News Clips

“We need guardrails in place to ensure that governing doesn’t move further out of public view,” Stein said in an interview with Government Technology. “We recognize that government needs flexibility in this moment to respond to the crisis or the multiple crises going on in America today. But in order for government to act effectively, there has to be accountability, and there has to be transparency.”

But spokesman Sean McMorris with the good-government group Common Cause California said in an interview that if Modesto believes Rank Investigation & Protection is the best company, then the city should have proved it by having it compete through a request for proposals. “If this is the best person for the job,” he said, “they still will get the contract if it goes out to an RFP.” McMorris said there is no justifiable reason for a city not to issue a large contract through a request for proposals or other formal competitive process that will draw a lot of responses, giving a city a full range of companies to evaluate before picking one.

Kati Phillips, a spokeswoman for California Common Cause, said the index shows there’s work still to be done in the Golden State. “We’ve worked to drain the swamp in California, but we still have our share of alligators,” she said.

“Generally speaking as a matter of practice, most city council members will recuse themselves on votes that impact their own personal street,” Feng said. “(But) recusal rules only apply when somebody has a direct financial interest.”