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Ethics Commission Votes To Ban Tickets For Elected Officials

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Los Angeles' Ethics Commission voted to ban the city's elected officials from accepting tickets to events in exchange for performing a ceremonial function, if the source of the tickets has business before the city.

Elected officials would be able to perform the ceremonial function at events hosted by "restricted sources," but would have to leave after the ceremonial function is completed. If those officials want to stay at the event, they would have to pay for a ticket out-of-pocket.

The proposed change in the city's Governmental Ethics Ordinance still has to be approved by the Los Angeles City Council.

The issue of free tickets came to light when a media report detailed the value of tickets that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had accepted to Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers games, concerts and awards shows. Villaraigosa had defended his acceptance of free tickets by noting he was at the events in an official capacity.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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