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DesalData Weekly - September 23, 2016

Posted 23 September, 2016 by Mandy

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The California Coastal Commission during a hearing earlier this month   Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

This month, a small, non-profit organization, Spotlight on Coastal Corruption, served a lawsuit against five California Coastal Commissioners.[1]  As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the lawsuit could cost the commissioners “millions of dollars in civil fines if the courts confirm hundreds of alleged transparency rule violations.”  The non-profit pursuing the lawsuit has formed “solely to pursue the allegations”—which includes a list of 590 violations of “disclosure laws for so-called ex-parte communications” in the past two years.

 

Ex-parte communications include exchanges such as emails, telephone calls, and meetings, which occur with individuals outside of official public hearings; according to the Los Angeles Times, the majority of these ex-parte communications involve developers or their lobbyists.[2] Commissioners are legally obliged to disclose all information about these communications in records that become part of the commission’s official record, and thereby available for public review.[3]  A primary object of this sort of disclosure is to prevent the interests of big-moneyed players from superseding those of the public; and to ensure that coastal development is consistent with the law.

 

While four other lawsuits challenge coastal development permits on the basis of various corruption charges against commissioners—this latest lawsuit is “the first to seek fines against individual coastal commissioners.”[4]  Of the commission’s 12 politically appointed members, Spotlight is pursuing charges against the five individuals who had the highest number of violations of reporting requirements: chairman Steve Kinsey (with 140 violations), Mark Vargas (150), Wendy Mitchell (120), Martha McClure (82), and Erik Howell (96).[5]  With each violation carrying a maximum penalty of $7,500, Vargas faces the highest proportion of fines, amounting to $5,625,000. His colleagues trail closely behind with: Kinsey, $5,250,000; Howell, $3,600,000; McClure, $3,150,000, and Mitchell, $4,500,000.

 

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Protesters at a Coastal Commission meeting, after the firing of Executive Director Charles Lester    Credit: Michael Owen Baker / Los Angeles Times

 

Only a few weeks ago, in late August, California legislators defeated a bill to ban “behind-the-scenes communications” at the coastal commission—after facing substantial resistance from “at least a dozen business, labor, construction, real estate and agricultural organizations.”[6] The legislation, Senate Bill 1190, sought “to prohibit so called ex-parte contacts that occur outside official public meetings between coastal commissioners and developers, lobbyists, environmentalists and other parties with a stake in commission business.”  While the Senate passed the measure and the Coastal Commission endorsed it—only 12 individuals from the Assembly endorsed it, and another 45 voted against it.  This means that, as of now, developers and lobbyists, as well as environmentalists and labour representatives, will be able to maintain contact with coastal commissioners.

 

It remains to be seen whether commissioners will pay for their own legal defence; or, if the Coastal Commission will foot the bill using tax-payer funds.[7] Kathryn Burton, one of the founders of Spotlight, told the Los Angeles Times that if the commissioners are held personally liable for their alleged misdeeds, the decision could serve as a “deterrent to rule-breaking in the future.”[8]

 

 

 

[1] Dan Weikel, “Lawsuit Seeks Millions in Fines from 5 Coastal Commissioners, Alleging 590 Transparency Violations,” Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2016, <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-commission-lawsuit-20160913-snap-story.html> accessed September 22, 2016.

[2] Dan Weikel, “Bill to Ban Behind-the-Scenes Communications with Coastal Commissioners is Defeated in the Assembly,” Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2016, <http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-exparte-defeat-20160831-snap-story.html> accessed September 22, 2016.

[3] Weikel, “Lawsuit Seeks Millions,” Los Angeles Times.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Weikel, “Bill to Ban Behind-the-Scenes Communications,” Los Angeles Times.

[7] Steve Lopez, “Who Should Pay Fines if Coastal Commissioners Are Found Guilty of Breaking Rules? Them or Taxpayers?”, Los Angeles Times, September 21, 2016, <http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0921-lopez-coastal-fines-20160920-snap-story.html> accessed September 22, 2016.

[8] Ibid.

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