Financial Disclosure

At a time when county government is slashing programs for the mentally ill and homeless, social service agencies are fuming over recent disclosures that Orange County is spending $750,000 in car allowances for 88 top officials--some of whom are leasing Lincoln Continentals and Town Cars at taxpayer expense.

An unlikely deal has been brokered between Stephen Colbert and Rep. Nancy Pelosi: The late-night comedian will back a bill that would require corporations to more fully disclose their financial contributions for political ads and the House minority leader will encourage fellow Democratic lawmakers to appear on his sometimes irreverent show. Pelosi, who made her own appearance Wednesday after having vowed she would never do so, stopped by to promote the campaign finance reform legislation.

A federal appeals court has rejected a bid by the union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers to block strict financial disclosure requirements for hundreds of specialized officers. The unanimous ruling by a panel of judges from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released Friday likely brings an end to a lengthy and contentious challenge by the Los Angeles Police Protective League and clears the way for the LAPD to impose the controversial policy.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney amended his personal financial disclosure Friday evening to reflect income from a now-closed Swiss bank account and one other investment fund he had originally failed to report on an ethics form. A review by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau last week found that at least 23 funds and partnerships listed in the 2010 tax returns of Romney and his wife did not show up or were not listed in the same fashion on Romney's most recent financial disclosure, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

The LAPD is struggling to fill vacancies in gang units as a financial disclosure rule meant to fight corruption has been received by many rank-and-file cops as an insult -- and a deal-breaker when it comes to working the tough gangland assignments. After years of contentious battles with police union representatives over the issue, Los Angeles Police Department officials pushed through a policy in April that requires gang officers to disclose details of their personal finances. Intended to help supervisors catch cops who are taking bribes or to identify officers in financial straits who might be tempted to stray, the policy has considerable reach: Officers must disclose outside income, real estate, stocks and other assets.

Congressional candidate Brad Sherman has filed a formal complaint with the House Ethics Committee, requesting "immediate and appropriate action" against Democratic rival Jeff Lipow for allegedly failing to disclose his personal finances.

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission asked the panel overseeing San Fernando Valley secession Thursday to enact strict new rules disclosing all lobbying efforts, pro and con, to influence breakup bids. The Ethics Commission, which acts as the city's campaign finance watchdog, lacks the power to force secession campaigns to publicly report their war chests, expenditures and contributors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said its guidelines for complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley law would include advice for managers on how to spot problems with company procedures in preparing financial statements and what kinds of documentation to provide. The SEC's announcement Tuesday kicks off a rule-writing process expected to last for at least six months.

Despite the objections of Mayor George Battey Jr., the Burbank City Council changed the conflict-of-interest laws to require members of the Parks and Recreation Board and the new Transportation Commission to declare relevant financial assets. "We want to get the best people we can to participate in city government," Battey said. "This would deter people from volunteering. I think it's an intrusion into their private life that's unnecessary."

A judge has ruled that Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido does not have to pay a $1,000 civil fine for failing to disclose his financial interests just outside the city's borders. The penalty was dropped because Pulido's mistake was considered an oversight and was subsequently corrected after it was brought to his attention, said Pulido's attorney, Charles McClung. Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert D.

Some investments listed in Mitt and Ann Romney's 2010 tax returns — including a now-closed Swiss bank account and other funds located overseas — were not explicitly disclosed in the personal financial statement the Republican presidential hopeful filed in August as part of his White House bid. The Romney campaign described the discrepancies as "trivial" but acknowledged Thursday that it was reviewing how the investments were reported and would...

Car dealers have found a new way to profit from people with money trouble: leasing them hand-me-down vehicles. The deals are pitched to customers as the cheapest way to drive a used car off the lot, with the added benefit of an easy escape for those who can't keep up with the payments. Few customers are told about the advantages on the other side of the trade. Leases can allow dealerships to sidestep interest rate caps, and there are fewer financial disclosures rules than with a conventional car loan.

By the time the NFL's Carolina Panthers took the field for the 2009 season, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had been out of the pro football business for more than a decade. But that didn't stop a member of the Coliseum's governing commission, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, from using his position at the agency to score $560 worth of Panthers tickets ? on the public's dime. Neither Ridley-Thomas nor the commission reported the gift of the tickets in financial disclosures required by state law, and their value exceeded the legal limit on gratuities for government officials.

Last week, hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to a record 11 years in prison for insider trading: making a killing by buying and selling stocks using information that most of us didn't and couldn't know. The media emphasized the "symbolic significance" of the long sentence. But as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice celebrated, others asked: "Why do we even have these rules? How do you draw the line between smart research and illegal information?

Newt Gingrich had a net worth of at least $6.7 million and income of at least $2.6 million in 2010, according to financial disclosure forms that were released Monday.  That's a considerable jump from 2006, when financial disclosures filed by Callista Gingrich reported the couple's net worth at between $873,000 and $2.4 million.  The former House speaker's assets were valued between $7.3 million and $30.7 million in 2010, the majority...

Los Angeles police officials have launched a formal investigation into concerns that officers in one of the city's most gang-plagued areas are intimidating other cops from signing a controversial financial disclosure form that is required to join the department's anti-gang units. So far, five officers have been removed from their field assignments at the LAPD's 77th Street Division and will be transferred out of the area for their roles in two recent incidents. The inquiry at the 77th Street Division comes six months after department leaders suspended anti-gang operations there and at a handful of other stations in order to rebuild units vacated entirely by officers who refused to comply with the disclosure rule.

Ralph Morrell, the self-styled citizen activist who for a decade has pestered the Legislature to correct abuses and excesses, on Thursday recruited Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti for his crusade. Appearing a bit self-conscious at a press conference where he sat shoulder to shoulder with Morrell, Roberti (D-Los Angeles) announced that he has agreed to sponsor legislation to more fully disclose how much of the taxpayers' money the lawmakers spend on themselves.

Rep. Michele Bachmann deflected allegations Sunday that she and her immediate family had benefited from government assistance despite her demands to cut the federal budget, saying hundreds of thousands of dollars for her family farm and a counseling clinic went to employees and her in-laws. "My husband and I did not get the money," the Minnesota Republican said on Sunday news shows one day before officially opening her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa — her birthplace. The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Bachmann, a "tea party" favorite, had benefited from government funds and federal farm subsidies.