Mayor Karen Bass spells out new ethics rules for the nonprofit Mayor’s Fund

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dakota Smith at the helm, with a big assist from David Zahniser, Emily Alpert Reyes and Caroline Petrow-Cohen.

The Los Angeles Mayor’s Fund, a nonprofit started under former Mayor Eric Garcetti, was at one time a fundraising machine, pulling in more than $60 million during Garcetti’s two terms in office.

Good-government experts regularly voiced concerns. They argued that the nonprofit’s operations, while providing needed funding for community programs, also gave off the appearance of a pay-to-play system within the mayor’s office.

Now, Mayor Karen Bass and the leaders of the nonprofit are making changes that could address some of that past criticism.

Mayoral staff will no longer be allowed to raise money for the Mayor’s Fund, or for other nonprofits and foundations associated with the city, including those associated with the Police and Fire departments, under new guidelines announced this week by Bass.

That’s a stark departure from how the fund operated under Garcetti. Workers in the mayor’s office helped raise money for the nonprofit, in some cases asking for donations from companies or individuals that did business with the city, a 2021 Times story revealed.

The Mayor’s Fund’s board of directors also voted recently to ban behested donations from registered city lobbyists and restricted developers, a term to describe developers that have business before the city.

Conway Collis, who joined the Mayor’s Fund as its chief executive earlier this year, said in an interview that the new rules are intended to align more closely with city campaign finance rules. Registered lobbyists and restricted developers are already barred from donating to political campaigns.

“What we were trying to avoid was ... people using donations to try to curry favor,” Collis said.

The guidelines appear to address concerns over a type of fundraising that has far fewer restrictions than other donations collected by L.A. city politicians.

Although Bass cannot raise more than $1,800 per donor for her officeholder account, the Mayor’s Fund is allowed by law to collect unlimited sums. And while Bass is required to report the name of each political donor who provides her with $100 or more, the Mayor’s Fund needs to publicly disclose only each donation of $5,000 or more that’s raised in Bass’ name — a type of contribution called a behested payment.

Bob Stern, who helped draft the city’s ethics laws in the early 1990s, called the changes announced by Bass’ office and the Mayor’s Fund “good steps, but not enough.”

Stern said the nonprofit should go further and accept money only from charitable organizations, nonprofits, or wealthy individuals. In other words, groups that don’t want something back from City Hall.

“When people or groups give and they have business pending before the city — well, that’s why they give,” Stern said.

Garcetti helped launch the Mayor’s Fund in 2013, shortly after taking office. It operated out of office space at City Hall, just steps from the mayor’s office. Donations and grants given to the fund helped pay for an array of programs — environmental initiatives, youth employment, education and COVID-19 relief measures — that were carried out by the city or independent groups.

By contrast, the Mayor’s Fund under Bass has focused exclusively on preventing homelessness.

The Mayor’s Fund also moved its office out of City Hall, to show there is more independence from the city, Collis said.

In another change, he said, the fund will consider all donations that come into the nonprofit as behested payments.

That’s also different than from the operations under Garcetti. During his tenure, the nonprofit did not publicly report donations that were provided directly from contributors because they were not directly sought by the mayor or his team.

Under Bass, the Mayor’s Fund has raised about $2.8 million, according to reports filed with the city. Charitable foundations, labor unions and entertainment leaders are among those who have written big checks.

Cruise, a division of General Motors that has sought to operate driverless cars in California, gave the nonprofit $100,000 this year, according to filings with the city.

Ruth Kwon, Bass’ mayoral ethics officer, said the changes announced this week “make it even more clear that the Bass administration is prioritizing the highest standard of ethics.”

State of play

— GRAND PLANS: The mayor’s homelessness team will be relying on the L.A. Grand Hotel a little while longer. Bass had been planning to move hundreds of unhoused Angelenos out of the L.A. Grand and into the Mayfair Hotel, which the city purchased last summer, in a few months. However, a new report says the Mayfair won’t be ready to take on new residents until May 1. To accommodate the delay, the mayor’s team is planning to extend the city’s lease at the L.A. Grand — which has been charging nearly $4,700 per room per month, including food — until July 31.

