Independent government reform group seeks stronger ethics panel
After three years marked by scandal in City Hall, an independent government reform group is recommending a larger and more powerful Los Angeles Ethics Commission to oversee city governance.
The newly imagined Ethics Commission would have seven members instead of five and would have the authority to approve City Council ethics legislation. They also would be able to place proposed policy changes directly on the ballot with a supermajority vote.
The commission’s revamp is part of a larger set of recommendations put forth by the Los Angeles Governance Reform Project, a diverse group of scholars that has been working for the past year to develop unbiased reform proposals.
The group also recommended increasing the size of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education to 11 members from seven, a move 71% of voters said they’d support in a survey conducted by the reform group.
A newly created independent redistricting commission would redraw the school board district lines.
“The City of Los Angeles is at a pivotal moment in its history,” said Los Angeles Governance Reform Project co-chair Ange-Marie Hancock. “Our final recommendations aim to address long-standing issues and usher in a new era of transparent, accountable and community-driven municipal government.”
The group released its report Thursday, which includes several recommendations announced over the summer regarding independent redistricting and increasing the size of the City Council to 25 members from 15.
The new proposed changes would significantly increase the Ethics Commission’s reach and influence over city policy. Currently, the commission can only make recommendations to City Council.
The proposal follows several scandals involving current and former City Council members.
Once prominent Los Angeles politician and former Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted this year on federal corruption charges for taking bribes from a USC dean in exchange for sending public funding to the university when he served on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison in August.
Former Councilmembers Jose Huizar and Mitchell Englander were both charged in a sprawling federal investigation into corruption in City Hall that gained public attention in 2018 with the raid of Huizar’s home and office.
Huizar pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering and tax evasion in January. Englander was sentenced to 14 months in prison in 2021 after pleading guilty to scheming to falsify material facts, a felony.
Current Councilmember Curren Price was charged with embezzlement and perjury in June and is fighting the charges.
And City Hall was rocked in October 2022 by a leaked audio recording of City Council members making racist remarks and discussing how to take advantage of the redistricting process.
Eighty percent of voters surveyed by the Los Angeles Governance Reform Project said they believed the level of corruption in City Council should raise concern and is worse than in most government bodies. Ninety percent said they believe ethics rules should be reformed and made stronger.
The Los Angeles Ethics Commission was established by voters in 1990 to help preserve public trust, its website says. The commission administers city and state laws related to campaign financing, lobbying and governmental ethics.
The five commissioners are appointed by the mayor, the city attorney, the controller, the City Council president and the City Council president pro tempore.
The two additional members recommended by the reform group would be appointed by the mayor and City Council president, respectively.
The reform group also suggests giving the commission the power and resources to hire independent legal counsel.
Most significant government reform requires change to the City Charter, which must be approved by a public vote. The City Council is expected to put a reform proposal on the ballot in 2024.
Council President Paul Krekorian, who chairs the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform, has said the committee will consider findings from the independent reform group before making policy recommendations.
The group recommends putting a governance reform package on the November ballot.