| For the past two weeks a pretty ugly picture of alleged goings on involving Lt. Governor Janice Hahn, the LA City Council and parties that do business in the Los Angeles Harbor (which is in Candidate Hahn's district) have been reported. What follow is just the latest in a series of news stories with the words: MONEY, BIAS, Campaign DONATIONS, ETHICS, and CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Certainly not words you want to read or hear about for a candidate for ANY Federal, State and local elected office. With the author's permission, this latest news story is presented in full, with some emphasis added.
Hahn How to Succeed in (City) Business Without Really Trying: Janice's Way By Ron Kaye
Janice Hahn's little conflict of interest problem in deciding to step in as the unbiased mediator of a dispute between Gambol Industries and LA Harbor officials over a $50 million shipbuilding project offers a window into the way City Hall so often does business.
It's not what you know but who you know.
In the Councilwoman's case, the person she knows and knows well is Gwen Butterfield, president and CEO of Butterfield Communication, a public relations firm. They have been friends a long time, good enough friends that acquaintances say Janice was maid-of-honor at Gwen's wedding.
When Hahn was sworn into office on July 1, 2001, at the same time her brother Jim was sworn in as Mayor, it was Butterfield who the LA Times found worthy as voice of the community to put the event into perspective.
"I think it is truly history in the making," said Gwen Butterfield, close friend and campaign +volunteer for Janice Hahn. "She's so excited . . . to have her brother swearing her in."
Butterfield's own life took a decided turn upwards with the arrival of Janice became chair of the powerful committee that oversees the Harbor Department.
She's doing a lot of business and has been a registered City Hall lobbyist for the last six years, with five clients showing up on her disclosure statement.
It should come as no surprise that are all about the Harbor: Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, Pacific L.A. Marine Terminal, LLC, Wallenius Wilhelmsenn Logistics and most of all, Gambol Industries which port insiders say has made her a very well-to-do woman, turning a modest living as a community organizer and part-time advocate into a PR/lobbying business with a half-million-dollars in billings.
The friendship also has been good for the Hahn's fund-raising efforts.
In breaking the story on Hahn's conflict-of-interest, Art Marroquin of the Daily Breeze reported
Gambol's president, Robert Stein, contributed $6,500 to Hahn's lieutenant governor campaign account last October and $500 to her City Council officeholder's account last August.
"Additionally, the Los Angeles-based law firm of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler and Marmaro is representing Gambol Industries in the ongoing negotiations with the port and contributed $5,000 to Hahn's campaign for lieutenant governor last September."
"That's $!2,000 worth of conflict," the Daily Breeze editorialized after Hahn reluctantly backed out of serving a mediator for the Gambol proposal which Harbor officials opposed because it would seriously delay a critical dredging proposal. |
| "The perception -- one of bias -- would be everything. Always there, it would cast a pall not only over the deal at the port but also over the support and opposition she has in the Harbor Area communities where she is best known. And that would cast shadows over her own future ambitions, which are, right now, pretty big. "
Butterfield herself has contributed nearly $13,000 over the years to Hahn and more than half a dozen other Butterfield clients have been equally generous in backing Hahn's political ambitions generously, according to city ethics records.
Like so much of what goes on the threads of relationships and the role of money casts a shadow over so much of what goes on. They call it "access" -- the access routinely denied the public or limited to two minutes of public comment -- but really it's corruption whether it's just in appearance, whether it's criminal or not.
In this case, the threads reach the LA Conservancy, which too benefited from Gambol's money, and sent to bat for the company in its fight with the Harbor Department.
Back in January 2009, the Conservancy's Michael Buhler urged the Harbor Commission in an email letter to delay the $96 million dredging project to reconsider its rejection of the berths Gambol wants as part of this historical preservation zone.
"The Southwest Marine Shipyard , including the slipways proposed to be filled with contaminated dredge spoils, is the last remaining link to Terminal Island's significant role in the World War II emergency shipbuilding program," he said.
Harbor officials rejected the arguments for delay showing that a study was already conducted to protect the parts of the shipyard that were worthy of protection on the National Register of Historic places.
Three months later on April 14, 2009, Hahn, in her official capacity, wrote the commission in response to the Environmental Impact Report urging delay and further study.
"This project certainly deserves some further consideration and review by the Part, and for that reason request that the Board delay its action on the Channel Deepening EJR, and request staff to look at alternatives that may Include a partial fill of those slips, In addition, I hope that the Board will take another look at using this location for economic opportunities including this proposal by Gambol Industries," she wrote.
Harbor officials also rejected her efforts, noting: "The site is currently secured by a caretaker, Gambol, whose duties include site security and promoting the site for use by the movie industry as an interim use. ."
Gambol's proposal just two months earlier, after the EIR was released and the comment period closed, included a long series of steps and proposed uses -- "commercial fishing, filming, and handling liquid bulk, along with using the site as a shipyard " -- that would lead to long delays in the dredging plan needed to allow large container ships to enter the inner harbor.
By summer, under pressure from Hahn and threat of a lawsuit from Gambol, Harbor officials agreed to a mediation process to resolve the dispute and see if both plans could work.
With that Memorandum of Understanding about to expire, Hahn stepped in as the impartial mediator and almost got away with it -- until the Daily Breeze exposed her conflict of interest.
The Cunningham Report, which closely follows port area issues, said the Corps of Engineers is ready to start the dredging project by the end of the month.
With Hahn recusing herself and unable to directly influence the process, Gambol is on its own with whatever other political influence or legal strategies it has at its disposal.
In the grand scheme of things where City Hall lobbyists and influence peddlers have such unlimited access to elected officials, their staffs and top bureaucrats, the fight over the Southwest Marine Shipyard is small potatoes.
The limits on public disclosure of documents, calendards and contacts limits our ability to see very far below the surface.
But the images we do get of what really goes on ought to wake people up to the need for full disclosure in real time and public access that is at least equal to that of those seeking personal advantages.
This article reprinted with the permission of the author, Ron Kaye. Link to this unfolding story, and past coverage as this story emerged can be found at RONKAYELA.COM. A Direct link to this story, which included a growing list of comments is at: http://ronkayela.com/2010/02/h...
Can one help but wonder if this unfolding story will cost Hahn a credible shot at the California Lt. Governor office in 2010? |
