Santa Clara's Ethics Committee

Currently the City of Santa Clara has an Ethics Committee, composed of three councilmembers and some staff.

Previously there was a Campaign Finance Reform Committee and a separate Ethics Ordinance Committee. The Campaign Finance Reform Committee was a committee composed of councilmembers. The Ethics Ordinance Committee was a committee composed of councilmembers and representatives of the Citizens' Advisory Committee. I should know, because as past chair of CAC, I was the person who appointed Josephine Rowen and Martin Grosz to represent CAC in Ethics Ordinance Committee discussions.

Though I supported merging the two committees into one committee, I did not support removing CAC representatives from formal participation. In fact, I still believe citizen participation in such discussions brings valuable benefits to the public and should be reconsidered in some fashion.

And, there is still business for the renamed "Ethics Committee" to consider:

1) The committee should consider moving back the final date to disclose city council candidate donations so news media and the public have additional time to review the materials and to contact candidates with questions, clarifications, etc. Currently there is less than a week before election time for anyone to review the filings, and there are only three days between disclosure and Friday afternoon, the very latest day that final campaign mailers must be taken to bulk mail. When one pushes back printing and labelling schedules, etc., there is hardly any time to publicize the content of those final filings either for newspapers or for campaign mailings. And, the final donation report can provide valuable insights into a candidate's campaign.

2) The committee should open up the content of the "Final Word" evening so anything that has occurred since the previous televised forum is fair game for discussions. If this best is resolved by scheduling more frequent televised candidate interactions, then so be it. But, it makes little sense to limit the candidates' discussions of concerns they otherwise have not had the opportunity to discuss with their opponents on television.

3) The committee should address the concern of planning consultants who work in town, but who do not carry a City of Santa Clara business license. Under-the-table payments should be a thing of the past. The City's ordinances already require all businesspeople to obtain a City business license, whether they run a multi-billion dollar high tech firm or a home business of any type. If someone is paid to represent an applicant before the Historical and Landmarks Commission, the Planning Commission, the Architectural Review Committee or the Council, that representative should hold a City of Santa Clara business license. The cost is minimal but the message of respect for City procedures is substantial. And, if someone holds a business license, there is a better chance that payments will be handled respectfully and not like some form of pizza money.

4) The commitee should ask candidates for public office in Santa Clara to pledge only to hire paid political consultants who hold a valid business license. Why should council candidates spend money on people who refuse to comply with a basic City law? Santa Clara has a provision in its business license fee structure that provides for a nominal annual fee for people with offices in other cities, but who conduct some form of "non-office" business in Santa Clara. So, that's not a high hurdle to ask of consultants sited in other cities. And, for any political consultants whose primary business address is in Santa Clara, those folks have no excuse not to abide by City of Santa Clara business license requirements.

I ask the Ethics Committee to agendize and to discuss these four items at their earliest convenience.

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