{"id":432423,"date":"2026-08-14T03:56:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432423\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:56:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:56:27","slug":"santana-whos-influencing-orange-countys-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432423\/","title":{"rendered":"Santana: Who\u2019s Influencing Orange County\u2019s Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Orange County supervisors today are proposing that lobbyists who meet with county leaders publicly disclose their meetings \u2013 pointing to a standard used in nearby counties like Los Angeles and San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe absence of lobbyist disclosure requirements in Orange County raises significant transparency concerns,\u201d reads the staff report submitted by Supervisors\u2019 Chairman Doug Chafee and Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, adding \u201cUnlike other jurisdictions that provide public records of lobbying activities, Orange County does not offer this access.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, publicly disclosing meeting calendars is a standard county supervisors won\u2019t apply to themselves \u2013 with all but Sarmiento \u00a0\u00a0refusing Voice of OC requests to see their own office meeting calendars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed ordinance<\/a> would for the first time ever establish quarterly lobbying activity reporting requirements, using aspects of similar lobbying disclosure policies adopted in nearby Anaheim and Irvine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, lobbyists are required under the county ordinance to disclose their clients but not their meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To review the county\u2019s current disclosures, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ordinance also would expand the current definition of lobbying from contacts with county supervisors to other decision makers like commission appointees and department heads, who often shape contracts long before the public gets a chance to see them.<\/p>\n

The Office of Ethics and Campaign Finance would issue activity disclosure reports and the panel\u2019s executive director developing reporting based on the requirements in the ordinance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shirley Grindle, who authored Orange County\u2019s 1978 campaign finance ordinance and led establishment of the OC Ethics Commission called the new disclosure requirements \u201clong overdue,\u201d in a public letter urging county supervisors to adopt the changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Shirley Grindle in her home office on Dec. 6, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I am sure the county lobbyists will be putting lots of pressure on each of you to deny these changes, it is more important to bring lobbying influence into the open where the public for the first time can be informed of the lobbyists attempts to influence your decisions,\u201d Grindle wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, finding out who county supervisors meet remains a mystery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supervisors through the County Counsel point to case law that does seemingly allow them to withhold their calendars, based on a state Supreme Court decision allowing the governor\u2019s calendar to remain secret.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet county supervisors are not the governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And any one of them \u2013 like Sarmiento \u2013 can decide to release listings of who they meet with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur residents should be aware of who is working to influence the decisions that affect their daily lives, which is why we publish our office calendar and share who we have met with,\u201d Sarmeinto said in a statement to Voice of OC, adding, \u201cWe owe that to the people who put their trust in us to work in their best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transparency advocates agree detailing who\u2019s influencing government is key to allowing residents to understand who\u2019s influencing government decisions\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anaheim officials began releasing their calendars after their city came under the FBI radar due to corrupt stadium dealings as part of a package of transparency reforms<\/a> in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A resident holds up a sign during the rally against city hall in Anaheim, California on Tue Feb 28, 2023. Credit: NATALIE CARTWRIGHT, Voice of OC<\/p>\n

To see a copy of Anaheim\u2019s disclosures, click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a strong public interest in knowing who they meet, because it shows how has the ear of public official and potentially strong interest over public officials,\u201d said David Loy, general counsel with the state\u2019s First Amendment Coalition, which advocates and often litigates for open government on behalf of the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to assess things like nepotism or conflicts of interest, or access being bought and paid for by campaign donations,\u201d Loy added in an interview with Voice of OC earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, do I think they ought to share their calendars? Absolutely, there\u2019s nothing that stops them from doing so, and when in doubt the government should always air on the side of transparency.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, elected officials work for the people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Orange County supervisors today are proposing that lobbyists who meet with county leaders publicly disclose their meetings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,6703,13768,4765,13,4767,2267],"class_list":["post-432423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-county-government","tag-doug-chaffee","tag-orange-county-board-of-supervisors","tag-politics","tag-vicente-sarmiento","tag-voice-of-oc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}