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Are Committee of Seventy's lobbying views influenced by its big donors?
Two organizations have joined Seventy in this complaint: the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. It may be worth noting that the Chamber of Commerce is among the Committee of Seventy's biggest donors.
Are Committee of Seventy's lobbying views influenced by its big donors?
This month, the nonpartisan watchdog Committee of Seventy testified that the city should wait six months before enforcing its new lobbying law, which requires that lobbyists register with the city and sometimes file expense reports starting July 1.
The group wholeheartedly supports the new law — and still wants lobbyists to follow it in meantime — but believes that several “ambiguities” must be cleared up before the city issues penalties for breaking it.
Two organizations have joined Seventy in this complaint: the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Both groups argued before the Ethics Board that the new rules are unclear, and the Chamber of Commerce argued that the city shouldn’t implement the lobbying law at all for the next six months.
In the spirit of full disclosure that such a law promotes, it may be worth noting: The Chamber of Commerce is among the Committee of Seventy’s biggest donors. According to the nonprofit’s tax filings, Seventy received $50,000 in contributions from that group between 2008 and 2009. Local law firms, including Pepper Hamilton LLP and Morgan and Lewis & Bockius, are are also among Seventy’s bigger donors.
Is the Committee of Seventy speaking on behalf of these groups?
Ellen Kaplan, Seventy’s vice president, strongly denies that the watchdog is speaking for its donors. She argues that the law’s recently-published ground rules have left many questions unanswered — like what lobbying is, exactly, and what it isn’t — and the city should clarify them before enforcing the law.
“Obviously, there are some members who contribute to this organization who want these answers,” she says. "But we don’t represent anybody’s views other than our own.”
The Ethics Board hasn't made any public announcements about whether it will delay enforcement of the law in response to these groups. But Ethics Board staff say that it could be considered at its next meeting, on July 20.
Meanwhile, an unrelated technical issue may put the lobbying law on hold: The Ethics Board has announced that the electronic system that lobbyists will be required to register on won't be ready by the original July 1 deadline, partly due to funding issues. They expect the system will be ready around July 18, though — but if it's not, the Ethics Board will not be able enforce the lobbying law.
As a volunteer who's done election day canvassing work for Seventy (surveying polling places, reporting election irregularities, calling in about malfunctioning voting machines, etc.) for a few years now, I can say that Seventy is definitely nonpartisan. Seventy's constituents are the voters and the legal process, not one party over another or one ideology over another. The positions Seventy takes on ballot questions show that they don't have a horse in any race, other than improving the system of elections in Philadelphia. And that's only when they take a position; they often don't, if the proposed change to the charter is, for instance, a purely fiscal question. (See, e.g., the November 2010 ballot questions: http://seventy.org/Elections_Ballot_Questions_November_2_2010.aspx)
I think it's a cheap shot to accuse Seventy of doing the Chamber of Commerce's dirty work here. It's no surprise that the Chamber and Seventy have similar views on this particular issue. This article implies that Seventy would have supported the proposed rules if they didn't get money from the Chamber, but correlation is not causation. Unclear rules are unenforceable, no matter the goal of the rules, and Seventy is an organization that wants clear process in government. Seventy's position on the question is perfectly in line with their views and the work they've been doing for decades.— Glomarization, Esq.
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