Limits Urged on Political Activities of City Panelists

The Ethics Commission voted Thursday to recommend two measures that would severely restrict the political activity of city commissioners, prohibiting them from being paid lobbyists and soliciting campaign contributions for city officials.

Most city commissioners--who sit on panels overseeing everything from city harbors and airports to animal regulation--are appointed by the mayor.

The influence and conduct of the commissioners came under scrutiny this year after the abrupt resignation of Scott Z. Adler, a land developer and lobbyist who served as president of the Building and Safety Commission.

Adler earned $325,000 lobbying city officials. He was the subject of two criminal investigations over representing a Koreatown bar manager in court on a citation by the Building and Safety Department. However, the district attorney’s office has decided not to file conflict-of-interest charges against the former commissioner. In a separate matter, Adler was charged last week with a misdemeanor count of soliciting a prostitute.

Councilman Nate Holden spoke on behalf of the proposed regulations, arguing that a small army of commissioners appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan was using its influence to change the outcome of future municipal elections.

“They’re out choosing sides and raising money to establish a Tammany Hall,” Holden said.

A few lobbyists spoke out against the proposed limits, including Ken Spiker, of Spiker and Associates, who defended his profession as a necessary public service. Spiker serves on a city pension commission.

The proposal to prohibit lobbying by commissioners was approved unanimously, while one commissioner, Eve Fisher, voted against the proposal to prohibit commissioners from soliciting campaign contributions.

Seven of Riordan’s nearly 300 appointees are registered lobbyists. Records show that over a 3 1/2-year period ending in January, commissioners donated more than $270,000 to candidates and officeholders.