Charles Munger, Jr., one of the state GOP’s most substantial activists and donors, linked up with former state Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, to write and file the initiative with attorney general Kamala Harris. “It’s time to put government transparency on the ballot and enact these reforms through direct democracy,” the pair announced in a release, as Politico noted.

The two have kept very different profiles in recent years. Blakeslee opted against seeking re-election in 2012, instead turning his focus to academia, now the founding Director of the Institute for Advanced Technology & Public Policy at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Munger, once credited by a Republican strategist with preventing the state GOP from being “driven into the sea,” has thrown his support behind ballot measures in the past. “He has tried to block tax hikes, diminish the power of labor unions and stop lawmakers from drafting election maps to their liking,” the Los Angeles Times recalled.

Click here to read the proposed ballot measure.

Going public

Assembly Bill 10, authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale, modernizes the Form 500 disclosure document in five ways:

1. “Clarify the reporting ranges for investments, property and income to be more specific and more in line with modern property-value ranges, providing more accurate information of the financial interests of an elected official;
2. “Require elected officials to disclose who their business partners are;
3. “Require elected officials to disclose what exactly their businesses do;
4. “Require elected officials to report the specific instances when they recused themselves from a vote because of a conflict of interest; and
5. “Extend the behested payment reporting requirements to include candidates, and elected officials for one year after leaving elective office, so that elected officials must disclose if they solicit funds from outside institutions during their term in order to pay their own salaries on their way out of office.”

“Increased transparency is essential to protecting public resources, preventing corruption and restoring public trust,” said Gatto in a prepared statement. “This legislation will modernize disclosure forms to reveal the business dealings of political insiders and give Californians greater access to information about their representatives.”

As Jeff Mitchell of the Salinas Californian previously reported, the current Form 700 documents are “completely undemanding and lax … in compelling local, county and state officials to tell us the actual nature of their personal financial affairs.” Without this information, he said, constituents “would never know when our electeds and key civil ministers are acting in the best interests of themselves or their friends and not of the public.”

AB10 has been ordered to the state Senate for consideration.

Legislative gift-taking eroding public trust

In an effort to stem the damaging headlines, Senate Democrats announced on Thursday their plans to introduce a package of bills to reform the gift rules for elected officials. The proposals include a ban on receiving any gifts from lobbyists, an overall reduction in the annual gift limit from $440 to $200 and an outright prohibition on accepting gifts of spa treatments, golf games and tickets to theme parks, concerts and sporting events.

“There is no question that recent events are testing the public’s faith in how our government does its work,” Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, said at the press conference. “We need to restore the public trust.” Of course, legislative leaders wouldn’t need more laws if they followed the best practices of their colleagues.

In the Assembly, Gatto has set the standard for ethics and transparency. He not only declined all international junkets, but disclosed gifts that even the state’s political watchdog would find unnecessary to report. His disclosure reports even include footnotes. 

Gatto follows spirit and letter of the law

“Giving and receiving small tokens are part of life,” Gatto said. “I try to follow the letter and spirit of the law, and that’s anything over $50.” In explanation of the gift certificate given to his daughter, Gatto said, “The rules are very clear that we have to report anything over $50.” 

Technically, Gatto’s interpretation of the law is correct. According to Fair Political Practices Commission’s instructions for the Form 700, the annual statement of economic interests, elected officials must report “gifts given to members of your immediate family” if the official can “exercise discretion or control over the use or disposition of the gift.” This “control over the use or disposition of the gift” also includes tickets to concerts and sporting events. It explains why Gatto reported tickets to the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl that he gave away to local high school students who had overcome adversity.

For several years, unlike many of his colleagues, Gatto has worked with teachers and administrators and found deserving students to take his spot at the big game.  And don’t think Gatto does it for the positive publicity. He’s been doing it for years and never told the press. The only place you’ll find it: on Gatto’s financial disclosure report, in compliance with state law.

