If money talks, and in West Hollywood politics it does, the current frontrunners in the March 3 election for West Hollywood City Council look to be Mayor John D’Amico, City Councilmember John Heilman and challenger Joe Guardarrama.
Reports of campaign contributions through Jan. 17 show D’Amico received 54 percent ($85,365) of the $158,000 in contributions made in this race for three Council seats. Heilman received 24 percent ($38,500, which includes a loan to himself of $3,100) and Guardarrama received 22 percent ($34,534).
A close fourth is Lindsey Horvath, with 20 percent of the contributions ($31,764), followed by Lauren Meister with 18 percent ($27,667). It should be noted, however, that Meister hasn’t yet filed her July-December 2014 finance report, which isn’t due until Feb. 2. Other candidates and their percentages are Larry Block (11 percent), Christopher Landavazo (three percent, with all of that a contribution and loan from himself) and James “Duke” Mason (two percent, however Mason has yet to file his Dec. 31, 2014 report, which will add about $20,000 to the $2,700 included in the Jan. 17 report that was filed). Candidates John Allendorfer, Brian Funnagan, Matt Ralston and Tristan Schukraft reported no contributions.
With the election only 36 days away (i.e. five weeks for fundraising), another important metric is the balance left in the candidates’ accounts on Jan. 17. D’Amico remains the frontrunner by that measure, with $48,185 in his campaign account as of Jan. 17. Heilman reports $28,617 in his account and Meister and Guardarrama are almost tied, with $23,722 and $23,065 respectively. Here Block moves ahead, with $13,382 ($10,000 of which is a loan from himself). Horvath only had $2,742 in her account.
And then there’s the impact of the recently announced “Friends of WeHo” political action committee, which has announced that it is supporting D’Amico, Heilman, Horvath and Guardarrama. Its two donors are Townscape Management, Beverly Hills-based developers of the controversial 8899 Beverly Blvd. and 8150 Sunset Blvd. projects, who donated $9,950 and Anthony Zehenni of Aladdin Developers, who donated $5,000.
Townscape and its partners, John Irwin and Tyler Siegel, also have made separate donations totaling $1,500 to Guardarrama’s campaign and Irwin donated $500 to Heilman’s.
WEHOville currently is analyzing the hundreds of pages of campaign donations submitted to the City Clerk and will report in detail soon on where the money is coming from and who it’s going to.
@Shawn Thompson. Disclosing your donations is moot if you do not recuse yourself.
We need campaign finance reform in #weho to clean up our democracy. I think the deeper problem is the candidates believe they need this money to win, versus running on their record or true community support and or to get elected is about accepting every donation. I believe donations can be gracefully side stepped and not added into a campaign war chest? The idea of voting to me, is one person, one vote. And all this out of town money has polluted our elections. And I have seen first D’Amico setting the lead, and now Duran as well disclosing donations… Read more »
Largest Contributors Townscape Partners….hmmm tring to push in their plan of 8899 Beverly Blvd to the new city council with money again instead of working with the community.
Interesting, thanks. I made my position quite clear in my above comments (now on the page marked “OLDER COMMENTS.” This development is way too big for this little corner and small residential side street that doesn’t have a traffic light and it’s not likely they will install one that close to Fairfax. In regards to Whole Foods parking, I seriously doubt they would have additional parking as the current trend seems to be the Council making concessions to the developers for fewer spaces. So much so in fact that it’s usually not even adequate for the new buildings. CRAZY, I… Read more »
Yes Tom it’s almost corrupt. Hence the developer didn’t provide specifics. Vote them out. Matt.
Meet The Council Candidates Ice Cream Social Sunday, February 8, 2015 2pm-4pm For details, please email whwra90048@gmail.com City of West Hollywood Election�to fill 3 Councilmember seats Tuesday, March 3, 2015 For more information visit http://www.weho.org/elections West Hollywood West Residents Association (“WHWRA”) is a nonprofit organization comprised of homeowners and tenants living in the West Hollywood West community located in the City of West Hollywood. Mission: The purpose of WHWRA is to protect the integrity and quality of life within West Hollywood West. Description: West Hollywood West is the residential area within these West Hollywood boundaries: La Cienega to Doheny and… Read more »
Hi Matt, Really?, you are hard to miss. What are your thoughts on what you heard at the meeting???
Hi Tom. Unfortunately they didn’t provide the dimensions of the proposal and I find that suspicious. Given all the fancy displays I’m sure it was within their budget and capability to do so. I actually think that block would benefit from a moderately sized development. The Whole Foods parking lot is already a nightmare. If a development provided adequate parking I think it would benefit the community. Strangely none of these details were brought up and from what I gathered from the developer, they’re going for as big as will be allowed. The fact they didn’t provide specifics makes me… Read more »
Tom Smart, I was also at the meeting, sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk.
Thank you Sheila for your explanation.
The time is NOW to REVISIT and CHANGE our general plan & zoning…OR ELSE!
VOTE FOR CHANGE on March 3rd.
Randy, It was great that you linked the General Plan Map. http://www.weho.org/home/showdocument?id=5138 The City Council passed the new Plan in 2011. The heights indicated in the Map, however, are deceptive. The reason being… developers get bonuses that let them add height and density. Any areas you see with a black outline are part of the Mixed-Use Incentive Overlay Zone – that adds 10 feet and more density. For inclusion of a few lower than market rate rentals or condos (or a fee in lieu of), that adds another 10 feet and more density. At Orange Grove and SMB, where the… Read more »
Lauren was at the Orange Grove meeting because these are the issues she cares about. I am sure most of her rivals had no idea a meeting was in the works. Lauren and John D’Amico both have proven track records of being responsive to neighborhood concerns and have expressed concern about the direction of the City. As for the others, they have not been too forthcoming on their views other than sweeping platitudes. I am impressed and appreciate Tom Smart’s informed insights.
Steve Martin
Apologies Mr. Block, I didn’t see you there but I’m voting for you so hopefully you will forgive me. 🙂
In other news, it’s interesting to see what Faring Capital was announcing for this site in 2013:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innovative-art-venue-factory-west-opening-in-los-angeles-189187801.html
Tom, Lauren was not the only candidate at the meeting tonight. Larry Block was also there.