Today, the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs & A Healthy Community will deliver a list of demands to the Long Beach City Council concerning allegedly unethical lobbying practices surrounding the head of the Redevelopment Agency.
The Coalition has announced that they will demand a formal investigation into a discounted hotel stay that was given to Redevelopment director Craig Beck – who maintains that the bill was paid in full when he realized the error – by a hotel that is looking to do business with the City. Beck was on vacation with lobbyist Mike Murchison, who represents the hotel chain and is a personal friend of Beck’s.
The Coalition will also request a full review of the current tourism project approval process and a moratorium on all tourism development until completion of the investigation.
The City Council has been reviewing reforms for a proposed lobbying ordinance that fell by the wayside months ago but has gained new life in the wake of the Beck/Murchison issue. The Press-Telegram’s Paul Eakins says in this article that the Council is likely to revisit the issue sometime in January 2010.
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