Mayor Karen Bass has doubled down on bringing ethics to the forefront of Los Angeles government operations. The latest in a series of actions aimed at purifying City Hall's moral compass involves introducing stringent new rules for staffers and redefining the landscape of acceptable donations. "We must move to restore trust and faith in City Hall and ensure that City Hall is working for the people of Los Angeles," as the Mayor announced on the press release.
Staff in the Mayor’s Office will now have to navigate through a new ethical labyrinth, falling in line with Bass's high road to integrity. In conjunction with her appointed Deputy Counsel and Ethics Officer, Ruth Kwon, who brings a whopping 18 years of legal wizardry to the table, Bass is on a full-on crusade to straighten what's been skewed in local governance, according to an announcement made by the Mayor's Office. Earlier this month, the Mayor’s Fund of Los Angeles and the Getty House Foundation, guided possibly by a stroke of Bass's ethics wand, also clamped down on donations from registered city lobbyists and developers.
Bearing the torch of ethical nobility hasn't been a solo run for Bass; she's joined forces with Norm Eisen, former White House Special Counsel for Ethics, who's lent his expertise to the mayor's quest. According to the Mayor's Office, "Ambassador Eisen and Mayor Bass are working together with other peer U.S. and international cities as part of the Brookings Institution’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Leadership Cities Network to share learnings and best practices in promoting ethics and integrity at the municipal level." Sharing, after all, is caring, especially when it comes to the finer points of municipal virtue.
The mayor has deployed her counsel's office to implement what is heralded as the most thorough vetting process to date. "I thank the leadership of the Mayor’s Fund Los Angeles and Getty House Foundation for taking this important action to ensure they are operating with top ethical conduct," as mentioned by Mayor Karen Bass.
