After a 10-month process, a proposed ordinance to establish a formal lobbying process in Sarasota’s City Hall failed a City Commission vote Monday.
A majority of commissioners argued the proposal entailed too much regulation for an issue they didn’t consider to be a big problem.
“This is a big problem that in my mind doesn’t exist, that I have not experienced,” Vice Mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch said.
Regulation of lobbying by corporate interests to city officials has been pushed by Commissioner Erik Arroyo since October 2023. He said that while many people who present their views to the commission are citizens genuinely concerned about their community, there remains uncertainty about those who might represent “interests beyond the common welfare.”
“We owe it to our residents and ourselves to differentiate between those two groups,” Arroyo said. “If we give equal weight to someone who is paid to be here, who doesn’t disclose they are paid to be here, it diminishes the value of true advocacy.”