LA Councilman and Union Boss Pleads Out for Embezzling, etc---the usual

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

> <http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-ludlow9mar09,1,7980623.story?coll=la-headlines-politics>http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-ludlow9mar09,1,7980623.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
> From the Los Angeles Times
>
>
> Ludlow Pleads Guilty to Violating Campaign Law in '03 Council Race
>
>
>
> By Patrick McGreevy
> Times Staff Writer
>
> March 9, 2006
>
> Former Los Angeles City Councilman Martin Ludlow pleaded guilty Wednesday 
> to a felony charge that he conspired with the head of a school workers 
> union to illegally funnel union funds into his 2003 council campaign.
>
> Under the terms of a plea bargain, Ludlow, when he is sentenced April 21, 
> will shoulder $40,000 in fines and court costs and accept a four-year ban 
> on holding elected office and three years' probation. He has agreed to 
> cooperate with the district attorney's office as it prosecutes Janett 
> Humphries, the former president of Service Employees International Union 
> Local 99.
>
> "This is another step in accepting responsibility for judgment errors I 
> made," Ludlow said outside the courthouse after admitting to conspiring to 
> circumvent the city's $500 limit on campaign contributions and two 
> misdemeanor counts of violating city campaign laws.
>
> Accompanying Ludlow to the hearing before Superior Court Judge David 
> Horwitz was his wife, Kimberly, and an entourage that included a minister 
> and three attorneys.
>
> He also has agreed to plead guilty to one federal felony charge of 
> conspiring to embezzle funds from Local 99 that were used to pay six 
> workers on his campaign and provide him with a cellphone. As part of that 
> deal, he will pay $36,000 in restitution and be banned from serving as a 
> union leader for 13 years. He also has agreed to pay $105,000 in fines to 
> the city Ethics Commission.
>
> Outside the courthouse, Ludlow said he would cooperate with investigators, 
> including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's inspector general, 
> who has been looking into agency contracting.
>
> "I look forward to getting on with the rest of my life and being a better 
> man as a result of some learning from making mistakes," Ludlow said. "I 
> have been fully cooperating with the authorities, and will do so, and will 
> work my way toward making full restitution, and I apologize to anyone who 
> has been hurt by my actions."
>
> Ludlow, 41, left the City Council last year to become head of the Los 
> Angeles County Federation of Labor, a position he resigned from last month 
> to accept the plea bargain in the criminal case against him.
>
> Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman said Wednesday that the scheme involving 
> Ludlow cheated the electoral process.
>
> "This kind of practice undermines the democratic process in a variety of 
> subtle ways," Huntsman said.
>
> "It has a very strong impact on an election to be able to break the rules, 
> and they appeared to have been broken in a very calculated way, and there 
> was a cover-up," the prosecutor said.