Saturday, July 14, 2007 | You had a brief article about the new lobbying law, to be heard by council Monday, July 16. Its principal weakness is that the lobbyist disclosure comes months after the actual lobbying. So the public is not aware of the lobbying and the campaign contributions until well after the lobbied councilmember has voted. There’s a simple remedy for this, which is used at the Coastal Commission. There, the members announce at the meeting who lobbied them.
I asked the Ethics Commission and the City Council to add this to the new lobbying ordinance, but it fell on deaf ears.