Barnes Mosher

<div class="timestamp"></div><div class="timestamp">SODABMWL:mosher660 Mission Street Suite 200 San Francisco, CA 94105http://www.bmwl.net/?p=88Chuck Finnie
Vice President of Media & Communications
Chuck FinnieContact Chuck:Email415.615.0311 x15
One of San Francisco’s most recognized and respected public affairs journalists, Chuck uses his familiarity with the making of the news, policy, research and story-telling principles to help our clients meet their public affairs and public relations objectives in a rapidly changing communication landscape.
During a 20-year newspaper career, Chuck led local government and political reporting for the Hearst Corporation’s San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner newspapers as a City Hall beat writer, investigative reporter and finally as Assistant Metro Editor—San Francisco. Previously, he co-authored a political column for SF Weekly; covered the court system and legal affairs in the Bay Area and Washington, DC for the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Daily Journal and Legal Times; and reported for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times and Fresno Bee.
Chuck is a 1988 recipient of a Master of Arts degree from the renowned University of Missouri School of Journalism, and a 1983 graduate of Saint Michael’s College of Vermont. Chuck has two sons, lives in Kentfield, and excels at all manner of poker. Follow Chuck</div><div class="timestamp">

Sam Lauter is a public affairs professional with almost three decades of experience in local, state and national politics. Sam, a fifth-generation San Francisco native, utilizes his years of experience to manage Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter & Partners’ public affairs and lobbying business.

Sam specializes in putting together public affairs strategies that include building relationships with the community and navigating the corridors of city halls or the state Capitol. Additionally, Sam has built an extensive network of contacts in Washington, D.C.

Sam came to BMWL & Partners from Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) where he served as its primary contact and strategist in government and community relations for both San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

He began his professional career in 1982 on the district staff of Congressman Philip Burton (D-CA), and remained with the office for the first three years of Congresswoman Sala Burton’s (D-CA) tenure.

Upon graduating from college, Sam moved to Washington, D.C., to work on the presidential campaign and Senate staff for Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), where he served as the Senator’s personal assistant. Sam then returned to San Francisco to work for Lt. Governor Leo McCarthy, where his responsibilities included field strategy, advance work, fundraising and speechwriting.

In 1989, Sam left the campaign world to work at the public relations firm Barnes Clarke Inc. in San Francisco. His clients included energy companies, commercial and residential real estate developers and neighborhood small business owners. Sam’s work in public affairs, business and community relations has earned him prestigious Silver Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of America.

After two years, Sam was recruited by PG&E. He left PG&E in 2000 to start BMWL with his partners.

Sam is a key voice and fundraiser for the organized Jewish community in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Among Sam’s affiliations: Immediate Past Chair of the Northern California Board of Directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC); member, National Executive Committee of AIPAC; and he has served as California State Chair of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee. He also serves or has served on several other boards, including the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, the BayKeeper, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and Jewish Bulletin (now the J).

Sam graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Finnie">Chuck Finnie</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Lauter">Sam Lauter</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Mooney">Josie Mooney</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Mosher">Mark Mosher</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Nelson">Jill Nelson Golub</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Panagopoulos">Nick Panagopoulos</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Whitehurst">John Whitehurst</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.bmwlandpartners.com/team/#Witherspoon">Brad Witherspoon</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

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nyt

June 11, 2011</div>

<h1>Lobbyists Play Outsize Role as Political Fund-Raisers in San Francisco</h1>

<h6 class="byline">By GERRY SHIH</h6>

In late March, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi of San Francisco met with lobbyists from Zynga, the online gaming giant, and agreed to introduce a bill to eliminate the city’s unusual tax on corporate stock options.

Mr. Mirkarimi’s legislation, which was signed into law June 3, could save Zynga $30 million to $50 million in local taxes in the first year alone if, as expected, the company goes public at a multibillion-dollar valuation. Other San Francisco start-ups on the verge of initial public offerings, including Yelp and Twitter, had also sought a repeal of the tax.

On May 20, three days after the Board of Supervisors passed the bill, a lobbyist from Platinum Advisors, the firm representing Zynga, organized a breakfast fund-raiser for Mr. Mirkarimi’s campaign for sheriff at a bistro in the Ferry Building. The event brought in about $3,000, Mr. Mirkarimi’s aides said.

The fund-raiser does not appear to violate San Francisco’s intricate but erratically enforced lobbying laws, and political operatives say such events are common. Still, the breakfast and its timing offer a glimpse into the confusing intersection of politics and government in San Francisco, a system dominated by a few powerful lobbying firms that provide elected officials with the cash and connections they need to survive politically.

In an interview, Mr. Mirkarimi rejected the notion that the fund-raiser influenced his decision to push legislation proposed by Platinum Advisors.

“I haven’t received any contributions from Zynga or them,” he said, referring to Platinum. “I don’t see a problem.”

