Three years ago, the head of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission gathered a group of staffers for a meeting to discuss city and state gift laws, which determine how much free food, entertainment and other gratuities a politician can legally accept.

Heather Holt, the agency’s executive director, had potentially disturbing news — a member of the City Council had “threatened to cut the Ethics Commission’s budget if they did not give more permissive advice” on certain gift rules, according to a March 2018 email written by a commission staffer who has identified herself as a whistleblower.

“Heather then asked if ‘anyone was willing to lose their job over this,’” wrote Alexandria Latragna, then the agency’s ethics program manager. The Times reviewed a copy of Latragna’s email, which was partially redacted.

Latragna said in her email that Holt told commission staffers that to maintain a good relationship with the council, they would need to be more “middle of the road” with the advice they gave on gift rules involving private events sponsored by lobbyists.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.