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LA Observed columnist Bill Boyarsky recently completed a five-year term on the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. He was appointed after writing Controller Laura Chick a letter suggesting that the experience might teach him something about government from the inside, after years as a journalist. Oh, he learned stuff all right. In a piece in the Times' Sunday Opinion section, Boyarsky reveals the hard lessons learned.
Five years ago...I was new to government, a bit wide-eyed about what I'd be able to get done and eager to begin shepherding big changes through the system. In particular, I hoped to help clean up a political system that I had come to see as dominated by money.By last month, however, when my term expired, I had learned my lesson. I left City Hall frustrated, irritated and saddened -- and most of all, humbled by a culture impervious to change. "Free at last," I said when my colleagues asked me if I had some final words at my last meeting June 10...
Looking back at my time on the commission, I can now see two main impediments to accomplishing anything: the rules and regulations limiting ethics commissioners' ability to speak out on issues that were basic to our mission, and the City Council's relentless disdain for anything we proposed.
The bottom line: "After five years as a commissioner, I have to admit that politics doesn't mix well with my background as a newspaper reporter and editor. A journalist's drive to get the story and, hopefully, to right a wrong is in direct conflict with a City Hall culture of protecting the status quo." Read it all.