Billboard Lobby Not Happy with ID Badges

Photo by Omar Omar via Flickr

"It's another attempt by the Ethics Commission to make it undesirable to be a lobbyist, and it has no public policy benefit," billboard lobbyist Steve Afriat told the LA Times about a city Ethics Commission proposal of making lobbyists wear badges when they're "engaged in lobbying."

It's the billboard companies (and not necessarily Afriat) that continually pile lawsuits up against the city anytime a new billboard is erected and the city questions whether it might be in violation of the law or not.

Harvey Englander, a lobbyist representing hotels near LAX likened the proposed badges to "the Star of David imposed on Jews in Nazi-era Germany," as the LA Times put it. Englander said that he refused to "wear the equivalent of a yellow arm band."