I spent four years running a political organization in Santa Barbara County, and the most useful thing I learned was whose phone calls get returned.
In 2020, the Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury, a group of regular citizens who investigate local government, looked into how the county’s cannabis ordinances were written and found something that should bother every resident here regardless of how they vote on cannabis.
The grand jury determined that cannabis industry representatives and their lobbyists had “nearly unfettered access” to the Board of Supervisors, and that access “was undisclosed to the public.”
The panel found voluminous emails to supervisors from cannabis lobbyists and growers, in a tone and on a timeline that made jury members uneasy.
It recommended that the county require public disclosure of who got access and when. The supervisors rejected 10 of the 12 findings.
We know how this works elsewhere.
Los Angeles County has required lobbyists to register since 1993. Sacramento registers and reports.
So do San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Santa Clara, San José and many smaller towns.
In every one of them, a resident can look up who is being paid to move a decision before the decision is made.
This isn’t about catching crooks. Most people who lobby are doing a real job, and some of it helps the public.
The problem is simpler than that. When someone is paid to argue for a company, we should be able to see it. Right now we can’t.
The fix is unglamorous: a registry at the city clerk’s office and the county clerk’s office. Who you represent. What you’re paid for. Which matter you touched. Public, searchable, boring.
Ask your city council member and your county supervisor where they stand. More transparency in governance benefits us all.
