What happens when local government gets too cozy with business?

For years, Steve McShane was an elected member of Salinas City Council and a small businessman, whose day job was running a nursery. Then at the end of 2021, he became an elected member of City Council whose day job was president/CEO of the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce. He remains on council, which until this month, has been a member of the chamber, a privilege that comes at a cost of $5,000 a year.

While that’s peanuts in the scheme of a city budget (see our cover story on p. 14), there arises the potential for conflicts in this dual role. As chamber president, McShane’s job is to advocate for the best deal for businesses; as a member of City Council, his job is to advocate for his constituents – who include business owners, of course, but also employees of those businesses; tenants and landlords; unemployed residents and high earners.

The discussion around whether the city should be a chamber member escalated in the context of annual budget conversations, and council reached consensus around a no. That led to a breakup between the chamber and the city – which chamber leaders and city leaders insist is not a falling out, just a friendly, totally normal talk, everything’s fine! – and also McShane going on personal leave from his job at the chamber. (See more in the Squid Fry column, to the right).

It’s not entirely uncommon for a local government entity like a city or a school district to be a member of a business association like a chamber of commerce. It’s also not uncommon that a member of a local city council or government agency board is a member of the business community. McShane’s colleague on council, Mayor Kimbley Craig, is employed as president and CEO of the Monterey County Business Council, for example.

It’s pretty typical for a member of a local city council to have a day job; all city council positions in Monterey County are volunteer roles (something that I think should be remedied by paying them – partly helping to allay situations like these, and because effective government leadership is a full-time job). But relationships like these can make it confusing and introduce the potential for conflicts, or at least the appearance of conflicts – which matters when it comes to representing the public.

Sometimes it happens through a middleman. Last October, the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District signed a contract with public relations firm WellmanAd. And on Monday, June 12, the water district’s finance and administration committee revisited that contract, at $7,875 a month (up to $106,500 for the year), for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. Without discussion, the committee voted unanimously to recommend approval, noting the caveat included in 2022 that WellmanAd will not campaign for any candidate running for the MPWMD board of directors.

That’s because, like a city council, the MPWMD board of directors is a political entity. And it’s worth noting that firm owner Phil Wellman is married to Melodie Chrislock – she’s not an elected member of the water district board, but she is the director of the advocacy group Public Water Now, which championed Measure J, the initiative that has the district pursuing a public buyout of California American Water.

Since October – a time period that included a controversial hearing by the California Coastal Commission on Cal Am’s desalination plant project, which the commission approved with a slew of conditions – the water district’s advertising mission (including ads that ran in the Weekly) pushed up against the definition of advocacy. Their messaging aligned with the message of Public Water Now, urging ratepayers to oppose Cal Am’s desal proposal. “It’s advocacy on behalf of the ratepayers,” MPWMD General Manager Dave Stoldt told me at the time. “We are not in concert with anybody, and that’s it. Are we doing advocacy on behalf of ratepayers? Absolutely.”

It’s the kind of message that anybody in a decision-making role on behalf of the public must instill in the public if they’re to be trusted: that they are advocating or acting on behalf of their constituents, no other organization or interest group. And lately, local governments are having to fight hard to earn that public trust.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com