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.
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