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It shouldn't surprise that Keenan, city were both paying lobbyist

Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008 - 02:13:28 pm PDT

One city’s lobbyist is another man’s consultant.

Last week it came to light that developer Charles Keenan was paying half of the fare for the city of Half Moon Bay’s efforts to lobby the Legislature on behalf of AB 1991. The lobbyist, California Strategies, offered a more nuanced line. Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the company, said that the city was paying for efforts to persuade the Legislature of the merits of the Beachwood bill, while Keenan was paying for unspecified consulting work. Entirely different deliverables, he intimated.

That the city paid its lobbyist roughly what Keenan reportedly paid for his consulting — all to the same firm — is merely a coincidence, Kinney said.

Opponents of AB 1991 — including state Sen. Leland Yee, who, truth be told, had already made up his mind to oppose the bill — have painted the dual payments as a damning deal with the devil. But does it really matter who is paying for influence in the capital? The Beachwood settlement trade-off allows an aggrieved developer to build on his suburban plot without respect to environmental requirements in exchange for his legal claim to an eight-figure judgment. It was bound to leave an aftertaste.

California Strategies is a well-known consortium of former politicians and government insiders with the connections and expertise to convince reluctant elected officials to do what they might not otherwise do. The company includes a University of California regent, a former mayor of Modesto, and advisors to former Govs. Gray Davis, Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson and current Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In other words, it is a thoroughly reputable firm doing the daily dirty work we would rather think doesn’t occur in our democracy. If you think laws are passed in Sacramento based solely on the merits, well, we can arrange to sell you 24 acres of man-made wetlands called Beachwood.

Key to the Half Moon Bay lobbying efforts is California Strategies principal and former state Assemblyman Rusty Areias. He was once director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation and served on the California Coastal Commission for four years. He may be uniquely suited to broker a deal between environmental hardliners and reticent state legislators. Kinney, who explained the firm’s relationships with Keenan and the city of Half Moon Bay, once served as communications director for state Sen. Don Perata, who happens to chair the Senate Rules Committee. That is the very committee that currently has jurisdiction over AB 1991.

The settlement agreement that earlier this year ended litigation between Keenan and the city specified that the “city shall cooperate and consult with ... (Keenan’s) consultants as it obtains passage of the legislation ...” It didn’t specify who would pay for what. If this is a smoking gun, it was fired in March when the settlement was signed.

— Clay Lambert

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