Five lobbyists failed to disclose meetings with San Jose’s elected leaders as required by the city’s lobbying regulations, according to an investigator’s report that a city commission will review today.

But most of the lobbyists and council members disputed the investigator’s findings, saying the reported meetings either never happened or did not involve matters subject to disclosure.

“We take the law very seriously and make every effort to ensure that our conduct and our reports are in full compliance,” land-use consultant Gary Schoennauer, one of the accused lobbyists, said in a written response to the city clerk.

San Jose’s Elections Commission hired private investigator Roberto A. Rivera, who is working on a $40,000 retainer contract, to examine lobbyists’ compliance with the city’s disclosure rules.

Lobbyists are required to register with the city clerk and file quarterly reports, available online, that list their clients and the city officials they contacted on their clients’ behalf. Rivera compared those quarterly reports with council members’ calendars, posted online each week under rules adopted in August, and with City Hall visitor sign-in sheets.

Rivera found no mention in Schoennauer’s report of a June 12, 2007, contact with Councilman Pete Constant, whose calendar listed it as an “impromptu meeting” over the lunch hour at a downtown corner.

But both Schoennauer and Constant said it was nothing more than a chance encounter in which they exchanged pleasantries, something not subject to disclosure requirements.

“We just chatted briefly - ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ ” Constant said.

Talking politics

Similarly, lobbyist George Shirakawa Jr. and Vice Mayor Dave Cortese said the Sept. 24 meeting Rivera cited in his report was just a discussion at a Police Athletic League fundraiser about their upcoming races for different seats on the county board of supervisors.

Though Cortese’s calendar listed the topic as “city business,” the vice mayor said Tuesday he listed it that way “to be transparent about it,” and he confirmed Shirakawa’s account that they talked only politics, not city matters.

Lobbyists Ed Storm and Rattan Dhaliwal said the reported meetings in Rivera’s report never happened. Storm said in a letter to the city clerk that he was out of the country and therefore did not meet with Councilman Kansen Chu on Sept. 10. Chu’s calendar lists an unspecified meeting that day, but he could not say for sure whether it in fact happened, though he vaguely recalled meeting with Storm or his representative at some point.

“It’s so far back I really can’t say yes or no,” Chu said.

Lobbyist Patricia Sausedo said she had no record of meeting Councilwoman Nancy Pyle as listed on Pyle’s calendar on Feb. 8, 2007. Pyle’s chief of staff, Leland Wilcox, said he believed Sausedo was absent from that day’s meeting on economic development.

Restoring confidence

The council adopted the rules to restore public confidence after a series of scandals. Those included alleged favoritism in a City Hall technology contract, the misdemeanor conviction of former Councilman Terry Gregory for unreported gifts and bribery charges - since dropped - against former Mayor Ron Gonzales over a trash-hauling deal.

Rivera was not available for comment Tuesday. But Shirakawa, in a letter to the city clerk, suggested Rivera should have done more homework.

“The Rivera report states that they conducted a ‘in-depth research and review,’ yet I never received a phone call, letter or e-mail regarding the ‘findings’ of Rivera and Associates,” Shirakawa said. “If they had done so, I would have been able to address the issue referenced in the report.”