Blog note: this article refers to testimony
for former grand jurors and a grand jury report.
Submitted to voters by
unanimous vote of the San Francisco Ethics Commission, Proposition C
rectifies a puzzling abolition of disclosure requirements for one type of paid
lobbyist who try to influence city government decisions. In establishing the
Ethics Commission by a charter amendment, voters wisely provided that such
commission can submit a ballot measure directly to voters for approval without
Board of Supervisors consent.
Prop. C restores public
disclosure of lobbyist expenditures which existed until removal by the Board of
Supervisors in 2010!
“Expenditure lobbyists” and
“direct contact” lobbyists both attempt to influence City Hall decisions.
“Expenditure lobbyists,” however, don’t lobby supervisors or city commission
members directly. They do it indirectly by paying others for online petitions,
Internet lobbying, identifying and inducing specific audiences to apply
pressure at City Hall for favorable decisions, gathering people to speak at City
Hall hearings, political rallies and demonstrations, transporting such people
to speak at hearings and mass rallies and initiating paid advertising to
persuade the public to contact elected and appointed officials.
The public should know about
the source of expenditures of these calculated and sly efforts to persuade
public officials to render desired decisions, just like they do as to lobbyists
who meet directly with supervisors and commissioners. Prop. C was promulgated after Ethics Commission public hearings
with supporting testimony from former civil grand jury members and a specific
San Francisco grand jury request that the loophole created in 2010 by the Board
of Supervisors be closed.
Don’t be fooled by claims that
SPUR, various “affordable” housing organizations, unions and similar
beneficiaries of city government spending oppose Prop. C. They still won’t
need to disclose expenditures of less than $2,500 per month while engaging in
lobbying and spending money on decisions that involve millions of taxpayer
dollars, such as contracts, development permits, zoning variances and city
franchises. We have the right to know of their expenditures. That’s the reason
the San Francisco Taxpayers Association and so many other San Franciscans urge
a “yes” vote on Proposition C.
October 16, 2015
San
Francisco Examiner
By Quentin L. Kopp,
former Board of Supervisors member, state Senator, and Superior Court Judge,
now president of the San Francisco Taxpayers Association
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