Conflict Of Interest

A Los Angeles investment firm has dropped its effort to secure up to $10 million from the city's primary pension agency, weeks after the city Ethics Commission opened an investigation into the company's managing partner. Cardinal Americas had been trying for months to meet financial requirements that would allow it to tap money from the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement Fund. But pension board President Eric Holoman said he received a letter from the company Monday abandoning that effort.

The abuse-of-power investigation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was unraveling Wednesday, with most key witnesses refusing to testify, new legal maneuvering and heightened Republican pressure to delay the inquiry until after election day. Palin initially welcomed the investigation, saying, "Hold me accountable," but she has increasingly opposed it since Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate.

The Service Employees International Union's headquarters has paid millions of dollars to consulting firms, political nonprofits and individuals with family ties and other personal connections to some of the labor organization's top officers, records show. One company partly owned by a union director also received more than $1 million in SEIU consulting fees. The nation's fastest-growing union, the SEIU bills itself a standard-setter in the drive to reform and modernize the labor movement.

The last time the Legislature drew California's voting districts, only a handful of people knew the unmarked offices where the mapmakers toiled. Why the secrecy? To separate those who were drawing the lines from fellow lawmakers' pleas to have a childhood home or a favorite parish included in their new district -- or to exclude the home of a potential challenger.

A state appellate court has dismissed a conflict-of-interest charge against former Placentia City Manager Robert D'Amato, a central figure in the town's controversial OnTrac rail project that was shelved in 2006. The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana threw out the felony charge on the grounds that D'Amato did not stand to gain financially from an OnTrac management contract awarded by the city to Christopher Becker, Placentia's public works director at the time and a friend of D'Amato.

A federal grand jury is investigating how a California firm that contributed to the political activities of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nominee to head the Commerce Department, won a lucrative government contract. A person familiar with the proceedings told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the panel is looking into possible "pay-to-play" dealings between CDR Financial Products of Beverly Hills and someone in a position to push the contract through with the state of New Mexico.

A report released late Monday regarding controversies afflicting a South County school district found "ill-advised" and "imprudent" decisions that could appear improper but stopped short of actual wrongdoing. The investigation, paid for by the Capistrano Unified School District, called on the district's leaders to consider the appearance of their actions and perhaps hold conflict-of-interest seminars.

The chief of the U.S. General Services Administration attempted to give a no-bid contract to a company founded and operated by a longtime friend, sidestepping federal laws and regulations, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Washington Post.

Former FDA Commissioner Lester M. Crawford's sentencing on charges he lied about his stock holdings was delayed over questions about sentencing guidelines. The stocks were in food, beverage and medical device companies that Crawford regulated while head of the Food and Drug Administration. Sentencing was rescheduled for Feb. 27.

A bipartisan group of congressional leaders is examining the Food and Drug Administration's contract awards to a company that has paid consulting fees and salary to the husband of a senior agency official. In a letter delivered Tuesday to the FDA, the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said the inquiry would focus on contracts awarded to Platinum Solutions Inc., of Reston, Va.