that they’re scared of accountability,” York said.

Daar, the Ethics Commission president, said he is guardedly optimistic that reform will move forward.