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Heard through the grapevine that some are “freaked out” by
my proposals to reform political contributions and private communications with
lobbyists and contractors. The proposals will be on the Council agenda this
Tuesday and I encourage you to let me and the other Councilmembers what you
think about them.
Simply put, it is time that the City of Long Beach prohibit
taking political contributions from contractors, potential contractors and
anyone doing business or applying to do business with the City. The City also
needs to proactively put in place requirements that electeds disclose text
messages and emails on their private cellphones and computers that are related
to the conducting of city business during a council meeting and any other time.
These proposals are part of my continued push to make local
government more open, transparent and accountable. In the past, I have pushed
very hard to register lobbyists and to prohibit gifts from them. I also
proposed that City Council members disclose at the beginning of a vote whether
or not he/she has had contact with anyone who has expressed an interest in the
council agenda item. This is a requirement made for the State Coastal
Commission and I pushed for it to be enacted for votes on the Medical Board of
California, on which I serve. Unfortunately, the council rejected that
proposal.
I have also advocated for putting online the calendars of the Mayor
and City Councilmembers. To date, only a couple of Councilmembers put their
calendars on line. The public deserves to know who we are communicating with that
may have an impact on our votes.
We wouldn’t be the first city council to put these reforms
in place: The Mayor and City Council of San Jose have their calendars on line
as well as their key staff persons’ calendars. The Mayor and City Council of
San Jose are required to disclose before a vote if they have received a text or
email during the council meeting on an agenda item. And most recently, the
Mayor and City Council of San Jose are now required to disclose texts and
emails from their private cellphones and computers if the contents are related
to conducting official city business. This last reform came as a result of the
City being sued and the court ruling that these communications are public
records.
The federal and state governments prohibit political
contributions from contractors and/or bidders on contracts. Many other cities
prohibit contributions from potential and current contractors. It took the
voters of the City of Los Angeles to put that requirement into law. But
certainly our Council could step up and put them in place without a ballot
measure.
Because the details of both proposals need to be worked out,
I am recommending that they be referred to the Council Committee on Elections Oversight
with a return to Council within 120 days.
I know we can do this.
