City Mgm't (Again) Creates "Informational" Flier On Mayor/Council Sought Charter Amendments, (Again) Omits Key Information, (Again) Contends It's Not Advocacy (You Decide)
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(Sept. 27, 2018, 5:45 a.m.) -- City management has created an "informational flier" on the four Mayor-proposed Charter Amendments which the City Council voted (without dissent) to schedule for a special November citywide election. As with the recent Measure M (utility revenue transfer/diversion), City Hall's "informational" flier omits key facts while contending the result isn't advocacy. LBREPORT.com provides the salient text of the City Hall created "informational" flier below. We accompany it with our comments and we welcome your comments on the taxpayer-paid expenditure below.
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City flier "informational" text
LBREPORT.com comments
Measure AAA - City Auditor's Authority If passed, this measure will authorize the City Auditor to conduct performance audits of city departments, boards, commissions and offices. Performance audits are defined as independent assessments of programs, functions, operations, or management designed to enhance performance, cost savings, efficiency or service improvements.
The Auditor's office recently completed an Animal Care Services audit that it describes in its own words as a performance audit. The incumbent Auditor hasn't cited a single instance of any LB body preventing her from conducting a performance audit. Including superfluous measure AAA lets the Mayor/Council diverts attention from self-serving Measures BBB (changing "term limits" for themselves) and CCC (an "ethics commission" the Mayor chooses/Council approves and can remove)
Measure BBB - Three-term limit on Mayoral and City Council service If passed, this measure will provide that no person may serve during his/her lifetime more than three terms as Mayor and more than three terms as City Councilmember. The proposed measure would further prohibit any candidate for the office of Mayor who has served three terms or City Councilmember who has served three terms from running as a write-in candidate.
Omits that BBB would replace LB's current two-term limit-plus-write-in. The measure is self-serving for the incumbents since it allows themselves third terms without meeting public-choice write-in requirements.
Measure CCC - Ethics Commission If passed, this measure will establish a seven-member City Ethics Commission to impartially administer and implement the provisions of the City Charter, statutes and ordinances concerning campaign finance, lobbying, conflicts of interest and governmental ethics. Enforcement of ethics laws would continue to be carried out by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, the Attorney General, District Attorney, City Attorney and City Prosecutor, as appropriate.
Omits that the measure lets the Mayor and City Auditor choose a majority of the "Ethics Commission" after which the Mayor with 2/3 Council approval can remove any Ethics Commission members for any reason (letting foxes choose the hens and guard the hen house.)
Measure DDD - Citizen Redistricting Commission If passed, this measure would establish the Long Beach Independent Redistricting Commission with sole authority for establishing Council districts following the U.S. decennial census, or more frequently if necessary. The City Charter currently grants the City Council the authority to establish or change Council district boundaries.
In our view, this measure has the greatest substantive appeal. However members of this new, powerful body would first be vetted by a "screening panel" comprised of the Ethics Commission (see above, if Measure CCC passes) or if Measure CCC doesn't pass, chosen by the Mayor from a pool recruited by the Mayor.
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During the Measure M campaign, city management inserted a similarly prepared "informational" flier in city utility bills and hired a political consulting firm at a cost of nearly $100,000 to send three "informational" mailers to high propensity voters. The "informational" materials portrayed Measure M as restoring a long-standing previous utility revenue transfer practice, which was half-true. The previous practice (halted by taxpayer litigation) transferred surplus utility funds, while Measure M allowed City Hall to transfer a portion of gross city-operated utility revenue and authorized the utility to replace it with customer rate increases (which the Mayor-chosen/Council-approved LB Water Commission swiftly did after voters approved Measure M.) When four taxpayers (including retired Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske) filed a complaint regarding the content of City Hall's "informational" flier with Sacramento's "Fair Political Practices Commission," the agency's staff declined to pursue it.
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As separately reported (first again) by LBREPORT.com, between July 1, 2018 and Sept. 19, 2018, a campaign-contributor funded "Mayor Robert Garcia Committee & City Auditor Laura Doud Committee to Support Good Government Measures AAA, BBB, CCC, DDD" collected $77,500 (including $25,000 from LB's police officer association/union PAC in early July to pay down part of the Committee debt for its pro-Measure M campaign) which it can use to fund a simultaneous although legally separate explicit advocacy campaign for the Mayor/Council desired Charter Amendments.
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(Sept. 27, 2018, 5:45 a.m.) -- City management has created an "informational flier" on the four Mayor-proposed Charter Amendments which the City Council voted (without dissent) to schedule for a special November citywide election. As with the recent Measure M (utility revenue transfer/diversion), City Hall's "informational" flier omits key facts while contending the result isn't advocacy. LBREPORT.com provides the salient text of the City Hall created "informational" flier below. We accompany it with our comments and we welcome your comments on the taxpayer-paid expenditure below.
