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The Messages Sent by an Ethics-Related Legal Defense Fund
Monday, April 25th, 2011
Robert Wechsler
Kerry Cavanaugh, a Los Angeles Daily News columnist, got it wrong when
she started a
recent
column, "Here's another reminder that politicians are not
like you or me. If I get caught taking inappropriate gifts or violating
the company's ethics policy, I might be fired, suspended without pay or
forced to open my wallet to pay the penalty. If a politician gets caught
breaking the rules on the job, he or she can open a 'legal defense
fund,' collect cash from supporters and special interests and pay the
fine, without losing a dime."
It's worse than this. Even most elected officials don't have the network of contacts necessary to open a legal defense fund. But the mayor of Los Angeles, the subject of Cavanaugh's column, opened three such funds, one for each of three investigations, by the city ethics commission, the state ethics commission, and the district attorney.
And he did this right after settling with the city and state ECs on fines totalling $42,000.
The limit for contributions to legal defense funds in Los Angeles is $1,000. In some states and localities, there is no limit.
And even in Los Angeles there is no limit with respect to who can make contributions to a legal defense fund. In fact, you can go to the same people whose gifts got you into trouble in the first place.
Few elected officials have the resources, or the need, to open an ethics-related legal defense fund. But in Los Angeles, three council members have one, and one was about to open one. They were involved in the same sort of ethics violation: taking tickets from companies doing business with the city.
What messages does this send? First, it says that high-level politicians don't have to pay for their defense or for their ethics fines. They effectively have a Get Out of Jail Free card.
This contrasts with what the council president is doing: paying his fine himself. He said, "While I paid the full cost of the awards show tickets, I messed up when it came to the dinners afterward. That's my mistake, and I'm personally paying for the cost of these three dinners now to clear it up."
Second, it says that large gifts from restricted sources are okay in some circumstances.
Third, it tells lesser officials that, when it comes to ethics enforcement, they are indeed lesser, because they don't have enough power to raise money for ethics violations. In other words, no one is going to pay to play with them. A successful columnist would probably have a better chance raising money than a member of a minor board.
And fourth, it tells other high-level elected officials that the only penalty they will receive is some bad publicity.
What can an ethics program do, other than try to convince the local legislative body to ban legal defense funds (a hard sell, since they are the only ones who might benefit from one)? If elected officials limit the EC's power to bad publicity, the EC can play the publicity game, working to get good government and other local organizations to band together and make a big stink about legal defense funds. And they can try to open up the ethics enforcement process and effectively publicize each step in the process, so that there is more bad publicity.
One good and unfortunately unusual thing happened in this matter: the city EC fined the ticket givers as well as the officials. Here are the fines:
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
---
It's worse than this. Even most elected officials don't have the network of contacts necessary to open a legal defense fund. But the mayor of Los Angeles, the subject of Cavanaugh's column, opened three such funds, one for each of three investigations, by the city ethics commission, the state ethics commission, and the district attorney.
And he did this right after settling with the city and state ECs on fines totalling $42,000.
The limit for contributions to legal defense funds in Los Angeles is $1,000. In some states and localities, there is no limit.
And even in Los Angeles there is no limit with respect to who can make contributions to a legal defense fund. In fact, you can go to the same people whose gifts got you into trouble in the first place.
Few elected officials have the resources, or the need, to open an ethics-related legal defense fund. But in Los Angeles, three council members have one, and one was about to open one. They were involved in the same sort of ethics violation: taking tickets from companies doing business with the city.
What messages does this send? First, it says that high-level politicians don't have to pay for their defense or for their ethics fines. They effectively have a Get Out of Jail Free card.
This contrasts with what the council president is doing: paying his fine himself. He said, "While I paid the full cost of the awards show tickets, I messed up when it came to the dinners afterward. That's my mistake, and I'm personally paying for the cost of these three dinners now to clear it up."
Second, it says that large gifts from restricted sources are okay in some circumstances.
Third, it tells lesser officials that, when it comes to ethics enforcement, they are indeed lesser, because they don't have enough power to raise money for ethics violations. In other words, no one is going to pay to play with them. A successful columnist would probably have a better chance raising money than a member of a minor board.
And fourth, it tells other high-level elected officials that the only penalty they will receive is some bad publicity.
What can an ethics program do, other than try to convince the local legislative body to ban legal defense funds (a hard sell, since they are the only ones who might benefit from one)? If elected officials limit the EC's power to bad publicity, the EC can play the publicity game, working to get good government and other local organizations to band together and make a big stink about legal defense funds. And they can try to open up the ethics enforcement process and effectively publicize each step in the process, so that there is more bad publicity.
One good and unfortunately unusual thing happened in this matter: the city EC fined the ticket givers as well as the officials. Here are the fines:
$13,250 -- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars)
$8,300 -- National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys)
$7,900 -- Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys)
$3,900 -- Black Entertainment Television Networks (BET Awards)
$799 -- Anschutz Entertainment Group (Staples Center, Nokia Theatre)
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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