Richmond City Council says no to an ethics commission that could investigate officials.

After a tense debate, Richmond City Council on Tuesday shot down a proposal to create a ballot measure for an independent ethics commission with subpoena power to investigate elected and appointed officials. 

The resolution to create a ballot measure for the Richmond Government Accountability, Transparency and Ethics Act was defeated in a 4-3 vote, with Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Councilmembers Claudia Jiménez, Sue Wilson and Doria Robinson voting against it. 

Robinson called the proposal “a witch hunt,” saying, “I really think this is an effort by folks in a particular political persuasion to create their own means to undermine the electoral process.” 

She said city funds should go toward youth programs instead of an ethics commission, adding that existing agencies already investigate complaints against public officials.

“Believe me,” said Robinson, executive director of Urban Tilth, which the city has contracted with on grant-funded projects. “I know.” 

Councilmembers Cesar Zepeda, Soheila Bana and Jamelia Brown jointly introduced the measure to create a seven-member independent ethics commission with a budget of $1 million in its first year. It would have a dedicated investigator with authority to retain outside counsel, and power to investigate elected and appointed officials, boards and commissions, candidates, lobbyists, city contractors, staff members and nonprofits doing business with the city. Such a measure would have required support by at least two-thirds of voters. 

“Pretty much our current ethics policy is, we shall serve with honesty and integrity, which is a very fine sentiment, but without a commission or an investigator, there is no enforcement mechanism behind it,” said Zepeda, who wrote the resolution. 

He argued Richmond needs a better mechanism to investigate complaints against elected officials. Currently, he said, complaints go through either the city attorney’s office or human resources.

“So there’s no guarantee of investigation and transparency about the outcomes,” Zepeda said. “That’s an inherent conflict no one inside the system can fix.” 

Eleven members of the public, including mayoral candidate Ahmad Anderson, spoke in support of the measure. 

“Transparency is essential to good government,” Anderson said. “Residents deserve to know how decisions are made, how public resources are used, and that everyone is held to the same standard.”

Carol Hegstrom urged the council to let voters make the decision. “I personally am in favor of it, though it costs money. Corruption also can cost money, and it can hurt residents,” she said

Following other cities’ leads

Zepeda cited seven cities in California with ethics commissions, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland, to assert that Richmond needs a similar mechanism. 

Wilson pointed out the cities Zepeda cited were much larger than Rochmond, and that he failed to note the many cities that do not have independent ethics commissions. 

“The information that you presented — which is a huge part of your argument, that this is a normal thing to do — I want to make it very clear that it’s not a normal thing to do,” Wilson said. 

Agencies like the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the secretary of state, the Internal Revenue Service and the county district attorney have the authority to investigate Richmond officials, she added.

“I am more comfortable allowing them to do these investigations than doing something internally,” Wilson said. 

Zepeda highlighted that Richmond already has two independent oversight bodies — the Rent Board and the Community Police Review Commission. The ballot measure, he said, was intended to  hold elected officials the same standard as police officers. 

Jimenez, who also is running for mayor, took issue with the budget proposed for the ethics commission, saying the city has more pressing issues for those funds.

“I haven’t heard a lot of people say ‘spend 1% of the general fund on an ethics commission,’ more than saying, ‘I want my parks,’” she said. 

Brown pushed back, saying, “It seems like we find money for things that we want to.” 

She argued that the council should let the people decide how they want their tax dollars to be spent. 

“I don’t think that the council should stand in the way. We are just only asking to direct the city attorney to create the language for the ballot measure,” she said. “We should let Richmond speak.” 

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