Are SLO County politicians ‘too cozy’ with lobbyists? This candidate wants reform
Stephanie Shakofsky is amping up her campaign to unseat county Supervisor John Peschong with a series of “good government reforms” she supports, including a proposal to regulate county lobbyists.
Arguing that the sitting supervisors are “too cozy with monied interests and their lobbyists,” Shakofsky said she would push for a reform to require lobbyists to register with the county clerk and report their campaign contributions, gifts and meetings for public review.
There are currently no county lobbyist registration or reporting requirements, but some existing rules cover some of what she proposes.
Already, the Political Reform Act requires supervisors and candidates to disclose campaign contributions. It also limits gifts local officials can receive from any source to no more than $500 in a calendar year, and those gifts must be disclosed in a conflict-of-interest form, in certain cases. And it’s county policy that supervisors disclose who they’ve met with before some votes, such as land use permits.
However, the regulations Shakofsky proposes would gather all that information into one place and fill in gaps in public access.
Currently, it’s difficult — and in some cases impossible — for the public and media to find out who supervisors have met with leading up to legislative decisions, for example. It could be beneficial to see a list of lobbyists that supervisors met with before voting to support or oppose Community Choice Energy, or cannabis regulations, for example.
Similar sunshine rules have been adopted in several other counties in California. Several sitting supervisors in San Luis Obispo County, including Peschong, told The Tribune the proposed regulations are unnecessary; Peschong added the reforms are more appropriate for larger counties heavily lobbied by special interests and he questioned whether the county even has lobbyists.
The special interests Shakofsky is concerned with are cannabis- and water-related. She defines lobbyists on her website as someone who performs services for compensation to influence legislative or administrative action.
Shakofsky is known by her base as a vocal critic of the board’s approval of large cannabis operations in the North County and the proposed reforms reflect that focus. When pressed for examples of how lobbyists unfairly influence local officials, she said “clearly (supervisors) have been heavily lobbied by big cannabis interests,” but she did not provide specifics to back up the claim.
Supervisor Adam Hill said he is open to the idea, saying open government reforms should be welcome.
“The most obvious thing that comes to mind is COLAB (Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business). They’re very influential with the majority. They’re not transparent.”
Supervisor Bruce Gibson said he isn’t opposed to reforms, but he would want to hear what problem the reforms purport to solve. Similarly, Supervisor Debbie Arnold said she’s open to learning more, but it seems to be a political pitch in the heat of the campaign and not necessarily a reflection of a public need.
The reforms would add a layer of regulation, they said, that could be costly.
Shakofsky said she will announce a new policy idea each week leading up to the election.
