SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom will now prohibit all his outside consultants from lobbying his administration regardless of whether they are paid, including Jason Kinney, the lobbyist and longtime Newsom adviser whose 50th birthday dinner at the French Laundry in November sparked intense scrutiny of their relationship.
The policy expands a lobbying ban that Newsom adopted in December, following criticism of his close ties to consultants who also work for influential interests at the state capital. Under the new rules, any campaign or political consultant of Newsom’s will be prohibited from directly lobbying the governor, his staff or state agencies under his control, not just those he pays.
Kinney is a partner at Axiom Advisors, which has pulled in more than $12.5 million in lobbying fees since it was formed following Newsom’s election in 2018. Clients range from the construction industry and Facebook to the oil company Aera Energy and the online marijuana directory and marketplace Weedmaps.
But he did not fall under the December lobbying ban, which covered a dozen people consulting for Newsom’s campaign or the California Democratic Party, because he had recently gone off the payroll.
After working with Newsom on several campaigns, Kinney began receiving consulting fees from the state Democratic Party once the governor took office in 2019. Those monthly payments, totaling $100,000, stopped in November, less than two weeks before the announcement of the lobbying ban, and Kinney continued to serve as an unpaid adviser.
Daniel Lopez, a spokesperson for Newsom, said the governor’s office sought recommendations from the Fair Political Practices Commission, the state’s political ethics watchdog, on how to strengthen its policies to limit undue influence. In a February memo, the commission recommended extending the lobbying ban to Newsom’s unpaid advisers, among other changes.
“The governor and his staff are committed to adhering to the highest legal and ethical standards,” Lopez said in an email. “We received those recommendations and are implementing them to foster transparency and maintain public trust.”
Newsom also committed in December not to hire any registered lobbyist as a paid consultant. The new ethics policy, which was first reported by the Sacramento Bee, still does not prohibit registered lobbyists from serving as unpaid advisers to the governor, nor does it include the type of mandatory waiting period between consulting and lobbying that is standard in government service.
A dozen people, mostly working on Newsom’s recall defense campaign, are currently covered by the lobbying ban, according to a list provided by the governor’s office. Kinney is the only registered lobbyist.
Chief of staff Jim DeBoo, another close political adviser to Newsom and former lobbyist who joined the governor’s office in January, and cabinet secretary Ana Matosantos rolled out the amended policy March 12 in an internal memo to staff and top leaders at state agencies and departments.
It also bars the governor, his wife, policy advisers, agency secretaries and department directors from accepting gifts from lobbyists. High-level gubernatorial appointees hired after March 1 will not be allowed for two years to advise on any legislation that is substantially similar to bills they lobbied on in the two years before they joined the administration.
Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
March 19, 2021 at 02:34AM
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Newsom-s-French-Laundry-dining-companion-barred-16036367.php
Newsom’s French Laundry dining companion barred from lobbying governor’s administration - San Francisco Chronicle
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