Why is City Councilwoman Kaplan so hesitant to comment on recent city funds snafu? | Opinion
In Sacramento, city employees are not eligible to receive city grants to ensure that the city’s process of providing funds for public purposes is not rigged to benefit insiders. So when a company partially owned by the chief of staff for City Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan was about to receive a $5,000 grant to throw an Oktoberfest event in Kaplan’s district, something felt wrong.
After questions from The Bee, suddenly the event was off. Unsurprisingly, it was canceled for “unrelated reasons.”
So far, Kaplan has refused to answer questions as to how her Chief of Staff Misty Alafranji’s business both applied for and received the grant from Sacramento’s “City of Festivals” fund despite the city code clearly prohibiting the money from going to an employee’s company.
This is one of these tests for the new councilwoman on being answerable to the public and its concerns. So far, she has failed it.
The Natomas Oktoberfest event is run by Rozalski Skoville LLC, which does business as “Beers in Sac.” Alafranji has been a city employee in Kaplan’s office since December, and owns 49% of Rozalski Skoville. She receives money annually from that business in the amount of somewhere between $10,000 and $100,000, according to a “statement of economic interest” form she submitted last week, around three months late.
The event was canceled a day before it was scheduled to occur, and a day after the information about Alafranji’s connection surfaced. A note to attendees stated the cancellation was due to “several unforeseen factors,” but in an email to The Bee, Alafranji said: “My business partner applied for a grant, not realizing that my new position as a city employee created a conflict.”
“Once made aware of that, my partner withdrew the application,” Alafranji said. “The event was canceled for unrelated reasons. Brewery cancellations, ticket sales and infrastructure issues with some of our vendors were the deciding factors in canceling.”
To be fair, this could have been an honest error. But canceling the event, blaming it on ticket sales and vendor issues compounded with Kaplan refusal to address requests for comment is a bad look on top of a bad look.
It’s also not entirely clear why Kaplan didn’t identify the conflict herself. Earlier this month, a sign advertising the event at Westlake Community Park was seen to read: “City of Festivals Awardee (under) Councilmember Lisa Kaplan” and Kaplan would have been informed of who won the grant within her district.
Kaplan was endorsed by The Bee Editorial board in the 2022 campaign because she was easily the best candidate in her race. She’s been a solid addition to the council, but this unforced error seemed puzzling. Why not just acknowledge the issue, provide a straightforward explanation and be done with it?
No one is accusing Kaplan or Alafranji of anything nefarious. But they have bungled their public handling of the issue and raised questions about their willingness to be transparent with their constituents. It’s not the kind of thing that makes a big splash in and of itself, but if it’s the kind of behavior that could become a troubling pattern.
I hope it was just a mistake by a rookie council member and not a dodge by an elected official who doesn’t have it in her to say, “OK, my bad. Sorry.”
If Kaplan doesn’t have it in her, that’s something to remember beyond October.
