Citizens Condemn Beck and Murchison's Excellent Vacation

December 2, 2009

Public reaction to the discounted Napa vacation that the City of Long Beach’s development czar Craig Beck took last month with lobbyist Mike Murchison began at Tuesday night’s meeting of the city council, where several speakers expressed outrage—and one submitted a California Public Records Request.

“It is problematic that the city’s development gatekeeper took a vacation with Mike Murchison, the lobbyist for the Hotel Sierra,” said Gary Hytrek, a Long Beach State professor who is spokesperson for the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and a Healthy Community. “But it is even more scathing that someone from the hotel gave Beck a discount.”

Beck and Murchison stayed at the Napa AVIA hotel, part of a chain of hostelries owned by LodgeWorks, which has already built an AVIA hotel in downtown Long Beach and has proposed building another, the Hotel Sierra. Murchison is the lobbyist for LodgeWorks.

“I don’t know whether it should be called a freebie, a kickback or a bribe, but whatever it is, it’s emblematic of a broader problem that exists in the City of Long Beach,” said Hytrek. ”Development deals are rushed through the approval process without proper scrutiny and community input.”

Hytrek called for an independent investigation of the wine-tasting trip that Beck and Murchison—and their wives—took on Nov. 13-14. He also submitted a Public Records Request asking for any and all communication and materials exchanged among the city officials and hotel owners, operators, developers and lobbyists.

“It is time to unmask the inappropriate and unjust culture of backroom dealmaking that plagues Long Beach,” Hytrek said.

Casey Terrazas, another member of the Coalition, complained about the enhanced access that lobbyists have to public officials.

“Even during council meetings, Mr. Murchison and other developers walk in and out of City Council chambers, chatting in secret about deals that greatly affect us all,” said Terrazas. “We don’t get that kind of access. In fact, on the Hotel Sierra, we barely got public input.”

Thomas Marchese, who is running against incumbent Gary DeLong for the 3^rd district seat on the city council, asked that the City Council revisit the lobbyist-registration ordinance that it failed to pass last year.

“We need to focus on drafting some ordinance that stresses accountability to all constituents, collaboration with all stakeholders and service to all members of the community,” Marchese said. “I would suggest something like the ex parte rule used by the California Coastal Commission, whose members must disclose any discussion they have on any pending matter outside a public meeting in a one-on-one setting.”