Confusion over L.A.'s rules on lobbyists

If anyone has been the public face of the Las Lomas housing project, a controversial plan to build 5,500 homes in north Los Angeles County, it is Hillary Norton Orozco.

A seasoned political operative who worked at Los Angeles City Hall a decade ago, Orozco has spent the last year drumming up support for the project by testifying at hearings, chatting up civic groups and meeting privately with members of the Los Angeles City Council.

Yet Orozco, who works for Las Lomas developer Dan Palmer, has not registered as a lobbyist. This week, she said she had not logged enough hours to meet the city's definition.

After inquiries by The Times, Orozco said she will probably register in April.

Foes of Las Lomas say she should have been registered all along.

They argue that by not registering, Orozco has shielded her company from having to reveal exactly how much it has spent promoting the controversial project. Such disclosure is required under the city's ethics laws.

"It could be T-shirts. It could be polling. It could be slick brochures and presentations," said Steve Afriat, a registered lobbyist who represents the neighboring city of Santa Clarita, an opponent of the project. "The public has a right to know how much is being spent and who that [money] could be influencing."

Orozco is one of several paid advocates under fire from critics who say they have not fully complied with the city's lobbying laws.

At the Port of Los Angeles, opponents of a proposed $300-million rail yard question whether a rail company should have registered its high-powered representatives, including attorney Mickey Kantor, a lawyer who once served as a Cabinet secretary in the Clinton administration.

And in Mount Washington, an advocate for the Southwest Museum recently filed a complaint with the city Ethics Commission against the law firm Latham & Watkins, saying it spent two years representing the Autry National Center, a museum of Western history near Griffith Park, without identifying the facility as a lobbying client.

Under city law, a lobbyist is defined as anyone who is paid to work 30 hours on a specific city project over a three-month period and who makes one verbal contact with a single policymaker during that time.

That definition, written into the 2006 ballot measure known as Proposition R, is part of a larger ethics law designed to inform the public about lobbying activity, from the amount the advocates earn to the number of campaign contributions they collect for city politicians.