Report Lists Lobbyists’ Donations to Council : Ethics: Sherman Oaks firm tops list of contributors to officeholders and candidates in L.A.

If you’re running for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council and need campaign money, lobbyist Ken Spiker is the man to know.

A new kind of report released Friday by the city Ethics Commission showed that Spiker led the list of lobbyists who doled out contributions to officeholders and candidates in Los Angeles.

Of the $39,600 in political donations made during the last five months of 1994, more than $30,000 came from Sherman Oaks-based Spiker and Associates, including, apparently, some contributions the firm delivered for its clients.

The information was disclosed as part of the newest wrinkle in the periodic reports required from the paid advocates trying to influence city decisions. Recent revisions in the city’s ethics laws require that lobbyists add political contributions to the list of information they must disclose, including clients, earnings and expenditures.

The sources of political donations have long been reported on campaign finance documents, but ethics officials said putting all the information relating to lobbying activities on one form makes it easier for the public to see all the financial connections between advocates and the officials they hope to sway.

The lobbying ordinance is designed “to give some window into the relationships between lobbyists and the officeholders they are seeking to influence,” said Benjamin Bycel, the Ethics Commission’s executive director. “There is nothing illegal about lobbying, but we believe people have the right to know about it.”

What the new report does not do, however, is distinguish between contributions that are made by the lobbyist and those that the lobbyist delivers for clients. Thus, for example, a $3,000 donation to Barbara Yaroslavsky, a candidate in the 5th Council District, is attributed solely to Spiker. But because it far exceeds the $500 limit on contributions by an individual, it almost certainly includes donations from Spiker’s clients or other people in the lobbying firm, ethics officials said. They added that they plan to change the reporting form so future filings are more precise.

Spiker, who was the council’s chief legislative analyst for many years, could not be reached for comment Friday.

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Others who benefited from Spiker’s skills during the reporting period from Aug. 10 through Dec. 31 were council members Ruth Galanter ($500), Richard Alarcon ($2,250), Mark Ridley-Thomas ($3,000), Nate Holden ($500), Hal Bernson ($5,250) and Rudy Svorinich Jr. ($2,000). Spiker’s lobbying activities during that period earned him $217,745.90 from clients that included Anheuser-Busch Cos., Elsmere Corp., the Official Police Garage Assn. of Los Angeles and R.J. Reynolds.

Overall, 32 lobbying firms earned $1.9 million for their advocacy activities during the period, the Ethics Commission report showed. Several other firms besides Spiker’s made political contributions. They include Rose & Kindel, $3,600; Browning-Ferris Industries, $2,250, and Fitch/Davis Associates, $1,000.