Will he or won’t he?
With Lindsey Horvath extending her slight lead over John Heilman in the latest vote count in Tuesday’s West Hollywood City Council election, nervous Heilman supporters now are pressing him to reconsider his previous declaration that he won’t run in the June 2 special election if he loses this one. And Councilmember John Duran, who has endorsed Heilman, is pressing other possible candidates not to run against him.
Heilman supporters such as City Councilmember Abbe Land, who decided not to seek re-election this past Tuesday, have been calling people to ask them to call Heilman and urge him to reconsider. Two prospective candidates have told WEHOville that Duran has called to ask that they not oppose him in the June 2 race.
A count today of provisional and mail-in ballots that have been verified by the Los Angeles County Registrar showed Horvath with 2,004 votes and Heilman with 1,954. That’s a slight increase over Horvath’s 28-vote lead over Heilman during Tuesday night’s vote count. There remain approximately 200 provisional ballots to be counted and likely fewer last-minute mail-in ballots. Provisional ballots are those cast by registered voters at other than their designated polling places.
Candidates for the June 2 election must filed required papers with the City Clerk by the end of the day Friday. Any candidate who wants to file such papers must step out of the current race, which means Heilman will face a difficult decision if there’s not some clarity in the vote count by tomorrow morning.
Heilman, a law professor, is teaching today and couldn’t be reached for comment. If Horvath wins and Heilman runs in June, political insiders are betting that D’Amico will endorse Heidi Shink, who has announced her candidacy in that election. In a Facebook post D’Amico said: “After the June election there will be 3 women on #WeHo City Council.” The third is Lauren Meister, who D’Amico endorsed and who was a clear winner on Tuesday.
The June 2 election is to fill the seat vacated by Councilmember Jeffrey Prang in December after he was elected L.A. County Assessor. If Heilman is defeated in Tuesday’s election and the June 2 election, the West Hollywood City Council will have three new members and relative newcomer D’Amico, a major change on a Council that long has been dominated by incumbents.
The idea of a black council member in West Hollywood is as laughable as the false notion that the gay community actually cares about ethnic diversity. The gay power structure of West Hollywood — which influences the entire gay community all over — has resurrected Jim Crow and represents only the interests of white gay men, so why should Council be any different. When gay bars openly refuse to hire black bartenders, when they have quotas on the amounts of nonwhite go-go dancers (whom they only trot out on slow hours), when the gay fashion/entertainment structure based in WeHo constantly… Read more »
I agree West Hollywood scream equality but they turn around and discriminate against black people. Hypocrisy defines the gay comunity. It’s sad. That is one of the reason I don’t rust gay men. They are back stabbers.
Barrack Obama wasn’t someone anyone saw on the horizon a year before he decided to run fr president. Hillary was favored to win with a huge lead in the polls. I urge an African American candidate to come forward and run for West Hollywood city council. It sounds like the special election in June won’t be possible but in the next election cycle, I personally would like to see some color making important decisions pertaining to West Hollywood and the often silent black community.
why? how about an Asian, Native American, or any other race, the important thing no matter who runs for the council has to have some merit that would appeal to voters, Just having a black candidate for the sake of it doesn’t make sense
Funny, that’s how I felt about Obama. Here he was not in the least bit qualified but America had a hard on for a black president. I wanted Hillary them. He could have waited and ran after her but that’s another story. Since there never has been an African America counsel member representing the black population of West Hollywood, it would seem the time has come to erase that prejudice from a city that says it is all for equality.
Why do we need a black council member to represent the black population in WeHo? so using that logic? how about having a council member for each ethnic group, race group and so on. We could end up with maybe 20 or so council members. Council members represent the entire city, not one group, period!
Ambiguous, there has never been a female President either, so who is to say which is more important. Why do you say blacks are underrepresented? In what way? I feel like you are making an issue where there is none. Again, voting should be based on who is best qualified, not race.
