Oakland’s Measure OO would update the city’s ethics rules for first time in 10 years

Oakland voters will decide the fate of a ballot measure on Nov. 5 aimed at strengthening and updating the city’s Public Ethics Commission. 

Measure OO, which requires a majority vote to pass, would change the qualifications for PEC commissioners, tighten rules governing lobbyist gifts to elected officials, add one more investigator to the commission’s staff — for a total of two — and authorize the PEC executive director to hire outside lawyers on issues where the city attorney has a conflict of interest, among other things.

It would also require the City Council to consider within 180 days PEC proposals to amend laws the commission enforces or administers so that future ethics reforms can’t be killed behind closed doors.

“Public trust is essential to the functioning of government,” PEC Executive Director Nicolas Heidorn said during the July 9 meeting during which the city council voted 5-2 to put Measure OO on the ballot. 

“We think this proposal includes a number of reforms to modernize the commission, as well as to strengthen government ethics and accountability in the city of Oakland,” Heidorn said.

The measure would update the city’s ethics rules for the fist time in ten years and is championed by the PEC and sponsored by Councilmember Dan Kalb, but had a somewhat circuitous path to the ballot.

The commission brought a package of suggested reforms to the council back in the spring, but at the time there just wasn’t consensus among councilmembers on some of the proposed changes.

Kalb said he then worked with PEC staff, the city attorney’s office and other councilmembers to see if they could pair down the original proposal to something a majority on the council could support.

The first time the council heard the proposed measure was during an informational presentation where it became clear there weren’t the votes for putting it on the ballot, mostly over concerns that it would give the PEC authority to set the mayor’s salary and over worries about its cost, both to put it on the ballot — estimated at up to $600,000 — and to hire the additional investigator, an ongoing annual cost of about $330,000. 

Kalb and the PEC agreed to remove the mayoral salary from the proposal but when it came back to the council, it lost on a 5-3 vote.

“This is hard for me, this is really, really hard for me but I also understand the challenges that are facing us in the upcoming budget cycles,” Councilmember Carroll Fife said at the time before voting “no,” referring to the city’s effort to close an estimated $177 million budget deficit.

Ultimately, Fife brought it back to the council for reconsideration after being contacted by several constituents and former city staffers and, at its third hearing, the proposal to place Measure OO on the ballot passed with a 5-2 vote, with councilmembers Kevin Jenkins and Noel Gallo opposed and Treva Reid excused. 

“I was really torn about this particular item and I’m also very aware of the current political moment that we’re in and the need for additional accountability, and I believe the PEC can offer us that support,” Fife said.