Karen Bass Landed in Another Scandal After How Her Campaign Interpreted Her Own Lobbying Rule

Karen Bass promised Los Angeles the strictest charity donation rules that City Hall had ever seen.

Her rule kept lobbyists from giving a dime but never touched the corporations signing their paychecks.

What those companies had sitting on the mayor's desk when the checks arrived is the real scandal.

Bass Sold Her 2023 Pledge as the End of the Garcetti Era

Angelenos already know how this mayor handles pressure.

She was in Ghana when the Palisades fire broke out, and she later told Vice News "hell yeah" she regretted the trip.

In 2023, Bass rolled out a "Mayor's Office Ethics Pledge" after years of heat over Eric Garcetti's fundraising machine.

"We must move to restore trust and faith in City Hall," Bass declared.

She bragged these were "the most strict ethics reforms ever implemented by either organization" – meaning the Mayor's Fund Los Angeles and the Getty House Foundation.

The rule barred lobbyists from donating to either group.

It did not bar the corporations that pay those lobbyists.

It did not bar donors with business sitting in front of the city.

The loophole sat in her own rules from day one.

So the checks kept coming – they just came from the corporate account instead of the lobbyist's wallet.

A Center Square investigation found the two nonprofits have pulled in 300-plus payments worth $22 million or more at Bass's request since she took office in December 2022.

The donor list reads like a directory of City Hall contractors – Amazon, AT&T, McDonald's, PepsiCo, Charter and the Dodgers.

Charter Paid Up Ten Days After Its Contract Hit Bass's Desk

On October 28, 2025, the city's IT agency sent Bass a proposed three-year, $2.75 million contract extension for Charter Communications.

On November 7, 2025, Charter sent $10,000 to Getty House at the mayor's request.

The City Council approved the extension in February 2026.

AT&T's timeline is even tighter.

Its largest known city contract, with a $60 million ceiling, won approval 22 days after a July 2024 payment Bass solicited.

At the time, the president of the Getty House board was also an AT&T regional vice president.

PepsiCo gave $140,000 to Getty House between 2023 and 2026 while a Pepsi vice president sat on that same board.

About ten days before one Pepsi payment, the city received a proposal to hand Pepsi exclusive pouring rights at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

Wells Fargo sent $200,000 at her request on the same day the city approved a contract extension for the bank worth about $5 million.

Amazon gave $232,217 while its cloud service ran under a city contract worth up to $6.26 million.

Engineering firm HDR made two $5,000 payments while a deal worth up to $138.5 million for the LAX overhaul was pending.

Alaska Airlines landed up to $2.9 million in airport rent credits in early 2024, then gave $100,000 to the Fire Department Foundation later that year.

Bob Stern, who co-wrote California's Political Reform Act, explained the whole game in two sentences.

"When people or groups give and they have business pending before the city? Well, that's why they give."

Bass never answered The Center Square's repeated requests for comment.

Los Angeles Has Watched Pay to Play End in Federal Prison

Behested payments are legal in California, and that is the problem.

State law only forces an official to report a solicited donation once a single donor hits $5,000 in a calendar year.

There is no dollar limit at all.

The charities collecting the money are not required to tell the public who their donors are.

Bass has now steered roughly $38 million in behested payments overall, second in city history only to Garcetti.

Southern California News Group editorial writer Susan Shelley put it bluntly: "We have a pay-to-play culture in Los Angeles. It's legalized corruption."

That culture has already cost one councilman his freedom.

Former Councilman José Huizar got 13 years in federal prison in January 2024 for racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion in a pay-to-play scheme fueled by developer bribes.

She wrote the ethics rule, she took the bows for it, and the corporate checks sailed right past it.

Voters get their say on November 3, when Bass faces Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who is running even further to the left.

Until someone closes that loophole, the companies chasing city contracts will keep lining up at Getty House with their checkbooks open.

Sources:

• Adam Herbets, "Mayor Bass solicited millions through a gap in her own lobbying restrictions," The Center Square, September 23, 2026.
• Adam Herbets, "Mayor Bass solicited companies with millions riding on City Hall decisions," The Center Square, September 22, 2026.
• Isabel Vincent, "LA Mayor Karen Bass' office hit with scandals over hush money, bribes and accusations of 'legalized corruption,'" New York Post, January 17, 2025.
• Cameron Arcand, "Los Angeles Mayor Bass says 'hell yeah' she regrets Ghana trip after wildfires ravaged city," Fox News, July 25, 2025.
• U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, "Former Los Angeles Politician José Huizar Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy and Tax Evasion," U.S. Department of Justice, January 26, 2024.
• Fair Political Practices Commission, "Reporting Behested Payments – Form 803," FPPC, accessed September 2026.