Agran Questions Officials’ Day Jobs

Irvine officials are debating whether it’s ethical for City Council members to be employed by individuals or companies that lobby other city governments.

At issue is the work of Irvine Councilwoman Christina Shea, who owns a real estate and government relations firm. It is not an uncommon arrangement elsewhere in Orange County, where several elected officials are also employed as lobbyists.

Shea and others say that as part-time officials they have a right to earn a living at other jobs. They say they never lobby their own city governments and are careful to avoid conflicts of interest.

But Irvine Councilman Larry Agran is skeptical.

“If you want to lobby elected officials or planning commissions in Santa Ana or Huntington Beach, you have a special degree of access, and you’re getting compensated for it,” Agran says. “In my mind, this is government for sale; this is government by EBay, and it’s wrong.”

The Irvine debate about lobbying arose this month as the council was considering a code of ethics for its elected officials as part of a proposed ethics and open government ordinance by Agran and Mayor Beth Krom.

The ethics code, among other provisions, would declare that “because of their uniquely important, visible and elevated status and responsibilities as elected officials,” council members shall not be paid to lobby any government agency “on behalf of any private person or organization.”

Irvine council members sparred over the proposal for three hours during the Dec. 13 meeting, which ended at midnight after Agran accused Shea of improperly trading on her government position for private gain. The council is scheduled to take up the matter again Jan. 10.

The ordinance would be the first of its kind in California, public interest groups said. It would go beyond state conflict-of-interest laws that already prohibit elected and appointed officials from being involved in decisions in which they have a financial stake.

Other state laws bar elected officials from lobbying their agencies for a year after leaving office. None of the laws contains a provision like that of the Irvine proposal, which would forbid officeholders from certain occupations.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Robert Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. “That’s unprecedented to restrict what a person can get paid for doing.”

Shea warned that the proposal could have far-reaching consequences. It could possibly exclude from the council attorneys, developers and those representing nonprofit organizations sometimes hired to lobby government agencies, she said. “You’re saying to huge numbers of people” that they can’t be elected officials.

Although Shea has been Krom and Agran’s principal target, Agran said at the Dec. 13 meeting that he was also bothered by the lobbying activities of officials elsewhere in the county -- although the proposal would not affect them.

Agran mentioned Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Laguna Beach Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Laguna Niguel Councilman Paul G. Glaab.

Pringle opened a lobbying business after leaving the Legislature and being elected Anaheim mayor in 2000. Agran said a conflict was inherent in any conversation between the two because of confusion over “whether he’s speaking to me and serving the public interest or addressing me for private interests.”

Pringle said he was careful to clarify whether he was speaking for Anaheim, for himself or for a client.

He said he’d taken a few clients to see Agran about issues and didn’t realize the councilman was bothered by it.

The state’s conflict law “is pretty clear, and all the elected officials I know adhere to it,” Pringle said.

“People in my community know I have to make my living somewhere.”

Pearson-Schneider, whose business is marketing and outreach, said she doesn’t consider herself a lobbyist, even though what she does may fall under the broad definition of lobbying in the proposed law.

Before moving to Laguna Beach, she marketed the city of Cleveland and now offers marketing services to clients throughout Orange County -- including helping Irvine to promote the Great Park.

“I feel that elected officials are good people to hire for outreach or consensus-building because they understand the public process,” she said.

Glaab, who runs Glaab & Associates Inc. in Laguna Hills, couldn’t be reached for comment.

At the meeting, Agran, Krom and Councilman Suhkee Kang said they were uncomfortable with elected officials calling on one another to lobby for projects.

Council members have unique access to people and information, Kang said, which “becomes your asset, and that’s what people are paying for.”

When challenged by Councilman Steven Choi on why the restriction was necessary when no other city had it, Agran responded that Irvine “has always had a higher standard.”

Several Irvine residents at the meeting spoke against the proposal, including former Councilman Ray Quigley. “To disqualify someone from holding a job, you have to have proof of a violation of some law or code,” he said. “Public policy is not and should not be a reflection of your comfort level or lack of comfort level.”

Stern said much the same thing.

“The question is: Is Irvine hurt by council members having another job as a lobbyist because it harms the city or its image?” he said.

“If not, is the law being proposed because some on the council don’t like what someone else is doing? The danger is that you could have a council adopting policy based on who they like, and that’s a problem.”

Shea said she expected Agran and his allies to use the ordinance against her in her reelection campaign next year by accusing her of unethical behavior -- something she has denied.

She asked the city attorney what the punishment would be if a council member broke the law, and he said there was nothing the city could do other than have the city manager “counsel” the errant council member.

“If there’s no teeth to it,” Shea said, “why is it even in there?”