Chris Gruwell, the president of Platinum’s San Francisco office, said he paid for the breakfast out-of-pocket as a private Mirkarimi supporter. The fund-raiser was not related to the tax legislation, he said, and Zynga played no role in organizing the breakfast.

Ethics questions surrounding lobbyists’ relationships with candidates have become a major issue in the early months of this year’s mayoral election. In May, Alex Tourk, a political consultant, resigned from the mayoral campaign of City Attorney Dennis Herrera after disclosures that he had lobbied Mr. Herrera while managing his campaign, which is prohibited by city law.

Several days later, The Bay Citizen reported that Mr. Herrera had been lobbied by Samuel Lauter, a lobbyist from his remaining campaign consultant, Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter and Partners, on behalf of a Georgia energy company in 2009 while Mr. Lauter’s business partner, John Whitehurst, ran Mr. Herrera’s re-election campaign for city attorney.

Mr. Whitehurst has since said that the apparent violation was due to a clerical error and that his firm kept its lobbying and campaign practices strictly separate. Mr. Lauter has continued to raise money for Mr. Herrera as he now runs for mayor, The San Francisco Examiner reported.

While lobbyists moonlighting as fund-raisers are a fact of political life from Washington to Honolulu, they play an outsized role in San Francisco, a small-town political fishbowl with a concentration of big-money interests.

“Political fund-raising is something that is regularly done by almost all interested parties in politics in San Francisco,” said Alex Clemens, the founder of Barbary Coast Consulting and an active fund-raiser for public officials. “In our town, elected officials, candidates and political consultants all know the rules, report their activities and keep things transparent.”

Platinum Advisors is among the city’s four most influential lobbying outfits, insiders say, an elite circle that also includes Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter, HMS Associates and Barbary Coast Consulting. City ethics filings show that Platinum lobbyists have for many years taken in the most fees, with A-list corporate clients like AT&T.

Mr. Gruwell, who was finance chairman for Gavin Newsom’s 2003 mayoral campaign, has distinguished himself as a fund-raiser. He connects his clients not just with moderates aligned with Mr. Newsom but also with the influential bloc of left-leaning progressives who count Mr. Mirkarimi among their leaders.

In fact, Mr. Gruwell has organized events for almost every member of the sitting Board of Supervisors, according to people with knowledge of Platinum’s activities. In recent years, observers have been impressed with his ability to pull in business-sector money to help staunch progressives like John Avalos.

“The reason they’re such effective fund-raisers is because they basically get individuals from the companies they represent to donate to candidates who are running for office,” said Jim Ross, a Bay Area political consultant. “They’re connectors.”

This spring, Mr. Mirkarimi introduced his tax legislation while public debate over a temporary payroll tax exemption devised for the central Market Street neighborhood — and specifically Twitter — reached fever pitch. Many technology industry executives and financiers warned that if the city’s 1.5 percent payroll tax continued to apply to stock options, San Francisco’s start-up culture would be strangled. But the city’s restive political left attacked the legislation as a giveaway to Twitter, which had threatened to move out of the city.

As the Twitter controversy unfolded, Zynga executives became aware that the stock options tax would apply to their anticipated I.P.O. as well. The company retained Platinum — at a cost of $10,000 a month, records show — to ensure that Zynga would also get an exemption, said Eric Potashner, a Platinum lobbyist.

Mr. Potashner said that he and Mr. Gruwell met with supervisors to explain Zynga’s situation, and that it was Mr. Mirkarimi who agreed to sponsor legislation that would put a citywide moratorium on the stock option tax.

Mr. Mirkarimi said his legislation was objectively fairer and more equitable than the Twitter bill. “It doesn’t just target one company or one neighborhood over others,” he said. “We should not penalize companies that want to mature in San Francisco.”

After several amendments, Mr. Mirkarimi’s bill was finally passed by the board, 8 to 3, on May 17.

One City Hall official said Platinum did a great job for its client.

“I don’t think a moderate would’ve touched this with a 10-foot pole,” the official said. “Not only were they able to get a progressive to take it, they were able to build a coalition of progressives to either support it or stay on the sidelines because when the time came they were able to call in the chips.”

While Mr. Gruwell sends invitations and pays for the events, which can range from breakfasts to casual meet-and-greets over drinks at Platinum’s plush Spear Street offices, there are always campaign workers present who collect the checks. The only scraps of evidence of Platinum’s involvement are invitations, like the ones sent from Mr. Gruwell’s company e-mail account on May 16 for a “Breakfast With Ross.”

On May 20, about 40 guests ate eggs soft-scrambled with mushroom escabeche and goat cheese, apple-mascarpone crepes and grilled asparagus with speck, said David Garza, general manager of Market Bar.

Mr. Garza estimated the value of the meal to be about $25 a person. Mr. Gruwell disputed the figure, saying the total cost was just $500 — the legal limit for individuals’ political contributions.

He most likely received a deal from the restaurant, Mr. Gruwell added, because he held fund-raisers there so often.

gshih@baycitizen.org

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