San Francisco City Attorney is running for Mayor. His campaign manager, Alex Tourk, is also a registered lobbyist. It is illegal for campaign consultants to lobby their clients.
By Luke Thomas
May 7, 2011
It hasn’t been a good week for mayoral contender Dennis Herrera, the San Francisco City Attorney entrusted to uphold the laws of the land, including campaign ethics laws.
According to a story first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Mr. Herrera’s mayoral campaign consultant, Alex Tourk, recently reported in required ethics filings that he has lobbied Mr. Herrera on behalf of several of his clients including California Pacific Medical Center, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, and a Stow Lake boathouse vendor.
A city law passed by the Board of Supervisors in 2004 to prevent pay-to-play politics prohibits campaign consultants from lobbying current or former clients. The ordinance was signed into law while Mr. Tourk served as then Mayor Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff.
Mr. Herrera has denied Mr. Tourk lobbied him and has referred further investigation of the matter to the Oakland City Attorney’s office.
As for Mr. Tourk, he initially claimed ignorance of the law when questioned by the Chronicle, but after talking with “election law experts”, Mr. Tourk said his conversations with Mr. Herrera did not amount to lobbying.
It will be interesting to see how this story plays out in the coming weeks and months, particularly as the mayor’s race nears the red zone when candidates are looking more desperately for ammunition to knock out their opponents. Mr. Herrera is considered a frontrunner in the race for mayor.
In the meantime, enjoy the above video by EyeOnSF which parody’s a conversation between Mr. Tourk and Mr. Herrera about Mr. Tourk’s alleged lobbying activities.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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