Ethics Bill

After reading the article (Feb. 14) about the decision of the majority of the members of the Los Angeles City Council to include a pay increase of $32,822 in the so-called ethics bill, I realized that there are at least four members of the council, Gloria Molina, Joy Picus, Joan Milke Flores and Marvin Braude, who seem to understand that the voters are not stupid enough to be taken in by such a blatant act of arrogance. Molina was correct in stating that joining the ethics bill with the pay increase tells voters that "I will be honest if you pay me enough," because that is exactly what this bill is telling us. The taxpayers are supposed to reward the council members for doing what they were elected to do-- represent their constituents with honesty and integrity.

SACRAMENTO - Trying to counter ethics scandals in which lawmakers stand accused of voter fraud, bribery, money laundering and other misdeeds, Democratic leaders Thursday proposed sweeping changes to state political laws aimed at restoring public confidence in the Legislature. The proposals, which Gov. Jerry Brown has yet to embrace, would ban lawmakers and other state officials from accepting such gifts as spa treatments, golf games and tickets to Lakers games. Officials could take other gifts, but only if their worth totaled $200 or less annually from any source - down from the $440 now allowed.

Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday signed a sweeping ethics bill designed to crack down on the lucrative payments and gifts that California legislators routinely collect from special interest groups. Long sought by organizations such as Common Cause, the legislation marks the most significant effort yet by the Legislature and the governor to remove the taint of corruption from the Capitol.

The GOP-led House passed a tamer version of a sweeping ethics bill that would ban lawmakers' insider trading for personal gain, setting up a showdown with the Senate, which approved a stricter version. The legislation is the most ambitious effort in years to clamp down on the personal business dealings of lawmakers, and was beefed up to cover executive branch appointees and employees. President Obama had called on Congress to send him such a bill last month during his State of the Union speech.

President Reagan is vetoing compromise legislation that, for the first time, would have imposed restrictions on lobbying by former members of Congress and their senior staff members, the White House announced today.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and aides deleted a provision from a 1988 state ethics bill that would have required him and other public officials to disclose actions relating to their families' businesses, according to a published report. Clinton acknowledged Thursday that the provision was deleted but said it was "utterly absurd" to conclude that it was to benefit him.

President Reagan, setting the stage for a contentious battle in the next Congress, on Wednesday announced his veto of a comprehensive ethics bill, calling the legislation "flawed, excessive and discriminatory." The landmark legislation would have, for the first time, placed restrictions on paid lobbying by former members of Congress and their top aides. It would also have tightened lobbying restrictions on former White House officials and others in the executive branch of government.

After months of bitter wrangling, Congress approved a landmark ethics bill Friday that for the first time puts tight controls on the paid lobbying activities of former House and Senate members, as well as their top aides. The legislation, which passed 347 to 7 in the House and by voice vote in the Senate, would prevent outgoing members of Congress and staff from contacting former colleagues on any governmental business for one year. President Reagan is expected to sign the bill into law.

Congress on Thursday sent President Bush a bill aimed at reining in the influence of special interests, completing a long-debated overhaul of ethics and lobbying rules spurred by scandals that rocked Capitol Hill. The measure grew out of a pledge by Democrats to "drain the swamp" after they won majorities in both congressional chambers in last fall's elections. It passed the Senate, 83-14, after clearing the House, 411-8, earlier this week.

In the most sweeping overhaul of congressional ethics rules since the Watergate era, the House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill aimed at curbing the influence of lobbyists and repairing Congress' corruption-sullied image. Democrats promised to pass the measure after they won control of Congress following a campaign that denounced the Republican "culture of corruption" on Capitol Hill.

Seeking to repair Congress' tarred image, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the toughest new ethics rules since the Watergate era. The legislation is aimed at reining in the influence of special interests by forbidding lobbyists and their employers from buying meals and gifts for lawmakers and paying for their junkets.

Senate Democrats' goal of passing strict new ethics rules as their first order of business as the majority party was stymied, perhaps only temporarily, by a partisan dispute on Wednesday. The flap came just weeks after leaders of both parties pledged to start the new session with a new spirit of bipartisanship.

House Republican leaders overcame a rift within party ranks Thursday to clear the way for passage of legislation to tighten ethics and lobbying rules, a key to the GOP effort to repair Congress' image before the November elections. The bill narrowly cleared a procedural hurdle, but only after Republican leaders scrambled to bring together their rank and file to avoid an embarrassing setback on one of their priorities.

Faced with an Aug. 15 deadline, key state legislators are trying to merge two similar bills designed to reform the state's heavily criticized judicial discipline system. The measures already have won overwhelming passage in the Assembly (78-0) and the Senate (39-0). But because the bills propose to amend the state Constitution, they have to be approved in a general election. The goal in coming weeks is to consolidate the bills into one measure and get it on the November ballot.

Most politicians want to be remembered for their legislative accomplishments. But two bills pending in the state Senate would be a monument to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich's misconduct. The bills, which recently hurtled through the Assembly with strong bipartisan support, would force politicians--not taxpayers--to foot the bill for court costs and damages that result from their illegal or unethical conduct.

Sometimes the Legislature has hunkered down and enacted legislation that can legitimately be called self-reform. That can certainly be said about a sweeping ethics-in-government measure passed two years ago. Like most such changes, the 1990 ethics bill was accomplished only under duress. That is what lawmakers were feeling two years ago, when federal prosecutors released a secret videotape of Sen. Joseph B.