|
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter
December
17, 2004
Re: Endorsing Candidates Prohibited. Spending NC Money on Mayorial
Debates Prohibited. Financial Disclosure Statement (Form 700) Exemption
Progresses.
ENDORSING CANDIDATES
PROHIBITED
In the August
5, 2004 newsletter, I reminded Neighborhood Councils about the laws
that exist regarding the endorsement of candidates for office, and
of ballot measures.
I realize that
there is a lot of information flying around, and it’s hard
to remember everything. This issue came up at one Neighborhood Council
meeting this week, and no one seemed to know the answer. So, from
time-to-time, I’ll be presenting important information to you
again.
Here’s
that excerpt from the August newsletter:
“It’s
that time of year again, so it’s worth repeating that Neighborhood
Councils cannot endorse candidates for public office or spend money
under its control to support or oppose those candidates. As an individual,
a member of a governing board is free to endorse, work for, and
contribute their personal funds to candidates. Neighborhood Councils
may take positions in support or opposition to ballot measures,
but may not spend their funds on those measures.”
SPENDING NC
MONEY ON MAYORAL DEBATES PROHIBITED
As you may know,
two nonprofit organizations (Citywide Alliance of Neighborhood Councils
and CityWatch) have joined with KCAL/KCBS to host and televise two
mayoral debates (February 7 and February 28). It’s quite exciting
because this will be another milestone in the evolution of Neighborhood
Councils. Hopefully, a successful one.
As you may have
surmised from first item in this newsletter, Neighborhood Councils
cannot spend any of their money promoting or supporting purely political
efforts such as these. In answer to questions that have been asked,
the City of Los Angeles has no role whatsoever in these events.
And how these events occur will not involve any official actions
by any Neighborhood Councils.
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
STATEMENT (FORM 700) EXEMPTION PROGRESSES
On Tuesday,
the City Ethics Commission followed the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners
in unanimously approving a proposed ordinance that would exempt
Neighborhood Council board members from filing the Form 700 financial
disclosure statement. The state’s Political Reform Act, which
defines what constitutes a financial conflict of interest would
continue to apply, but the filing of the forms would not be required.
Failure to self-disclose a conflict could get the violator in a
heap of trouble. As our mantra goes, “When in doubt, ask.”
Regarding potential financial conflicts of interest, the person
to ask is Deputy City Attorney Darren Martinez at dmartin@atty.lacity.org.
It doesn’t
take a Ouija board to figure out if there is one bad violation,
there will be calls for requiring that everyone fill out the forms.
Under the proposal,
Neighborhood Councils may decide on their own to require their board
members to fill out the forms. We now wait to see when it will be
scheduled before the Education and Neighborhoods Committee.
The proposed
ordinance is still on our home page.
GRIEVANCE PROCURES
WORKING GROUP SCHEDULE REVISED
Due to the unavoidable
cancellation of two December meetings of this group, their work
schedule has been revised to allow it to complete its work on time.
The original
schedule called for the final two meetings to be held on January
5 and 12, 2005. That schedule will not be changed. At the January
5 meeting, you can expect to hear a discussion on the remaining
two subject points: Repeat Offenders and Alternatives to the Process.
The January 12 meeting will likely be a review and finalizing of
suggestions to me, the general manager, on ways to help Neighborhood
Councils handle the formal complaints filed against them. If you’re
interested in attending, let us know. The meetings will be held
from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at our training center at 305 East First
Street. Parking is free.
We’re sorry
for the inconvenience. We have a small group of people dedicated
to working on these procedures, policies, and all of the elections,
and we can’t always control when time-consuming crises will
strike.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greg Nelson
gnelson@mailbox.lacity.org
866 / LA HELPS
213 / 485-1360
213 / 485-4608 fax
done@mailbox.lacity.org
email
www.lacityneighborhoods.com
website
|
