Twice as Much ‘Sunshine’ in Los Angeles : Report on City Council special fund should be published quarterly, not twice a year

The Los Angeles City Council retains a block of discretionary funds allowing its members to pay for office supplies or office activities that enhance public service. From the sound of it, taxpayers might infer the money would be used for such necessities as pencils and erasers, perhaps even computers.

Most Angelenos will be astonished to learn of some of the creative uses of these so-called officeholder expense funds. They include a $318 dinner at Chuck’s Steak House on Maui, a $415 trip to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and $3,268 season tickets to the Hollywood Bowl.

Although the money in the fund comes from private donations, surely expensive trips and dinners were not the kind of constituency service most of us had in mind when we chose our public servants. Sounds more like a personal slush fund.

Fortunately, the City Council has come to its senses on this matter by agreeing in principle to adopt a city Ethics Commission proposal giving the public a clearer and more detailed picture of source and destination of these private officeholder funds in exchange for lifting fund-raising limits to $75,000 from $25,000. Now the only sticking point is how often reports will be issued.

The council wants twice-a-year reports along the lines of the state standards. The city Ethics Commission favors quarterly reporting. That may not sound like much of a difference, but a six-month period is excessive, given the public’s need for timely and meaningful disclosure.

Open and accountable government is the cornerstone of democracy. If Los Angeles is to have such a government, and we think it must, the City Council needs to do its part by voting for the maximum frequency of disclosure. If the council is game to disclose twice a year, why not go for the whole reform and let the sun shine in every three months?