A prominent Los Angeles attorney charged with making illegal contributions to the 2001 mayoral campaign of then-City Atty. James K. Hahn was discussing potential legal business with the city at the time, according to documents obtained by The Times.
In February 2001, Pierce O'Donnell wrote Hahn, urging the city to join in a legal effort to recoup billions of dollars from natural-gas suppliers who had allegedly overcharged Los Angeles and others during the energy crisis.
Within weeks of that Feb. 23, 2001, letter, Hahn's office decided to file a lawsuit and join other plaintiffs in the coordinated legal effort, which eventually generated millions of dollars for the city and for O'Donnell's firm and other firms handling the cases.
The letter from O'Donnell to Hahn was provided to The Times this week by the campaign of mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa and later verified by the city attorney's office.
In that letter, O'Donnell also referred to a conversation he and Hahn had a day earlier about the potential lawsuit. A Hahn spokeswoman said the mayor did not recall the discussion.
On the day O'Donnell said his conversation with Hahn occurred, he wrote $9,000 worth of checks to employees, allegedly to cover donations to Hahn's mayoral campaign, according to a formal accusation filed against O'Donnell by the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
He is now being prosecuted by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office on misdemeanor charges of making a total of $25,500 in illegal contributions to Hahn's 2001 campaign.
O'Donnell, who was one of Hahn's biggest supporters in 2001, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. And on Wednesday, O'Donnell's attorney said there was no connection between O'Donnell's work with the city and his political support of Hahn.
A Hahn campaign spokesman said Hahn decided as city attorney to sue El Paso Energy and other natural-gas companies for price-gouging during the energy crisis only because it would benefit city residents.
"The most important thing is that the city of Los Angeles got the opportunity to get some justice," said Kam Kuwata, citing a settlement with El Paso that the city attorney's office expects to bring about $16 million to the city.
The letter emerged less than two weeks after Villaraigosa returned $47,000 in donations from employees of two Florida companies and their relatives.
