The Specter of "Pay-to-Play" Haunts Bond Measure

LA Community Colleges get $3.5 billion from taxapayers, diistrict trustees get cash for re-election

By RON KAYE

Updated 2:48 PM PST, Tue, Nov 11, 2008

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Within a week of winning passage of Measure J that provides $3.5 billion for Los Angeles community college construction, three trustees who oversee the district are out raising tens of thousands of dollars for their reelection campaigns.

The host for two of the fundraisers, which are seeking contributions of $1,000 to $5,000 at events at the luxurious City Club on Bunker Hill, is the head of a consulting and engineering company. Many of the contributors almost certainly will come from contractors, consultants and others who stand to benefit from the massive public-works projects.

The host of the third event was a fundraiser for the LACCD bond measure who has served as a consultant and raised money for many city officials, earning more than $1.3 million in fees from them during the last decade.

The close connection between campaign funding and public agency contracts raises the same questions that dogged Mayor James Hahn's administration and have come up again in the politics of City Hall.

Kelly G. Candaele, president of the L.A. Community College District's Board of Trustees, enjoyed the company of a lot of new "friends" Tuesday morning at his fundraising breakfast at the City Club.

Read: Kelly G. Candaele Fundraiser Invitation (PDF)

Michelle Gastelum, president of Summit Consulting and Engineering, hosted the event and is doing the same for Trustee Nancy Pearlman next Monday.

But the games don't end there.

Trustee Angela Reddock is inviting her "friends" to an event Thursday night at the posh Hancock Park area home of campaign consultant and fundraiser Brian Rix and lobbyist Bob Burke. Reddock, like the others, is seeking contributions of $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 but has added a more egalitarian $250 category.

Rix's fundraising skill helped the district mount a campaign that got nearly 70 percent of the vote last week. He's worked in the past for Wendy Greuel, Herb Wesson, Laura Chick, Bill Rosendahl, Tom LaBonge, Dennis Zine, Joel Wachs, Janice Hahn, Martin Ladlow, Julie Korenstein, Rod Wright and Rudy Svorinich.

What makes Reddock's event even more interesting is that the invitation lists seven trustees and eight presidents of LA Community colleges. "Special Guests" for the event include several politicians and the head of the faculty union, as well as LACCD Chancellor Mark Drummond and LACCD Facilities Director Larry Eisenberg.

That completes a circle of all those who will decide which firms get the lucrative contracts that will be funded by the bond issue.

So questions are likely to come up frequently in coming years about whether taxpayers got the best work at the best price, whether cost over-runs are justified and who is in a position to hold anyone accountable if everyone is in a small circle where politics and money meet.