Some within the city's lobbying ranks -- mostly those who have gone to the trouble of filling out the Ethics Commission's extensive paperwork -- have argued that there are a number of unregistered lobbyists who have gotten a free pass from the city's enforcement agency.
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre did not register as a lobbyist until last year, after The Times reported that he had spoken to five elected officials and seven city departments regarding various companies and issues. One nonprofit group, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, registered in mid-January, weeks after city officials received a public records request from a law firm asking for the number of times the group had met privately with the city's elected officials.
Under the current law, lobbyists are not required to register with the Ethics Commission until they have spent at least 30 hours working on a particular issue in a single three-month period. The new proposal would require lobbyists to identify themselves when they have made a single contact -- for pay -- with an elected official or other city decision-maker.
"People that are on salary don't keep hourly records," Tristan said. "They're on salary, so a one-contact rule would basically mean that if you have one contact, you're basically a lobbyist."
Such a change would probably require registration by figures such as attorney Mickey Kantor, a former federal cabinet secretary who did not register as a lobbyist even though he spoke to city harbor commissioners three times last year on behalf of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, according to port documents.
Lobbying firms are still pushing for the city to require that unpaid groups, such as homeowners associations, register as well. And business leaders have voiced irritation about a plan to exempt some nonprofit groups from registering, saying that it would keep the public from understanding how certain public decisions are made.
Los Angeles is not the only city looking to tighten its lobbying rules. San Diego put a similar law into effect on Jan. 1, lowering the earning threshold for requiring a lobbyist to register from $2,730 every three months to $1.
That change brought to light a number of unregistered lobbying clients, said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a nonprofit group that plans to weigh in on the Los Angeles lobbying proposal.
"Qualcomm [Stadium] had never registered before. SeaWorld had never registered before. And the unions never registered before," he said.
Despite the uproar over badges in Los Angeles, at least one lobbyist sounded willing to make a deal on the issue. Afriat said he would be willing to wear the new identification, as long as he no longer has to pass through the metal detectors that greet every person who enters City Hall.
"You let me get through security without emptying my pockets, and I'll wear anything," he said.
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david.zahniser@latimes.com
