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Friday, July 27, 2007
Politics Lobbying Rules To Get Less-Than-Extreme Makeover
Posted by on Fri, Jul 27 at 4:40 PM
A follow up to the story I wrote this week on the city’s lobbying regulations: This Wednesday, city council is scheduled to lower the threshold for reporting from 16 hours to eight hours.
What does that mean? Currently, only lobbyists who spend 16 hours or more per quarter are required to report their lobbying activities; that high threshold has meant that the vast majority of the lobbying that happens at city hall is going unreported.
The new ordinance (pdf)—co-sponsored by every council member except Mayor Tom Potter—will lower that number to eight hours per quarter in an attempt to give a more complete picture of city hall lobbying. With four commissioners already signed on, it’s likely a done deal.
They aren’t, however, even touching the exemption for neighborhood associations although, if you’re a betting person, you could put money on Randy Leonard making a speech about it this Wednesday. I got five on it.
Comments
I said it in fewer words.
Shit. Where do I send the five dollars?
I'll be by Wednesday to pick it up.
Randy, how can you be that free with five bux in this economy?? That's a bunch of money these days....
Might we define terms, here? What's "lobbying," exactly? Does this post comprise lobbying? (It might.) Does the time I spend thinking up witty ways to make my points to commissioners count? the time I spend writing ever-so-slightly slanted items for the St. Johns Sentinel's web or print editions? or is it just face-time?
I think we're drifting into some murky shoals with the focus on neighborhood associations. Since NAs are fundamentally branches of ONI -- a City bureau -- how can conversations between commissioners and NAs be considered lobbying?
Who each council member meets with before voting on any issue should be transparent with no exceptions.
I agree. And let's include how much money they've taken in political contributions along with that.
Randy,
You owe me a hamburger.
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Actually, my issue is not precisely that just neighborhood associations should be included in the disclosure requirement.
I believe that anyone -whether they are acting as individuals, as part of a non-profit, are paid lobbyists or are representing neighborhood association- who spend more than 8 hours per quarter lobbying the council for whatever reason should publicly disclose those interactions.
Who each council member meets with before voting on any issue should be transparent with no exceptions. The current requirement that only "lobbyists" must disclose meetings with each council member gives an incomplete, partial and misleading picture of whom we meet with in the course of our duties.