Conflict Of Interest

Los Angeles-based American Funds and six other mutual fund companies paid a total of $82.4 million to brokerage Edward Jones & Co. for selling their products through the first 11 months of last year, according to records disclosed Thursday. The extremely unusual disclosure was demanded by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal regulators, who said the St. Louis-based brokerage failed to tell customers that the funds on its "preferred list" paid millions of dollars to be there.

SACRAMENTO -- Ethics officials are reviewing allegations that two of state's top environmental regulators violated conflict-of-interest rules by regulating companies in which they own stock. Officials at the Fair Political Practices Commission said Wednesday they are studying a complaint that Odette Madriago, chief deputy director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and Stewart Black, deputy director of the agency's brownfields and environmental restoration division, may have improperly taken regulatory actions affecting the operations of oil, chemical and manufacturing companies in which they have financial interests.

A Diamond Bar company headed by former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi could get fees exceeding $1 billion from the VA, much of it on contracts approved and amended while he ran the agency, records show. Principi was president of the medical services company QTC Management Inc. before he joined President Bush's Cabinet in 2001. He ran the VA for four years, then returned to the firm as chairman of the board.

The state's ethics watchdog agency on Thursday levied $10,000 in fines against two former state officials over conflict of interest violations. The state Fair Political Practices Commission fined former state parks department administrator Manuel Thomas Lopez $7,000 for acting as an administrator to approve the illegal cashing out of more than 500 hours of his own vacation time, worth more than $28,000. The commission also levied a $3,000 fine against a former state Department of Water Resources employee who violated conflict of interest rules by recommending government purchases from a firm that plied him with gifts.

It's turkey season in Mississippi, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was tramping through the countryside here this month in pursuit of the big birds. His hunting partners, as usual, included Charles W. Pickering Sr., the federal judge who President Bush recently elevated to the U.S. court of appeals; and his son, Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering, a four-term Republican member of Congress. For turkey hunters, this country is unrivaled.

Hugh Caperton, owner of a small coal mine from Slab Fork, W.Va., was driven into bankruptcy after he ran up against the huge A.T. Massey Coal Co., but got a measure of revenge when a jury awarded him $50 million in damages. But when Massey appealed to the West Virginia Supreme Court, Caperton thought it might mean trouble. Massey Chief Executive Don Blankenship had spent $3 million of his own money to help elect a new justice. "The deck was stacked against us," Caperton said.

A new appeal in a conflict-of-interest controversy involving the Food and Drug Administration's handling of the deadly heparin contamination crisis of 2008 has shed more light on the convoluted and costly maneuvering that can break out when billions of dollars in profits are at stake. The latest round began last week when Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga said it would appeal the FDA's rejection of a complaint. The privately held drug maker alleged that Janet Woodcock, director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, had a conflict of interest.

A former Redondo Beach official and an ex-computer maintenance contractor have been charged with nine felony counts centering on theft and conflict-of-interest allegations, according to court records made public Wednesday. Rick Garcia, 35, the city's former director of information services, appeared Wednesday in Los Angeles Municipal Court and was released on his own recognizance. Arraignment was set for Monday.

Federal officials have asked the county to investigate allegations of conflict of interest in the awarding of grants for low-income housing here. The Los Angeles office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development sent a letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez this month asking that the county's legal department review a citizen complaint about administration of a HUD program.

The Labor Department is investigating possible conflicts of interest in the pension consulting industry, two lawmakers said. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said he was pleased that the department was looking into an area already under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission. "There is a crisis in the pension marketplace, and sweetheart deals cut by consultants and concealed from pension plans may be contributing to it," Markey said in a statement.

After years of resisting all criticisms of its operations, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is finally listening - a little. It spent $700,000 for an outside, high-level review that complimented the stem cell agency for funding an excellent portfolio of research projects, but also raised serious objections to the agency's structure, which the review said was likely to lead to financial conflicts of interest. The criticisms were nothing new - many of the same points have been made since the agency was created by Proposition 71 in 2004 - but the positive response by the chairman of the agency's board was. The governing board is now making changes to address some of the long-standing issues.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Emanuel Pleitez lodged a complaint with the Ethics Commission this week alleging his opponent, Eric Garcetti, had a financial conflict of interest when he signed off on a lucrative deal with a billboard company. Garcetti, a city councilman, voted in 2006 for a legal settlement that allowed Clear Channel Outdoor to convert hundreds of billboards to a digital format. At the same time, he held stock in Clear Channel Communications, the billboard company's parent.

NEW YORK - As a lawyer in private practice, Mary Jo White worked for Wall Street all-stars: banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co., auditor Deloitte & Touche, former Bank of America Corp. chief Ken Lewis. White, President Obama's pick to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, even did legal work for former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta, the highest-profile catch in the federal government's crackdown on insider trading, according to disclosures White filed ahead of her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.

Compromise, defined as the art of getting part of a loaf when the whole loaf is out of reach, comes in many forms. But surely the strangest of all is what comes of trying to compromise with yourself. That's what California's stem cell agency is attempting to do. And judging from its record of pioneering new ways of funding and managing scientific research, you can rest assured that the results will be fraught with interest. What's at issue is how the agency's board wrestles with recommendations for changes in its membership and its authority over the spending of its $3-billion endowment in state bond funds (that's $6 billion, including interest)

The board of California's stem cell funding agency is rife with conflicts of interest and should be restructured to improve the integrity of its grant-making process, according to a new report from independent experts convened by the national Institute of Medicine. The committee found that "far too many" of the board members are from organizations that stand to benefit from the $3 billion the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is supposed to dole out to researchers over 10 years.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has asked the state attorney general to investigate whether conflict-of-interest laws were broken at one of the state's biggest issuers of municipal debt. Lockyer's request follows the release of a report by the State Audits Bureau that said the compensation arrangements at the California Statewide Communities Development Authority raise concerns about possible violations of the Political Reform Act. The law prohibits public officials from making, participating in or influencing decisions that affect them financially.

Acknowledging mistakes for the first time, Mayor Dave Garofalo said Thursday that he failed to properly record a change of ownership in his publishing company that produces a local newspaper and the city's annual Visitors Guide--a relationship the city attorney began investigating this week. City Atty.

The City Council this week agreed to consider tightening a conflict-of-interest measure that was overwhelmingly approved by voters last November. The move would make it a conflict for city officials to vote on issues relating to contributors who donate $250 or more to their individual campaigns. The measure approved by voters set a $500 minimum. City staff will draft an ordinance to be brought before the council at its Aug. 5 meeting. Councilwoman Sandra L.

California's political watchdog agency said it was unable to substantiate allegations that the interim head of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum illegally sought a job with USC while he was responsible for protecting taxpayers in talks to turn over control of the stadium to the university. "There was no evidence of a negotiation for that specific job," Gary Winuk, enforcement chief at the Fair Political Practices Commission, said Thursday. The state agency said in a July 23 letter to the acting general manager, John Sandbrook, that it had received an anonymous tip that he might have violated a state law governing the conduct of public officials.

Local officials are considering changing the way the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments operates after the arrest of its executive director on conflict-of-interest charges. Nick Conway, 60, surrendered to authorities on June 29 after prosecutors charged him with allegedly funneling funds from the council to his private consulting firm. Prosecutors say Conway's company, Arroyo Associates Inc., improperly received $143,000 to manage state and county transportation grants for the council.