Lobbying relationships raise concerns in California

Questions have arisen in California over possible relationship conflicts between the latest lobbying hire by the Pechanga tribe and Assemblyman Adam Gray, the main driver of the current online poker legalisation bid presently bogged down on a ‘bad actor’ clause (see previous reports).

The Pechanga tribe is one of the most vociferous proponents of the bad actor clause, which if implemented would keep Pokerstars out of the California market, and the tribe’s recent hiring of lobbying company BBC Public Affairs has ruffled more than a few feathers.

The reason is that BBC was founded and is helmed by former politician Gary Condit…and Condit’s daughter Cadee is married to Gray.

Reporting on the situation, the Los Angeles Times noted that BBC was hired by the Pechanga on August 2 this year to lobby in the California Legislature on “utility/energy” issues, and that the hire was made prior to Gray’s late ‘bad actor’ amendments that have so infuriated the tribes and card rooms allied to Pokerstars and stalled the legalisation bill.

The Pechanga claim there is no relationship between the BBC hiring and its efforts to persuade Gray to make amendments to the bad actor clauses in his legislative measure. The tribe says it hired Condit’s partner, Kelly Boyd, earlier this year before she joined Condit in founding BBC, which is now charged with promoting the Pechanga’s wholesale electric utility.

Gray’s staff have likewise denied any impropriety.