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Politics Nov 01, 2022
Los Angeles City Hall. | Photo courtesy of David Vives/Unsplash
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The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to renew its exploration of creating an Office of Anti-Corruption and Transparency in response to the City Hall racism scandal.
The council began the process of establishing the office in 2020, but the matter expired because it was not placed back on the agenda for more than two years.
Councilman Paul Koretz introduced a motion seeking to reactivate the process, following the leak of a 2021 recorded conversation among three council members and a top county labor leader that involved racist comments and attempts to manipulate the redistricting process.
The leaked recordings make “this discussion and this work not only right but necessary,” Koretz said. “And this, like other efforts to establish an independent redistricting commission and to expand the size of the City Council, is intended to enhance accountability of the elected officials in this building.”
The original motion was introduced by former Councilman David Ryu, who at the time cited a sweeping FBI and Department of Justice probe into corruption around real estate development and the abuse of land use power in Los Angeles. That probe led to the arrests of Councilmen Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander.
Ryu’s motion focused on oversight of land use development and construction processes and approvals, but Koretz introduced an amendment on Tuesday to potentially expand the scope of the office to other areas such as ethics in the wake of the recent scandal.
The proposal will be reviewed by the newly created Ad Hoc Committee on City Governance Reform.
