For Want Of A Nail...

For the past year or two, the Merc, inspired by our new sunshiney City politics, has published a weekly 'Government Watch.' (Though, really - shouldn't the City only have to have sunshine rules 300 days a year?)

Regardless, this week's includes the following tantalizing tidbit coming before the Elections Commission:

The commission will consider an independent investigator's report that found five registered lobbyists failed to disclose contact with city council members. At least three of the lobbyists dispute the report.

Now, you know what my first thought was. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

There was, however, something interesting: one of the lobbyists whose reports fail to indicate a meeting, as may be required:


Mr. Shirakawa, it seems, didn't report a meeting with the Vice Mayor as he ought. (An interesting sidebar - next year at this time, these two are very likely to be colleagues.)

But then the whole report from the City's investigator kind of goes off the rails, ending tersely with the following grammatically ponderous statement:

Due to a lack of evidence, it has been undetermined that the Registered Lobbyists had not violated any ordinance.

The upshot, it appears, is that the investigator didn't have enough info to make a determination. Though what the determination might have been is also unclear - that the lobbyists failed to report? That the ordinance was violated?

In fairness, we should end with a big question mark. But any reminder that Shirakawa is a lobbyist can't be welcome by his camp - particularly one being investigated for possible ordinance violations. Or something.