A campaign finance reform motion that would ban certain developer contributions to elected officials and candidates was introduced by six Los Angeles City Council members this week, reviving an initiative that was first brought forward two years ago but sputtered out.
The move comes amid a wide-ranging federal corruption and bribery investigation that appears to be related to real estate developments and which led the FBI to search City Councilman Jose Huizar’s offices and home in November.
The FBI probe also finds federal investigators seeking records related to not only Huizar but also other City Hall office’s, including those of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Council President Herb Wesson, Councilman Curren Price, as well as current or former aides to Huizar.
“Campaign finance reform, including a ban on developer donations, is something I have been fighting for since I first ran for office,” said Councilman David Ryu, who co-introduced the motion. “Democracy dies when people lose faith in their elected officials. That is the risk we face, the longer we go without addressing this problem as systemic and worthy of reform.”
The City Council commonly grants special permission, or “spot zoning,’’ to developers who want to construct a building outside of an area’s zoning rules, and those developers also sometimes donate generously to the council or other elected officials.
The new motion would ban contributions to city elected officials and candidates for municipal office from “restricted developers’’ and their principals with projects currently or recently before the city.
“Restricted developers’’ would include property owners who have business with the city related to the property, including projects requiring approval or other action by city elected officials to allow the construction or addition of more than 4,000 square feet of residential floor area or 15,000 square feet of commercial floor area.
“Enacting developer contribution restrictions would improve the confidence of Los Angeles city residents and businesses, including developers, that discretionary approvals of development projects are made on the merits and without regard to campaign contributions,’’ the motion states.
Under the guidelines, developers would be restricted from making political contributions to city elected officials and candidates from the date the application for the property is filed until 12 months following the final resolution of the application.
The motion would also explore a ban on non-individual entity contributors.
When the original motion was introduced in January of 2017, four members—Ryu, Paul Krekorian, Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz—co-introduced it. The new motion appears to have even more political support, with the same four members signing the motion along with Councilman Mike Bonin and Councilwoman Nury Martinez, and Wesson seconding.
The original motion expired, having never been heard by a committee.
The 2017 motion came about two months after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office opened a review of campaign contributions alleged to be linked to developer Samuel Leung’s $72 million apartment complex in Harbor Gateway. Donors identified in a Los Angeles Times investigation as having ties to Leung gave more than $600,000 to the city’s elected officials or independent committees associated with them.
A number of donors have denied making any contributions, and at least one woman said she had been reimbursed, which raised red flags about potential campaign finance law violations. Leung was charged last year with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit campaign money laundering and offering to bribe a legislative body member. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The new motion comes on the heels of the FBI seeking evidence of possible bribery, extortion, money laundering and other crimes as part of a corruption investigation at City Hall focusing on huge real estate investments from Chinese companies.
