By JOSE HERRERA
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles’ Ethics Commission authorized staff Wednesday to contract with the state Office of Administrative Hearings to provide an administrative law judge to serve as a hearing officer for the investigation of Councilman John Lee.
The commission has contracted with the state office for hearing officers since 2004, according to a report from David Tristan, the commission’s executive director.
The commission voted 3-0 to direct staff to finalize an agreement, with President Jeffery Daar recusing himself to avoid “any appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said.
Daar and Lee were among the 16 candidates in the 2019 special election to fill the vacant 12th District City Council seat following the resignation of Mitchell Englander to take a job with the Oak View Group, a global sports and entertainment advisory, development and investment company.
Enforcement Officer Kenneth Hardy explained Wednesday that the commission only decided on hearing officers for an evidentiary hearing, which he described as “somewhat like a trial.”
Hardy said that during this procedure evidence is brought forward, witnesses may be examined and cross-examined, and sometimes objections are made.
The individual administrative hearing officer will make a recommendation whether the alleged violations occurred, then provide a written report with factual findings, conclusions of law and a summary of the evidence.
Per the report, the OAH in-person filing fee is $125 per case and the hourly rate for administrative law judges is $369. OAH typically schedules the city’s hearings two to six months after a case is filed, but the timeline depends on the facts of the matter whether a case may be extended, officials said.
The hearing should take a day, according to the report.
Members of the Ethics Commission must then determine whether the alleged violations actually did occur and, if so, what penalty is appropriate.
The commissioners had three…
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