Mayor Urged to Detail Charter Panel Funding

Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro on Friday urged Mayor Richard Riordan to clarify his position on providing funding for a citizens commission that was elected to rewrite the city’s charter.

Riordan helped fund the campaign to create the commission and promised to raise private contributions to pay for the cost of the commission’s staff and other expenses.

But in a letter to Riordan, Ferraro said the mayor and other supporters of the elected panel have so far “remained silent regarding funding.” Ferraro said this has put the panel in a state of confusion over its funding.

The only funding offered to the panel so far has been a $30,000 check provided by the Fund for Better Los Angeles Government, a nonprofit group with ties to Riordan.

But the council has refused to accept the $30,000 contribution for the commission until the sources of the money are publicly identified.

The council is considering making its own contribution to the commission, but Ferraro said he would first like the mayor to help identify the sources of the money and make clear his intentions on funding the panel.

A spokesman for Riordan could not be reached.

The council’s Rules & Elections Committee will take up the funding matter on Tuesday.