Bill on Political Consultants Shelved

The Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee Wednesday shelved a bill sought by the state Fair Political Practices Commission to regulate professional political consultants.

“I don’t see the abuses and I haven’t had one phone call about the abuses going on,” Chairman Johan Klehs (D-San Leandro) said as the measure by Sen. Alfred E. Alquist (D-San Jose) was set aside for a between-session hearing.

The bill would have required professional political campaign consultants to register with the secretary of state and have written contracts with clients if payments for services exceed $5,000.

It also would have prohibited a campaign consulting firm from sending, publishing or distributing campaign literature on behalf of a candidate or committee without previous consent of the party. Campaign consultants also would be subject to sanctions of the Political Reform Act.

“The public won’t know who is actually responsible for some of the negative mailings unless this bill is passed,” commission Chairman Dan Stanford said. “Despite all the hysteria on the part of campaign consultants, there’s nothing in this bill that kills First Amendment expression or inhibits free speech at all. . . .”

Stanford said the bill does “nothing more than register and identify campaign consultants and require that they have written contracts with clients.”

Klehs said he supports the idea of requiring campaign professionals to register with the state but disagrees with other provisions of the bill.

Stanford’s push for regulation of political consultants was a response to complaints the commission has received over the years about campaign tactics.