JUDGE RULES IN KREKORIAN’S FAVOR, AGAINST ESSEL’S SPECIAL INTERESTS

Asbarez
Nov 25th, 2009

Christine Essel (L) and Paul Krekorian (R)

LOS ANGELES-A federal court judge on Tuesday denied a political
committee’s request to overturn a 24-year-old city ethics law,
reported the Los Angeles Times.

The ruling, seen as a boon for Los Angeles City Council candidate Paul
Krekorian, was a sharp blow to the campaign of candidate Christine
Essel, whose backers brought the lawsuit.

"I was very proud to defend the ethics laws that the voters of Los
Angeles enacted and have relied upon for nearly a quarter century,"
said Krekorian, who defended the ethics law. "Today we won a tremendous
victory for transparency when the Federal Court agreed with my
arguments and completely rejected the frivolous lawsuit brought by
Chris Essel’s special interest supporters to overturn the City’s
ethics laws."

Special interest groups have spent more than $542,000 to boost Essel’s
bid for the San Fernando Valley council seat of former Councilwoman
Wendy Greuel in the last few weeks. Greuel is now city controller.

The group, Working Californians, which is co-chaired by the heads
of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 and
Local 18, filed the suit to challenge a 1985 city law stating that
a political committee cannot accept contributions greater than $500
if it intends to use that money on an independent expenditure for a
city candidate.

Working Californians claimed that the provision violated its free
speech rights and asked the court to intervene immediately, the LA
Times said.

Krekorian said the lawsuit had nothing to do with the 1st amendment
and "was about nothing but concealing special interest money from
the voters of L.A."

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson concluded that Working
Californians had "not established a likelihood of success on the
merits of its 1st Amendment claims."

Pregerson said the group had not provided evidence that enforcement
of the restrictions would "effectively thwart its ability to make
independent expenditures" in the two weeks before the runoff, the
LA Times reported. The ruling noted that the group had received
contributions from just six sources since 2007 – including the two
political action committees controlled by IBEW Local 18 and Local 11.

"Working Californians is free to solicit contributions from as many
donors as it likes, and assuming that no individual contribution
exceeds the city’s $500 threshold, it can spend as much as it likes,"
the judge wrote.

"The outrageous amount of money pouring into the Second Council
District from so-called independent expenditures by special interests
is perhaps unprecedented in City history," explained Krekorian.

"[Essel’s] voracious fundraising has featured visits to the offices
of virtually every Downtown lobbyist, and the Ethics Commission
is currently investigating an obviously illegal contribution she
accepted from a lobbyist," Krekorian revealed, adding that the ruling
"completely vindicates the effort we made to protect the city ethics
laws that the voters enacted a quarter of a century ago."

"By filing this lawsuit, the Downtown power brokers proved that they
aren’t satisfied just trying to steal this election for Essel-they
want to hide their tracks too," said Krekorian. "But this election
will not be bought and paid for by the monied special interests-it
will be decided by the voters whose lives will be affected by its
outcome for years to come."

"While Essel claims to be a City Hall reformer, and she presents
proposals for strict ethics enforcement, she and her supporters
continue to flaunt every reasonable expectation the voters have about
campaign funding," Krekorian said. "On December 8, I am confident
voters will recognize that Chris Essel represents more of the same
business as usual, and I am the only candidate that will fight for
the kind of fundamental change that City Hall so desperately needs."