Ethics: Appearance of impropriety

Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor who specializes in governmental ethics, said that the issue of elected officials accepting gifts is a balance between what is allowed versus what appears to cross the line of undue influence. “If the laws allows legislators to accept gifts, then is it improper or indecent for them to do so?” she asked. “While some gifts are permissible, it can intuitively feel problematic when our elected lawmakers accept gifts when we all strongly suspect they would not receive those gifts were it not for their official roles, and the power they wield in those roles.”

That appearance of impropriety is exacerbated when lawmakers travel with lobbyists on extravagant junkets to exotic locales. Last year, California lawmakers collected passport stamps from Germany, Switzerland, Cuba, Mexico, Poland, Norway, Taiwan, Israel, China, Armenia, Sweden, Canada and South Korea, much of it on the dime of special interest groups.

“When it comes to traveling and attending conferences, I want our officials to leave the Capitol and learn from others,” Levinson said.  “I don’t necessarily want them to do all of that on the public’s dime. When the conferences look fishy, or the sources of the funds have substantial business before the state, it is certainly fair to ask questions.”

Some legislators have avoided the questions altogether. During the Legislature’s 2013 spring break, while dozens of lawmakers were relaxing in Taiwan, Eastern Europe and Cuba, state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, fulfilled his monthly Air Force reserve duty. In addition to Lieu, state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, have declined to participate in junkets. And, of course, so did the Legislature’s ethical leader, Mike Gatto. “We are a big state with international implications, but I choose to stay in California,” he said. “My policy is simple: I will travel for limited circumstances but only in California. I am a California official.”

By Chris Reed

Jerry Brown’s speaking style — learned, florid, meandering — is so unusual that he’ll always be able to get away with his shtick that he’s not like other politicians. But his appalling push to gut open-government laws in California shows he’s just another primitive pol who reacts to negative coverage by seeking to punish the press.

The amount that his budget proposal would save by reducing state reimbursements for no-longer-mandatory local compliance with document requests is meager compared to the larger state budget. Meanwhile, the value of transparency in government is proven every day around the world. The cost of providing documents is small — and getting smaller — in comparison to the money saved by exposing government incompetence, malfeasance and corruption.

Governor has to know value of transparency

The governor has to know this. He’s no dummy. (Just ask him.)

So what could be motivating Brown’s attempt to gut transparency and stick his thumb in the eye of the media?

Let’s use Occam’s Razor and keep it simple. How about all the negative press the Brown administration has faced in the past two years?

Yes, the gov has gotten credit for trying to improve the state’s horrible budgeting practices and for pushing pension reform. But there have also been tons of stories, columns and editorials that he can’t care for.

The long list of stories Jerry wishes were ignored

For starters, there’s the bullet-train boondoggle. The beat reporters covering the California High-Speed Rail Authority have done a fabulous job in the past year of showing what a farce it is, making up for the horrible coverage seen in 2008, when voters were lied into giving the project $9.95 billion in state bond funds.

Then there’s the state’s never-ending computer fiascos. The state that’s home to Silicon Valley can’t bring its computer payroll system into the 1990s, much less the 21st century. There’s also the computer debacle with the DMV.

Then there’s the scandal with the state parks agency hiding millions of dollars from the Legislature and the public while seeking to close parks.

Then there’s the scandal with dozens of state executives getting paid millions of dollars in extra money in part-time jobs — really de facto overtime — with the state.

Then there’s the Bay Bridge scandal in which a multibillion-dollar state project is riddled with shoddy work and shoddier oversight.

Even ‘triumphs’ have prompted press skepticism

Even on issues where the governor has gotten good marks, he faces intense skepticism.

On the budget, Dan Walters has often pointed out the excesses of Brown’s claims to have shaped California up.

And on pension reform, the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial page depicted Brown’s efforts as woefully inadequate.

So looking at this big picture, why wouldn’t Jerry Brown enjoy kneeing the media in the groin?

Like Michael Jackson, he’d have us believe he’s not like other guys.

Yes he is. Oh, yes he is.