POLITICIAN WATCH : Travelin’ Along

There’s nothing like bad publicity, and an upcoming election, to spur the Los Angeles City Council into action.

The council this week approved a common-sense travel policy that should have been in effect long before now: Only one elected or appointed official can go on a city-paid overseas trip, and such travel must first be approved by the mayor and the council.

The impetus for the sensible new travel policy? A well-deserved public outcry over a planned 10-nation Asian-Pacific tour by a whole delegation of Harbor Department officials. The trip would have occurred, needless to say, as the lame-duck Bradley Administration is preparing to leave office. The trip was scaled back and even the deputy mayor, Mark Fabiani, was forced to denounce the original scope of the junket as “outrageous.” What a difference a few days, and a lot of irritated constituent calls to City Hall, make.

It didn’t help City Hall’s public relations that the controversy broke while Mayor Tom Bradley was already in Europe on a $250,000 tour organized by the Department of Airports. None of these international jaunts sit well as the city faces a budget deficit as high as $550 million.

The council says it will reconsider its travel policy after a new mayor takes office this summer. A new mayor and new commissioners will sometimes need to travel to promote business for the city. But that doesn’t mean that a new mayor should be used as an excuse to bring back the unfettered globe-trotting of Travelin’ Sam (Yorty) or more recently, Travelin’ Tom.