June 15--As Los Angeles braced for a closely watched Police Commission ruling on the shooting of a mentally ill black man last week , Mayor Eric Garcetti said he needed to leave town to discuss issues of importance to the poverty- and crime-afflicted communities of South L.A. with officials at the White House.
But the mayor had another time-consuming commitment to keep in Washington on the eve of the Police Commission's decision on the killing of Ezell Ford, The Times has learned. In addition to two short meetings with Obama administration officials, Garcetti also attended an event for his reelection campaign held by one of the Democratic Party's most prominent fundraisers.
In an interview Monday, Harold Ickes -- a veteran political operative and former top campaign and White House aide to President Clinton -- said the mayor was at his home in Georgetown on the evening of June 8 for a fundraising reception for Garcetti's 2017 campaign.
Ickes said Garcetti was present throughout the two-hour event, and "stayed afterward" to talk with some attendees. By contrast, the mayor had two meetings scheduled to last half an hour each at the White House on Monday, according to his office.
ISG President supporting Mayor Eric Garcetti campaign reception in Georgetown tonight at the home of Harold Ickes. pic.twitter.com/XaT8cHKAmY
-- IbarraStrategyGroup (@ISG_DC) June 9, 2015
Ickes said the reception was attended by "40 or 50" guests, who were each asked to donate $1,400, the maximum individual contribution under L.A.'s campaign-finance limits.
Among those who attended the fundraiser was Mickey Ibarra, a prominent Washington lobbyist who posed for a photo with Garcetti that was posted on Twitter.
Ickes, who also held a fundraiser for Garcetti's 2013 mayoral campaign, said the event was planned several months ago at the mayor's request.
"He knocked on the door again, and we were perfectly happy to do it," Ickes said.
In his remarks to guests at the fundraiser, Garcetti didn't discuss Ford's shooting at length, although he hinted that he had to return to L.A. that night because of a police-related controversy, Ickes said.
"He said there were issues that he had to get back and deal with, but he didn't go into any detail," Ickes said.
Garcetti was criticized by activists for leaving town as the Police Commission prepared to issue a decision on whether two LAPD officers were justified in fatally shooting Ford in South L.A. last summer. The complaints came after the dead man's mother, Tritobia Ford, said on television news that Garcetti had not paid enough attention to her son's case.
On the morning of June 8, a small group of protesters blocked the mayor's car as he tried to drive to the airport for his flight east. In an exchange that was caught on video and posted on the Internet, one demonstrator said, "Black people are dying." Garcetti responded, "I know that. I'm going to D.C. ... exactly for that reason. I'm going to the Justice Department."
He also suggested the city could lose "$15 million for homelessness, if I don't make this plane."
Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State L.A. who was among the demonstrators at Garcetti's house, said she thought the mayor's attendance at a political fundraiser "absolutely contradicts what he told us" about the reasons for his trip to D.C.
"He told us he was going to Washington to get money for the sort of resources we need for the black community," Abdullah said.
The mayor returned to L.A. on Tuesday on an overnight flight, and was in town when the Police Commission announced its finding that one of the two officers who shot Ford was not justified in using deadly force. On Tuesday afternoon, Garcetti met at First AME Church with Ford's mother, who praised the mayor's outreach but said it came "10 months late."
Last week, mayoral aides repeatedly refused requests for detailed information about what Garcetti did during his one-day trip to Washington. Jeff Millman, a spokesman for Garcetti, said such information would have to be reviewed by an attorney before it could be released.
On Friday, Millman issued a calendar for the mayor's activity in D.C. on June 8 that included only a meeting with White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Jerry Abramson from 5 to 5:30 p.m. and with Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan from 5:30 to 6 p.m. No other engagements were on the itinerary.
In a brief interview last week, Garcetti said he offered Abramson's office feedback on L.A. police initiatives for the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The task force, established last December, is soliciting information across the country about best practices in law enforcement.
In the meeting with Donovan, Garcetti said, he sought additional funding for homelessness programs.
White House officials said the meeting's with Garcetti involved a range of important priorities, including veterans, homelessness, climate change and community policing.
Garcetti said last week he was in Washington "literally for I think three hours of work-time" and that after meeting with White House officials "I did see friends, uh, friends, on the -- before I went to the airport, for a moment."
The mayor declined to say whether he had participated in campaign fundraising events in D.C. "We don't ever discuss campaign fundraising stuff, but you can certainly ask the campaign about that," he said, adding "that's a set policy and it's not me being, whatever."
Asked about the Ickes fundraiser on Monday, Millman said the mayor would not be commenting further about his time in Washington.
"We've said everything we have to say on it," Millman said. "We've given you the schedule and we said what he did."
He said the mayor was not referring to the fundraising reception when he told The Times that he saw "friends" on the way to the airport. That was a separate social engagement, Millman said.
He referred further questions to Garcetti campaign officials.
Bill Carrick, a consultant for the mayor's reelection campaign, confirmed in a phone interview that the fundraiser at Ickes' house took place.
"Harold's a good friend of Eric's, and he supported him last time," Carrick said. "He wanted to do something for him when he was coming through Washington."
peter.jamison@latimes.com
@petejamison
