Santa Monica’s Lobbying Firm Also Reps “Stripper Wells” 

Shocker: The Santa Monica City Council is failing to respect their constituents’ preferences.

City Council recently renewed a $216,000 contract with the Ferguson Group for federal lobbying services. As it turns out, one of the lobbying firm’s other clients is the National Stripper Wells Association (NSWA), a trade association representing oil and natural gas producers that opposes stricter environmental regulations on fossil fuels. The NSWA is supportive of President Trump’s rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations, and consistently praised former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.

In other words, the taxpayer dollars of Santa Monicans, who overwhelmingly support broader environmental regulations (city government acknowledges as much), are supporting a lobbying firm that appears to be working against their preferences.

It’s not unlike City Council’s support for UNITE HERE Local 11’s development agenda, which aims to secure more dues revenue through the unionization of new hotels. As we’ve noted before, more than 62 percent of Santa Monica voters oppose Local 11’s push for skyline-altering hotels, while almost 58 percent of Santa Monicans believe the union should have “less influence” with the City Council.