City ethics commissioner Bill Boyarsky took the on-line ethics course required of Los Angeles officials and found the exercise filled him with mixed emotions.

"Campaign contributions -- the target of some of these ethics rules -- remain the corrupting force in politics," he writes at his LA Observed blog. "As a newly minted ethics scholar, I know that they can’t be eliminated. But their impact can be limited through public financing of political campaigns."

The experience also reminded him of when he and the late Frank del Olmo were assigned to write the Los Angeles Times ethics code. More over there.

Some background on Bill: He was appointed to the ethics commission by Controller Laura Chick; he is currently the vice president. Writing about his experiences there for LA Observed is a natural role for Boyarsky: he had been city editor and Metro columnist at the Times and earlier in his career created and led the paper's City-County Bureau. (He also covered Washington and Sacramento.) His latest book, on the late California political figure Jess Unruh, will be published next year by UC Press. Boyarsky began contributing occasional posts to LA Observed last month. His bio and my introductory post from November.

Add politics:
The Times' current City-County Bureau Chief, Jim Newton, talks about the paper's morale and future on NBC4's News Conference with Conan Nolan. Jack Kyser, chief economist for the county Economic Development Corporation, and political consultant Mike Murphy also guest. Sunday 9 am on Channel 4.
Living wage at LAX hotels may go to voters.
Tony Castro examines Richard Alarcon's bid to return to the City Council and gets him talking.
Businesswoman Monica Rodriguez and a field of minor candidates will try to stop Alarcon.