2 Bills Target Capitol Consultant-Lobbyist

Two lawmakers introduced bills Wednesday to restrict political consultant and lobbyist Richie Ross, comparing him to Artie Samish, a legendary lobbyist of two generations ago who once bragged, “That’s my Legislature.”

The pair of bills would ban Ross from lobbying the same politicians he helped elect. Although the bills don’t mention Ross by name, lawmakers said he is the only political consultant in Sacramento who also works as a registered lobbyist -- an arrangement many critics say gives him unusual influence with the people he helps elect.

Ross has worked for at least 14 Democratic lawmakers and constitutional officers in the last couple of years.

He upset legislators last month by cursing and shouting at the chiefs of staff to two lawmakers who did not vote for a bill backed by his client, the United Farm Workers. Ross has also acknowledged asking a political consulting client, Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), to carry legislation on behalf of a lobbying client, the Viejas band of Kumeyaay Mission Indians.

“I think it’s unethical for political consultants to cash in on their legislative clients by lobbying those clients,” said Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Los Feliz), author of one bill. “Political consultants know great intimate details about legislators’ lives and in many cases ... legislators owe them money from campaigns they have done.”

His bill, AB 1785, would work in concert with AB 1784 by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis). Both bills would amend the Political Reform Act of 1974 and require a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature to pass.

Wolk’s bill would prohibit a legislator from attempting to influence any issue being lobbied by a political consultant with whom the lawmaker has had a business relationship within the previous 12 months.

Frommer’s bill would ban a lobbyist from trying to influence a lawmaker while the lobbyist is also serving as the lawmaker’s political consultant and for two years after the contract ends.

Ross said he would obey the legislation if it became law. But he questioned its value, saying it would discourage political consultants from registering with the state as lobbyists and publicly reporting for whom they work.

“They’re only going to encourage this undisclosed ... lobbying,” said Ross.

Frommer compared the Ross incident and other aggressive lobbyist behavior with Samish, who lobbied in the 1940s and ‘50s and bragged of his ability to control lawmakers’ votes.

“Fifty years later,” said Frommer, “we find ourselves in a very, very similar situation. This Legislature has been in the headlines again with the antics of lobbyists who seem to think they own this institution.”