Panel Paid Wesson’s Son $30,000

The oldest son of Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson received $30,000 last year from a supposedly independent political fundraising committee whose initial treasurer said the group was organized with help from Wesson’s office.

When interviewed last week, Herb Wesson III would not specifically describe what he did for the money or for whom he worked beyond saying that he provided “advice and some relationship-building.”

And the person whom state disclosure forms identify as president of the Committee for a Better California said he didn’t know anything about the payment -- or that he was listed as the top officer.

Those details raise questions about the propriety of the payments to Herb Wesson III, the alleged independence of the fundraising committee and potential violations of the law.

The state Political Reform Act requires that disclosure statements be truthful under penalty of perjury. The filing official listed as committee treasurer is political consultant and former state Assemblyman Bruce Young, who could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts this week and last.

City ethics rules do not bar officials from hiring family members. Wesson’s council election committee paid another son a $10,333 consulting fee, and his wife received $3,940 for holding a fundraiser and producing campaign mail.

Though some ethics experts question the practice, citing concerns about nepotism and funneling money back to a candidate’s or officeholder’s family, others believe that it is mostly a matter of appearances and that disclosure is an adequate counterweight.

“Whatever I did, I reported it,” Wesson said, referring to his campaign payments to his 23-year-old son and his wife. “I’ve had my share of dings, but I try to adhere to the spirit and intent of the law.”

However, Wesson -- a former state Assembly speaker who also was once an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke -- said that although he knew of the Committee for a Better California he had no role in securing the $30,000 contract for Herb Wesson III.

“The key is we can raise funds, but the spending decisions are made by” committee officials, the councilman said.

Disclosure forms identify the top committee official as Michael J. Henry, who is director of personnel for Los Angeles County.

But Henry told The Times that he knew nothing about the payment to Wesson’s son and had no idea that he was listed as the political group’s president.

And in a March 2 letter to the committee’s treasurer, Henry requested that “effective immediately” his affiliation be dropped.

“I never heard about [the committee] until you mentioned it to my secretary,” Henry told The Times. “I get calls from people all the time regarding soliciting campaign contributions and, given my position with the county, I always turn them down. I am appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and I try to stay as apolitical as possible.

“Until you called me I didn’t even know the committee existed,” Henry said. “I’m quite taken aback by it.”

In the days after his interview with The Times, Henry said, he researched the committee and discovered that his father-in-law had once served as treasurer. He said he might have once agreed to participate on the committee in some way, but added, “I dispute that I was ever appointed president.”

Henry’s father-in-law -- Don Benjamin of Long Beach -- was the committee’s initial treasurer from 2003 until mid-2004.

Benjamin, a retired engineer, said last week that he had trouble recalling details about his involvement with the Committee for a Better California.

But he said that he was a “good friend of Herb Wesson” and that he recalled that an Assembly staffer of Wesson asked him to serve on the committee.

Benjamin could not recall the staffer’s name.

“I don’t know too much about what [the committee] was formed for -- I thought it was for helping underprivileged kids,” Benjamin said. “It was kind of like a privilege being accepted into this fraternity. That’s all I can tell you. That’s all I know.”

In a series of interviews last week, Herb Wesson III, 29, said he received the $30,000 for consulting on state campaigns. He usually works as a deputy to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), who succeeded his father.

But he is on leave to run the campaign of Kevin DeLeon, a Democratic candidate for the 45th District Assembly seat.

“That was a while back,” Herb Wesson III said. “I do a lot of political consulting work for various candidates or organizations and whatnot. That was something I was doing for them [the committee] last year and a little bit before. It was a variety of things. I’d have to look at my notes to tell you in detail what I did for them. It was primarily based around advice and some relationship building.”

Pressed further about whom he worked for and what interests they were advancing, Wesson III said he wanted to check his notes before talking more about the contract.

One day later, he said, “I still wasn’t able to check my notes.”

One hour later he told The Times: “I don’t disclose that information in regards to what I do for a client. I’ve been doing this for a while, and that’s one of the things I stick to.”

Wesson III did say that the Committee for a Better California generally works on issues important to Democrats and the working class.

The committee had only two donors: Southern California Edison, which gave $25,000, and the political arm of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which gave $20,000.

Over the last four years, the committee has spent most of its money on two items -- the consulting contract with Herb Wesson III and a $10,000 donation to another political action committee, Californians United.

The treasurer of both the Committee for a Better California and Californians United is lobbyist Young.

An employee of Young on Thursday referred all questions about the committees to Sacramento political consultant Richard Temple.

Temple, however, said he did not work for the Committee for a Better California, only for Californians United.