Los Angeles Times: L.A. is planning to limit campaign money from developers. But first, more fundraising

L.A.’s elected leaders are on the brink of passing a law that would deprive them of one of their biggest sources of political money — real estate companies with projects pending at City Hall.

Under the proposal, those companies and their executives would be prohibited from giving directly to the election campaigns of city candidates. But enforcement of those new restrictions could still take a while — more than two years.

The prolonged timeline has drawn complaints from critics, who say it will allow incumbent council members in the March 2022 primary campaign to preserve one of their key advantages over challengers. …

Advocates of campaign finance reform have voiced disappointment that the proposal before the council is not more ambitious. And Rey López-Calderón, executive director of the watchdog group California Common Cause, said he thinks it’s outrageous that council members are planning such a lengthy delay for enforcement of the new rules.

City leaders should move ahead with the developer donation limits “whether or not they can 100% enforce it,” López-Calderón said.

“It will be great when they update their systems and get a database” to track developers with pending projects, he said. “But what they need to do right now is show the public that they’re serious about changing the culture of Los Angeles City Hall.”