Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo accepted thousands of dollars in political contributions from two landlords accused of operating apartments with slum conditions after he settled a lawsuit against them for a third of the amount the city initially sought.
Lance Robbins, called "one of Los Angeles' most notorious landlords" in the lawsuit, and Stanley Treitel have an extensive history of involvement with properties cited for violations. Inspections of their buildings have found blocked emergency exits, cockroach infestations and faulty wiring on the premises, according to city records.
In filing the lawsuit, city officials accused the two men and their associates of failing to pay $3 million in delinquent utility bills and penalties. Delgadillo agreed in 2002 to settle the suit, allowing them to pay $1 million. Prosecutors said they concluded that the city would have a difficult time proving the defendants owed much more.
The settlement required the partners to maintain their rental properties or face additional court sanctions, but Delgadillo's office was slow to act when the landlords were accused of ignoring the agreement. Not until a tenant-rights organization drafted a court motion in 2003 did his office step in, activists said.
Since the settlement, Delgadillo has accepted $15,600 from Robbins and Treitel, their businesses, relatives and associates to pay for his campaigns and political expenses, city records show. The contributions include a $5,600 check in April to Delgadillo's campaign for state attorney general.
Delgadillo said he was not aware that Robbins and Treitel were donors and said, in any case, he does not take contributions into account in his prosecutorial decisions. "If one does not have the strength of character to go against contributors, one should not be in office," he said.
Officials with city and state ethics agencies, and the state bar, said there were no regulations prohibiting prosecutors from accepting campaign contributions from those they prosecute criminally or civilly.
But Tracy Westen, chief executive of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles watchdog group, said, "Prosecutors should not be taking campaign contributions from people they are prosecuting. Just in terms of appearance, it smells to high heaven."
Robbins, an attorney, said that the settlement was justified because he thought the city would have lost the case and that former City Atty. James K. Hahn filed the lawsuit in 2001 to promote his own campaign for mayor.
