Politics

Unpaid Lobbyists No Longer Have To Register With SD City

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published November 9, 2009 at 3:15 PM PST

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

The San Diego City Council has voted to change the city’s ethics rules so unpaid volunteers do not have to register as lobbyists.

This was one of the rare issues where the council split down the middle -- 4-to-4.

Some members said unpaid lobbyists are often the most influential. They didn’t want to water down the lobbying ordinance by exempting those people from registering.

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But Councilwoman Sheri Lightner defended the first amendment rights of the average citizen to speak to an elected official without having to register.

“If this comes to pass,” Lightner said, “everyone I talk to, even my husband would have to register, would he not? There are rights we have as citizens, and that doesn’t mean we have to register every time we express our opinion."

The council eventually settled on wording by the city attorney that requires only paid lobbyists to register.

Carl DeMaio and Marti Emerald argued councilmembers should take more initiative to disclose all their ex-parte communications before voting on issues. Currently council members have to publish their calendars just once a year.

Unpaid Lobbyists No Longer Have To Register With SD City

The San Diego City Council has voted to change the city’s ethics rules so unpaid volunteers do not have to register as lobbyists.

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Politics San Diego Government

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.