Conflict Of Interest

An audit released Thursday found no indication that Los Angeles airports director Gina Marie Lindsey improperly influenced the awarding of two major contracts related to the modernization of LAX. The Los Angeles city controller's office concluded that airport staff followed correct procedures during the selection of DMJM Aviation Inc. of Florida and Denver-based Fentress Architects. The findings were similar to those of the City Council, which reviewed the contracts earlier this month.

Prosecutors will call a top NATO general to address a potential conflict of interest in the case of a Marine officer charged with failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqi men, women and children, defense attorneys said Friday. Marine Gen. James Mattis, NATO's top commander in charge of military modernization, is scheduled to take the stand Monday during a hearing to address a military judge's finding that there was evidence of unlawful command influence in the case of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.

Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) has shelved a proposal that would have allowed a developer to build 229 homes on the Verdugo Hills Golf Course over the objections of the city of Los Angeles. Fuentes wrote the proposal in cooperation with MWH Development Corp., a contributor to his political campaigns. He had said it addressed a broader issue of cities' ability to prevent the construction of housing. Los Angeles city officials and other critics said it appeared he wrote AB 212 to benefit a donor.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd acknowledged Tuesday that he knew in 2003 that Countrywide Financial Corp. placed him in a "VIP section" when the firm reportedly gave him preferential rates on two mortgages. But he denied he knew he was getting any special deal and said he didn't plan to give up the loans. "I'm not clairvoyant," Dodd (D-Conn.) said. "There was no red flag to me that we were getting some special treatment." Revelations that Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.

BET President of Entertainment Reginald Hudlin plans to unveil what he feels is a slam-dunk hit for the network today at Comic-Con in San Diego: an animated series featuring Marvel Comics' Black Panther. The project about a black superhero marks the cable network's most promising push yet in its struggle to launch an animated series that will appeal to BET's target audience: urban youth.

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission is investigating whether laws were violated by a former city department head who took a job with a Los Angeles-based investment company less than three months after his agency acted to benefit the firm, according to sources familiar with the probe. Although ethics officials declined to confirm or deny the inquiry, several sources say investigators have asked about Robert Aguallo Jr.

A Los Angeles City Council panel Tuesday berated officials with the city's Department of Water and Power over their handling of contracts that have been awarded to companies that recently employed the DWP's No. 2 official, Raman Raj. Council members said the utility should have done more to publicly disclose potential conflicts faced by Raj and show that the issue had been carefully reviewed.

The board of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power voted this week to give its No. 2 official an extra $152,000 toward his pension, as part of the deal that brought him back to the agency last year. On Wednesday, City Controller Laura Chick called the agreement with Chief Operating Officer Raman Raj "unprecedented" and said she would not cut a check until the City Council takes up the matter and hears why it is necessary. Raj receives an annual salary of $247,000.

Advocates for low-wage caregivers called on authorities Monday to investigate the spending practices of a Los Angeles union and a related charity that have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the labor organization's leader. "This is very serious," County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose 1990s legislation allowed the union to organize home-care workers here, said of the financial transactions disclosed by The Times.

Randy Scheunemann operated for years deep inside Republican foreign policy circles, a burly, bearded lobbyist with powerful patrons, neoconservative credentials and little public profile. Today, as John McCain's top foreign policy and national security advisor, Scheunemann serves as spokesman and surrogate for the probable GOP presidential nominee on issues from NATO enlargement to gun control in American cities.