There have been many Jewish people, women & gay men. Now the time as come for an African American council members. There are quite a few I can think of who server the community that might be inspired by the challenge.
Hey, people, let’s look at the qualifications of each June candidate before jumping to (possibly erroneous) conclusions. Heidi Shink has a plethora of experience. GOOGLE her web site as well as the others seeking to be on the WeHo CC this June. After you have completed your due diligence, then make an informed decision as to whom to vote for.
Heidi seems like a real nice gal buit we already have God awful Lindsay (sadly) and the marvelous Miss Meister. Don’t we want a balance? How about an African American? There has never been an African America WH council member. Coming from a city the like equality we need to be fair an elect the first African America council member to West Hollywood city council in June. It would be a good example of diversity.
The filing period for candidates for the June 2 special election for the City Council has closed.
Ambiguous, isn’t it really about who is best for the job? I may be wrong, but I don’t remember anyone who is black who ran. Choosing someone to run a city based on ethnicity does not seem very prudent to me.
I’ve been in WeHo since 1978 (before the city was incorporated) and, correct, there has been no black candidate during all these years as there has not been someone from the Russian community. But there has also been NO candidate from the “East Side” (East of Crescent Heights or Fairfax – take your pick on the nebulous demarcation “line.” ) But Heidi Shink does live on Curson. (East of Fairfax, as am I). I always felt that the “East Side” was somewhat looked down upon from those on the “West Side.” It’s time we had someone who DOES live on… Read more »
Innocent before proven guilty? Chris – he admitted to the press he had sex with his deputy before he was hired for the position. I’m sorry, where is the question his ethics here?
I’m absolutely hoping D’Amico, Horvath and Meister will ask for Duran to resign. I’m be quite disappointed if they do not.
Gregel – to clarify: this was some time after Meister’s loss – we exchanged comments over at the old WeHoNews site, I suggested we get together there, she expressed an interest, we exchanged email addresses, then talked on the phone. She seemed as interested in getting together as I was at first, then for reasons unknown she didn’t get back to me. No biggie – the statement originally was that if I’d ever spend 10 minutes talking to her, I’d have a different impression. I did, and it didn’t change the impression. I appreciated the initial interest in discussion, but… Read more »
I do and yes, John Heilman is officially running for re-election with my full support.
Paul Evans, most of the people on here have no clue.
right on Chris!
If Mr. Heilman runs in the June election (and he SHOULD- he only lost the third seat by a very, very slim margin), I’m voting for him! West Hollywood IS the city it is in large part because of his hard work and leadership since cityhood. The people of this City have elected him to the council time and time again because he has led us well. There is an empty seat that needs to be filled in June and if Mr. Heilman wants to go for it, he should – and I’ll be there on voting day to cast… Read more »
Heilman was against term limits but always said “We already have term limits. They’re called elections.” Now he obviously doesn’t like elections either so he refuses to move on & wants to run for a vacant seat to become a newly elected junior Councilmember. Scary. He was the main reason term Limits Measure C passed in the first place & he is proving why by his refusal to step aside & accept the will of the electorate. The voters have spoken, they want change & they want that to include a farewell party for Heilman. Welcome Heidi Shink as the… Read more »
A few days late on this Chris, but just a quick step back a moment regarding your Meister coffee. You asked to have coffee with someone who had just LOST an election, who had not stated they had any intention of running again and when that person actually took the time out of their own schedule to meet with you, you somehow didn’t trust her because of her responses? I’m sorry, and no true disrespect intended, are you someone within this city Lauren should have been kissing up to? We’re all concerned citizens, but my lord, I’m even more impressed… Read more »
So Larry Block and Joe Guararrama, who got fewer votes, also should never run again? 1st some of you foist anti-democratic term limits on us (we already had them – their called elections). Now your new rule is that if you lose an election (even by less than 100 votes), you can never run for that office again. Are you serious?