Lobbying

From the start of the District 2 campaign, the message to voters was clear. Indicators predicting the future were plainly evident. City Council members (on live broadcast television) reported that City Council candidate Greg Hill had phoned them to lobby for contracts of the Southern California Gas Co. in which Mr. Hill is an employee. His lobbying, while a candidate, was stated to be improper (to lobby is to solicit votes of members of a governing body). We voters should be grateful that Hill's lobbying for his employer's contracts was promptly reported to the voting community of District 2. This lobbying must prompt us to remember that (1)

The Senate, reacting to scandals involving Reagan Administration appointees, shouted approval Tuesday of a bill that would strengthen restrictions against lobbying by former government officials and for the first time extend the limits to former members of Congress.

As California's electricity crisis exploded this year, so did lobbying by energy companies. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which has filed for bankruptcy protection, spent $622,000 lobbying lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis' administration during the first three months of the year, according to reports filed with the state Monday. The reports show that seven energy companies spent more than $1 million on lobbying as they ramped up their response to the crisis.

A Los Angeles government relations firm accused of violating the city's lobbying ordinance 256 times has agreed to pay an $18,000 fine, according to a report released Wednesday. The head of the city Ethics Commission found that King R. Woods & Associates failed to disclose that dozens of its clients--including a businessman seeking to build a massive health club on Wilshire Boulevard--had paid nearly $170,000 for lobbying services between January 1996 and June 1998.

A jury of seven men and five women was selected Friday to hear the trial of former White House aide Lyn Nofziger, who faces conflict of interest charges. U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Flannery said that the trial, which is expected to last about a month, will begin Tuesday with opening statements by court-appointed prosecutor James C. McKay and defense attorneys for Nofziger and his co-defendant, Mark A. Bragg.

A few months ago, the president of the California Assn. of Long Distance Telephone Companies sent members an unusual ultimatum: Give $100,000 in political contributions to key policymakers in Washington, he said, or risk a telecommunications reform bill that would let new competitors into the lucrative business of providing long-distance telephone service. "We have no guarantee that the president will veto the legislation," wrote Jeff Buckingham, president of the Sacramento-based association.

Gov. George Deukmejian and Rep. Daniel E. Lungren held a strategy session Sunday to draw up a list of "swing vote" Democrats to lobby in their battle to win Lungren's confirmation as state treasurer by the California Legislature. With floor votes scheduled for Thursday in both the Senate and the Assembly--and the legal deadline for confirmation next Monday--the governor told reporters that "it's going to be a very difficult effort. It's going to be a struggle."

The County Board of Supervisors formally ended its budget hearings Tuesday, kicking off what are expected to be several weeks of intense lobbying by department heads and community groups against proposed cuts. "Negotiations, refinements, additional changes will continue for the next several weeks," said County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider. "In many ways, this is just a beginning."

Seeking a full federal inquiry, the National Republican Senatorial Committee charged Thursday that tax-exempt corporations are being used illegally to funnel money into the campaigns of liberal candidates. The complaint focused on Citizen Action, a 1.6-million-member nationwide lobbying force that has become increasingly active at local levels in such issues as toxic waste and health care and has generally supported Democratic candidates.

Bush on Friday criticized a letter signed by his former finance chairman that sought lobbying business with the government of Haiti, citing the official's close contact with the presidential nominee. "I denounce it," Bush told the Associated Press in an interview aboard Air Force Two. "I don't like it. I think it's wrong." The letter, made public this week, was signed by Frederick M.