Ouch. Here’s a repudiation that hurts.
The City of Redlands, Calif., is considering whether to cut its ties to the Copeland Lowery lobbying firm. It sounds like a mundane business decision, but in fact it would be quite a political defection.
Redlands is the center of the district served by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who’s now under FBI investigation for corruption.
Copeland Lowery was for a long time the go-to lobbying firm if you wanted to get Lewis’ attention. It was a seamless operation — former top aides for Lewis like Jeffrey Shockey worked as lobbyists at Copeland Lowery.
Shockey, in fact, is a Redlands native, born and raised in that Southern California burg. And he was the city’s lobbyist at Copeland Lowery — before he returned to Lewis’ office last year.
So if Redlands decides to break off from Copeland, it’s not like switching long distance carriers. It’s a vote of no-confidence for the system that’s propped up its chief political representative for years.
