Irvine city officials are strengthening the city’s lobbying rules — regulations that provide oversight for advocates paid to influence city decision-making.
City council members approved the changes unanimously, which will require more people to register as lobbyists more often and publicly disclose their activities to the city.
It comes after the city got into some hot water when a former city consultant pleaded guilty to attempted federal fraud and admitted to attempted bribery in 2018.
A year ago, Anaheim’s corruption scandal demonstrated what can happen when cities have a lack of lobbyist oversight.
A federal corruption probe alleged that Disneyland resort interests held outsized influence on city policymaking. A following independent investigation into the City of Anaheim revealed a lack of disclosures on lobbyist and political operative work.
The scandal also touched on Irvine City Hall.
Melahat Rafiei, a former top aide to Mayor Farrah Khan and former head of the local Democratic Party, pleaded guilty to attempted wire fraud last year and confessed she tried to bribe city council members in 2018 for favorable cannabis laws.
Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder brought forward the item to review how other cities regulate lobbying to find ways to strengthen Irvine’s rules.
[Read: Irvine Looks to Tighten Lobbyist Rules]
The changes broaden the scope of lobbying activities and expand lobbyist categories within the city code. It also lowers compensation thresholds for lobbyists.
That means paid advocates attempting to influence city decision-making will be required to disclose their intentions earlier and more often.
Individual lobbyists previously only needed to register if they received $10,000 in a quarter to influence the city.
Now, that threshold will be lowered to $1,000 per month to trigger registration requirements.
“We found that that threshold [$10,000] was much higher than was being used in other jurisdictions,” City Attorney Jeff Melching said during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Additionally, advocates who receive at least $5,000 per year for public relations or advertising activities with the goal of influencing a city decision will also be required to register as lobbyist.
Instead of using a compensation threshold for in-house lobbyists, these individuals will only be allowed to contact public officials one time per municipal issue. On the second contact, they will need to register as a lobbyist.
Violations will be deemed public records for public review.
“The lobbying ordinance is fundamentally about disclosure,” Melching said. “It doesn’t prohibit people from lobbying, it encourages disclosure of lobbying activities.”
Councilmember Mike Carroll asked to include a section that prohibits city officials from engaging in lobbying activities in the City of Irvine or other Orange County municipalities.
Treseder voiced concern on how that change would affect council candidate Ayn Craciun, who works with the Climate Action Campaign to advocate for climate policy action in Southern California. She also chairs the city’s sustainability commission.
Since Craciun is running against Carroll for a city council seat this year, Treseder questioned his intentions when requesting this modification.
“I do have to say, it does give the appearance that Councilmember Carroll is using his position to attack Commissioner Ayn Craciun,” Treseder said. “She is his opponent for the council race, and I’m guessing he’s trying to get her kicked off the sustainability commission. I don’t really know, but it gives the appearance of that.”
“But the reason that I don’t mind and I support this change is because I fully expect that this will not be an issue soon because Commissioner Craciun will be on the council,” Treseder said.
Carroll emphasized that he believes council members, commissioners and committee members should not be lobbyists.
“You can be a lobbyist for the city or Irvine and serve as a commission at the same time if we don’t make this change,” Carroll said.
The lobbying ordinance will require a second reading and vote before it can go into effect.
The council meets again on Sept. 24 at 4 p.m.
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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