French Laundry friend now banned from lobbying California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Gov. Gavin Newsom has expanded a ban on political consultants lobbying him and his administration to include unpaid advisers, based on recommendations from the state’s political ethics commission, according to a memo obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

Newsom’s top two aides, executive secretary Jim DeBoo and cabinet secretary Ana Matosantos, announced the changes Friday in a memo to governor’s office staff and leaders of the administration’s agencies and departments.

Former Newsom chief of staff Ann O’Leary had asked the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission for advice on how to strengthen its ethics policies in a December 2020 letter, around the same time the governor created a new rule forbidding his paid political consultants from lobbying him and his team.

That policy came in the wake of criticism Newsom received for attending the birthday party of his lobbyist friend Jason Kinney at the French Laundry restaurant in California wine country. The December policy did not prohibit Kinney from lobbying Newsom because he is not paid by Newsom or the California Democratic Party, even though Kinney previously worked as a consultant for the party and has long served as an unpaid adviser to Newsom.

Under the new policy, Kinney will be prohibited from lobbying the governor and his administration, according to Newsom’s office.

“No consultant, whether paid or not, should be permitted to leverage their relationship with the Governor to unduly benefit a client in connection with legislative or administrative actions,” the Fair Political Practices Commission wrote in its recommendations to the administration.

The administration also adopted other recommendations the commission made, which were modeled on ethics rules implemented by former President Barack Obama. Under the new rules, appointees “with a high level of influence over the Administration’s policy decisions” are prohibited from accepting gifts from lobbyists starting Monday, according to the memo. The rule applies to Newsom, his wife First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, senior officials at agencies and departments, policy advisers and “any equivalent position.”

The new rules also prohibit influential appointees from working on specific bills in their first two years if they worked on “substantially similar” bills in the two years prior to joining the Newsom administration. It will apply to appointees who joined the administration after March 1, 2021. The memo lays out a process for appointees to be exempt from the policy, which would result in a written waiver that would be subject to records requests.

The Newsom administration has also asked the Fair Political Practices Commission to maintain a list on its website of everyone registered to lobby Newsom and executive branch agencies. The administration is also developing procedures and training for staff to ensure compliance with ethics policies, according to the memo.

The memo says the December lobbying ban, as well as the recent changes, reflect Newsom’s “commitment to an Administration that exceeds California’s already strong legal standards.”

The ethics rule changes come as Newsom faces an effort to recall him from office. Although state and local officials have not yet certified that the recall effort collected the required signatures to trigger a special election, Newsom said Tuesday he believes the effort will qualify for the ballot.

“I’m looking forward to defeating this recall,” Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 4:14 PM with the headline "French Laundry friend now banned from lobbying California Gov. Gavin Newsom."