— CARRILLO CASE: A judge on Friday delayed a hearing until Jan. 19 in the DUI case filed against state Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, now running for City Council. Under the conditions of the postponement, Carrillo will be required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings twice a week. Carrillo’s lawyer, Alex Kessel, told the judge that the state lawmaker has already been attending AA on her own accord. The assemblymember’s blood-alcohol content at the time of her arrest was 0.18, more than double the legal limit of 0.08, according to city prosecutor Adam Micale.

— A LITTLE LEE-MENTUM: Rep. Barbara Lee’s campaign for U.S. Senate picked up the endorsements of two L.A. council members: Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martínez, who make up part of the council’s leftmost flank. “Our campaign’s path to win has always run through communities of color and young progressive voters,” Lee’s campaign manager said in a statement.

— STEPPING DOWN: Longtime mayoral appointee Samantha Millman is stepping down from the City Planning Commission after an eight-year run. Millman, appointed to the post in 2015 by then Mayor Eric Garcetti, had spent the last five years as the commission’s president, helping to guide it through the Zoom-heavy COVID years.

— FOCUS ON THE 4TH: Two candidates qualified for the March 5 ballot in the race for the council’s 4th District: Levon “Lev” Baronian, who serves on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, and Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is running for a second four-year term. Raman’s district covers much of the Hollywood Hills, stretching from Silver Lake to Encino.

— POLICE PRESENCE: Another candidate planning to run in the 4th is Deputy City Atty. Ethan Weaver, who has not yet turned in his petitions. On Wednesday, he picked up the endorsement of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing nearly 9,000 rank-and-file LAPD officers. Although that wasn’t a huge surprise, it was noteworthy, since the union sometimes spends big on its favored candidates.

— A GROWING FIELD: The list of candidates continues to grow in the Eastside’s 14th District, where Councilmember Kevin de León and three others have qualified for the ballot so far. The others are Carrillo and Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, and, most recently, schoolteacher Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, who celebrated his achievement with an email announcing “socialism will be on the ballot in March.”

— MEANWHILE, IN THE 10TH: Four candidates have qualified so far in the 10th District, which stretches from Koreatown to the Crenshaw Corridor. They are Councilmember Heather Hutt, Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, environmentalist Aura Vasquez and attorney Grace Yoo.

— HOME-SHARING HURDLE: The council endorsed a plan to force Airbnb operators to go through a new bureaucratic hurdle, requiring that each host secure permits from the LAPD before opening their homes for short-term rental. That requirement is part of a much larger ordinance that imposes new regulations on the development of new hotels.

— REDISTRICTING REFORM: In a separate action, the council moved ahead with its plan for a November 2024 ballot measure creating an independent redistricting commission to draw council district boundary lines. That was one of several reform proposals discussed in the wake of last year’s audio leak scandal.

— SLOWING DOWN: Work on another reform measure — expanding the size of the City Council — has slowed down considerably. On Thursday, a council committee held off yet again on taking any action on that proposal, opting instead to continue studying the concept next year.

— BYE-BYE, BALLOT MEASURES: Angelenos won’t end up voting on whether to cap the compensation of L.A. hospital executives, or on a $25-per-hour healthcare minimum wage. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, which backed both proposals, withdrew them after the passage of Senate Bill 525, which will gradually raise the minimum wage to $25 for many healthcare workers statewide. The law prohibits cities and counties from adopting healthcare wage or compensation measures for the next several years.

— NO RODRIGUEZ RUN: Former U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas delivered a jolt to San Fernando Valley political circles last week, saying he won’t run for another two-year term. On Friday, another Valley politician, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, issued a statement saying she will not run for his seat. “With so many families challenged to meet basic needs and the ongoing homeless crisis, my dedication remains with the L.A. City Council,” she said.

Quick hits

• Where Did Inside Safe Go? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness returned to South Los Angeles, focusing on the intersection of 81st and Hoover streets. It was her 32nd Inside Safe operation, and her latest in Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s South L.A. district.
  
• On the docket for next week: The council is down to its final two weeks of business for 2023, and the agendas will be packed. The council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee will take up 24 separate items, including a controversial proposal to allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to install dozens of new digital billboards.
  
• FAREWELL, JULIA!: Beloved City Hall reporter Julia Wick is moving off the local government beat and over to the state and national politics team. She’ll be covering the presidential race and some California congressional races. So please send tips her way!