Register nonprofits as lobbyists
Under the Independent Leadership Group umbrella, this op-ed from Families & Homes is endorsed by the following organizations and individuals: United Housing Alliance, Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, Silicon Valley Biz PAC, Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, Families and Homes San Jose, D10 Leadership Coalition; Aurelia Sanchez, James Salata, Davide Vieira
Nonprofit advocacy organizations seeking to influence City policy or receiving funding from the City of San José should play by the same rules as all other lobbyists. There are dozens of special interest organizations that lobby the city to change San José housing, public safety and even democratic voting policies in ways that may negatively impact existing residents and single-family homeowners. While these advocacy groups are “not-for-profit,” they are very well-funded by many of Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies, like Facebook and Google, and are run by paid professional staff.
With six new councilmembers and a new mayor who campaigned on “a revolution of common sense” seated this year, it’s time to remedy this inexcusable situation. Families & Homes San José is calling on Mayor Mahan and members of the City Council to close the loopholes in City sunshine policies, lobbying, and conflict of interest policies that exempt nonprofits from lobbyist registration rules and revolving door restrictions.
Recent articles appearing in San José Spotlight and Opportunity Now Silicon Valley question the adequacy of the City’s lobbying policies that excludes “nonprofits” from reporting and registering as lobbying organizations. A sampling of these articles is provided below:
- Should San Jose require nonprofits to register as lobbyists? — San José Spotlight (sanjosespotlight.com)
- Oliverio: All groups that lobby the City — both nonprofits and business — should follow the same rules
- What to do when partisan institutions interfere with fair elections?
Numerous City contracts are awarded to nonprofits. Several commissioners on critical City boards are employed by nonprofits. We have even identified City employees who are board members of nonprofits that receive City funding. In fact, Jacky Morales-Ferrand, Director of the Housing Department for the City of San José (who has announced her retirement) serves on the Board of Directors for Destination: Home. The San José Spotlight article states: “Destination: Home has numerous contracts with the City totaling more than $13 million to provide services for homeless youth and families.” These contracts include areas overseen by Morales-Ferrand in her position at the City.
While nonprofits with paid employees can provide valued services, if they are receiving contracts from the City, county or federal government and influencing City decisions, then they should be treated as lobbyists just as any other special interest.
We need more transparency in City government. And we need to eliminate the conflict of interest in policy setting and the awarding of contracts. We need to assure that residents of our City are heard more clearly than organizations located outside our City or organizations that benefit financially from City contracts.
As councilmembers, Johnny Khamis and Pierluigi Oliverio proposed the registration of nonprofits years ago. Their proposals were disregarded because of a “lack of political will.” That reason alone tells you that the nonprofits are so powerful that no one has the political will to require them to register as lobbyists.
Let’s apply some pressure to improve transparency in our City. Write all the councilmember and the mayor. (See: www.familieshomessj.org/act-now for email addresses.)
By the way, FHSJ receives no funding from the City and has no paid staff. Our coalition contains residents from across the City and is run entirely by unpaid volunteers.
