« LB Gets Award For Being “Most Business Friendly” | Home | Why Our ER Rooms Are in Trouble in Long Beach »
Why We Need A Lobbyist Ordinance and Full Disclosure of Discussions with Lobbyists
By Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske | November 19, 2008
The City Council Committee on Elections Oversight has been crafting legislation that would require lobbyists to register in the City of Long Beach and to require members of the City Council fully disclose any discussions they have with lobbyists on issues before the council that take place outside City Council deliberations. City Council members would be prohibited from taking gifts of any amount from lobbyists.
The ordinance is necessary because we need transparency in all transactions that we undertake on behalf of the public. Those who are paid to advocate for their clients do just that. They talk to elected officials and urge a particular position. They take elected officials to lunch or dinner or play golf or bicycle together and advocate the position of their client because they are paid to do so.
The public in Long Beach does not know today who is a lobbyist because unlike other cities in California we do not require lobbyists to register. We are one of the last cities to have such legislation.
The public has the right also to know when an elected official has a discussion about an issue pending before the council especially when the discussion is not in front of the public.
There are many public boards in California that require full disclosure of its members about any discussion related to a pending issue so that the public knows who was contacted — which is appropriate. Why should the public not have the benefit of knowing that their elected officials had conversations about an issue at which they weren’t present and that the conversation may have had a bearing on the decision made by that elected official.
Why shouldn’t city officials take gifts from lobbyists? Obviously. A lobbyist is trying to influence. Why should elected officials be allowed to accept gifts from them? Will someone vote because someone gave them a $75 dollar basket? Hope not. But it gets mighty difficult to say “no” to someone who has been nice.
Transparency in government is extremely important. When real estate deals are made, when projects are proposed, when contracts are given, when any decision before a city councilmember is made the public deserves to know who influenced that decision.
But this won’t happen. Not in Long Beach.
Topics: City Council, Lobbyists |
Comments are closed.