Experts question whether big-money campaigns backing Karen Bass are truly independent
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Set us as preferred Solomon Rivera left a $272,000-a-year job advising Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass this year.Months later, he was helping her out in a different way: running Unidos Con Karen Bass, an outside campaign committee supporting her reelection.A lawyer for Unidos Con Karen Bass says there’s nothing improper about Rivera’s change in duties.
Others disagree, saying an ethics investigation is warranted.As an independent expenditure committee, Unidos Con Karen Bass is allowed to raise campaign donations in unlimited amounts.In exchange for that privilege, the committee cannot coordinate its activities with the mayor or her campaign.Because Rivera was recently a high-level aide to Bass, he is presumed under city and state law to be coordinating with the mayor’s campaign while running the pro-Bass Unidos committee, said Neama Rahmani, former director of enforcement for the city’s Ethics Commission.
That, in turn, would make the money spent by Unidos a contribution to the mayor’s reelection campaign, and subject to the city’s strict limit of $1,800 per donor, he said.“The law is written to prevent these types of insiders who are not truly independent from going to I.E.committees,” said Rahmani, who supervised investigations for the Ethics Commission from 2012 to 2014.Rahmani, who is not supporting either candidate, said if he were still with the Ethics Commission, he would have launched an investigation into Unidos, which has spent about $1.1 million on digital ads and other campaign expenses.Rivera, who spent three years as Bass’ deputy chief of staff, didn’t respond to inquiries from The Times.
Stephen J.Kaufman, an attorney representing Unidos, said he is confident there was no coordination between Rivera’s independent expenditure committee and Bass’ political team.“He has not spoken with or ...