Sometimes the devil is in the details. In this case, it concerns a complicated bill in the State Legislature that would have potentially removed Seal Beach from having a seat on the Orange County Fire Advisory Board.
On its face it may not sound earthshaking, but city leaders were adamant that Seal Beach have representation on that large and powerful board. In fact, they were concerned enough to hire two lobbying firms to advocate for their position at a cost of $150,000.
Now, the Seal Beach City Council is pitted against state Sen. Janet Nguyen, who told the council at its last meeting that a lobbyist for Seal Beach never contacted or spoke with her.
The first wrinkle in the issue came in March of this year, when the law firm of Kelly A. Aviles, representing California Aware (a non profit dedicated to open, transparent government) sent the city a “Cease and Desist” letter for violating the state’s Ralph M. Brown Act.
Simply, the Brown Act requires that the public be able to participate in the decision-making process and that discussions must be noticed to the public. It is very stringent on “closed sessions” held by groups such as city councils. The city must also inform the public of the topic of any and all closed session discussions, which Seal Beach failed to do, citing “potential litigation” as the reason in many cases.
For example, on June 8, 2015, the Seal Beach City Council agreed—in closed session—to contract with Khouri Consulting, a lobbying firm, for $120,000.
The lawyer’s letter to the city about the violations said, “(it) is a completely improper topic for a closed session under any circumstances. The public was never notified that the topic would be discussed in closed session and that the city failed to disclose the action taken, even after the closed session.”
What that means is that the illegal closed sessions concealed the fact that the city hired a lobbying firm at all. The Brown Act was created to stop that type of activity from being hidden from the general public.
Other illegal closed sessions cited in the attorney’s letter include the “blue cottage” and its relocation to the Greenbelt. Again, a violation of the Brown Act and another matter that should have been before the citizens as a public record.
But back to the issue with the Orange County Fire Authority Board.
On Dec. 12 of this year, Sen. Nguyen attended the City Council meeting and made the incendiary statement that she had never been contacted by a lobbying firm on behalf of Seal Beach. Her office staff member, Diana Moreno, said today that Gus Khouri, owner of Khouri Consulting, met with Nguyen’s staff, but did not talk to Nguyen directly.
Deaton, however, says that is not the whole story. She told the Sun that Khouri Consulting tried to get a personal meeting with Nguyen and was turned down.
At any rate, Deaton says whether or not the lobbyist met with the senator or a staffer is not the point.
Meanwhile, Khouri Consulting works with another lobbying firm, which is noted as a subcontractor on the 13-page contract, Strategic Solutions Advisors, owned by Frank J. Molina.
Molina was fined $30,000 in November of 2011 for failing to report $840,000 in income when he was representing several Indian tribes. His expertise in lobbying is Indian affairs, as noted on his web site.
Finally, Seal Beach still has a seat on the Fire Authority Board, for now. The bill can always come back and be reintroduced next year.
