Artie samish lobbyist registration

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Over the days many laws and regulations have antique adopted with reference to lobbying. Coition and Sacramento have legion la

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2 Bills Target Capitol Consultant-Lobbyist

SACRAMENTO — Two lawmakers introduced bills Wednesday to restrict political consultant and lobbyist Richie Ross, comparing him to Artie Samish, a legendary lobbyist of two generations ago who once bragged, “That’s my Legislature.”

The pair of bills would ban Ross from lobbying the same politicians he helped elect. Although the bills don’t mention Ross by name, lawmakers said he is the only political consultant in Sacramento who also works as a registered lobbyist -- an arrangement many critics say gives him unusual influence with the people he helps elect.

Ross has worked for at least 14 Democratic lawmakers and constitutional officers in the last couple of years.

He upset legislators last month by cursing and shouting at the chiefs of staff to two lawmakers who did not vote for a bill backed by his client, the United Farm Workers. Ross has also acknowledged asking a political consulting client, Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), to carry legislation on behalf of a lobbying client, the Viejas band of Kumeyaay Mission Indians.

“I think it’s unethical for political consultants to cash in on their legislative clients by lobbying those clients,” said Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Los Feliz), author of one bill. “Political consult

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COLUMN ONE : Wielding New Clout in Capitol : Despite efforts to curb excesses, lobbyists remain a formidable force in Sacramento. Their big-money power game grows as term limits, staff cuts make lawmakers rely more on outside help.

SACRAMENTO — Forty years ago, California liquor lobbyist Artie Samish posed for a photograph with a ventriloquist’s dummy on his knee. “That’s the way I lobby,” the portly Samish explained to a reporter. “That’s my Legislature.”

Sitting there with his boater tilted rakishly atop his head, Samish was everyone’s image of a lobbyist--a corpulent deal-maker, cynical string-puller and secretive political boss.

A few years later, he was in federal prison on tax charges, as much a victim of his intemperate boasting as of his failure to report all his income.

Much has changed since Samish bragged that he could tell in an instant whether a lawmaker needed “a baked potato or a girl or money.”

New laws governing lobbying curb many of the excesses of the past. Methods have been updated, techniques refined.

But make no mistake about it: Lobbying remains what it has been since statehood--a formidable and mostly hidden force in California’s Capitol.

Indeed, the influence of lobbyists appears to be on the rise as legislative term limits, staff redu