WeHo City Prosecutor is Investigating Heidi Shink’s Campaign for Financial Improprieties

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West Hollywood’s city prosecutor is investigating allegations that City Council candidate Heidi Shink is violating the city’s campaign spending laws.

Heidi Shink
Heidi Shink

City Clerk Yvonne Quarker questioned financial records filed by Shink’s campaign in a letter dated Feb. 12 to David Gould, Shink’s campaign finance manager. In that letter, Quarker noted that the election date on Shink’s Dec. 31, 2014, campaign finance filing for the March 3 general election had been altered to indicate that the $17,214 left in her campaign account would be spent toward the June 2 special election. Diversion of funds raised for a general election campaign for use in a special election campaign is a violation of city law.

“The City Attorney’s office has discussed this rule with you,” Quarker said in her letter to Gould. She said Shink must return the money she raised for the March election, donate it to a non-profit organization or dispose of it in other non-political ways authorized by the California Political Reform Act. “If you continue to disregard the City’s campaign finance regulations, we will be forced to refer this matter to the City Prosecutor for further action,” the letter said.

Since then a complaint has been filed with Quarker’s office alleging that campaign door hangers and other materials used by Shink to promote her candidacy in the June 2 election are being paid for with money raised for the March election, in which Shink ultimately decided not to participate. Those materials contain a number identifying them as paid for by the March campaign committee.

Shink’s campaign today provided WEHOville with a letter from Chris Reynolds, chief of the Political Reform Division of the Secretary of State’s office, stating that the Division erred in issuing an ID number to the campaign committee formed for Shink’s June 2 election campaign. According to the letter, the division issued the June 2 campaign committee the same ID number previously provided to the March 3 election committee, which may explain why campaign materials used by Shink in the June 2 race are identified as  created for the March 3 election.

Quarker told WEHOville that today’s letter has been forwarded to the law firm of Dapeer, Rosenblit & Litvak. which acts as city prosecutor, providing legal investigation and prosecution services for the city, for consideration in its investigation. Quarker said the city prosecutor also is investigating the legality of payments that Shink made to a business located at her apartment from her March campaign fund, which WEHOville has previously reported. Such payments, which totaled $7,794,  are not permitted under state campaign finance laws. Shink told WEHOville that the payments were made to reimburse her for office supplies and web design expenses that she incurred during her planned run for office in the March election. By law, such expenses are supposed to be paid for from a campaign finance fund.

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Shink is running against Larry Block, Cole Ettman and John Heilman for the Council seat vacated by Jeffrey Prang in December upon his election as L.A. County Assessor.

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Sassy from Weho
Sassy from Weho
9 years ago

Ms Shink was cleared of this financial mix up by the Secretary of State. Done. Hank why didn’t you publish the letter? Also the City Clerk doesn’t seem to know that State Law over rides City Law. Stop this Shink bashing! It’s getting weird.

Staff Report
9 years ago

@Sassy from WeHo. No. If you read the story posted about this, the California Secretary of State’s office said that it erred in giving the Shink campaign the same number for its June election effort as it did for its March effort. That may explain why the Shink campaign materials for the June election carry the same number as those for the March campaign. But the letter from the Secretary of State’s office did not address the allegation that Shink violated campaign laws by repaying herself for expenses she incurred. The City Prosecutor has been asked to look into the… Read more »

Jim
Jim
9 years ago

Too many missteps and lies for my taste. She’s flip-flopped on items she voted for, missed important planning commission items because she wanted developer money without openly supporting their projects and now a criminal investigation… to make matters worse, she literally had nothing to do with any of the items that she takes credit for… She has lost my vote…

Valerie
Valerie
9 years ago

Dear Ms. Shink: I am so sorry you are being “hit” in the press. It takes courage to run for office. However, it takes honesty to serve. I have been following these comments for weeks and feel I need to comment. As someone who initially believed in you as another woman and felt you would bring calm to the City Council, I am concerned for your personal welfare. Either you’re not being honest or you are receiving bad advice from your handlers. 1) The Polo Lounge: You said you wanted it to be a “teachable moment.” You made a grave… Read more »

Lost my vote
Lost my vote
9 years ago

The leadership of the West Hollywood / Beverly Hills Democratic Club and the leadership at Stonewall have worked with Heidi and decided against supporting her. That speaks volumes. Can you name one issue that she has stood for in this city. Block for instance is synonymous with Crosswalks, or or our city flag or term limits. Heidi is synonymous for dating Chastity Bono before she became Chaz.. run on that and Cher and theres not much to vote for.

Mikey
Mikey
9 years ago

Emily P-

It’s called flip-flopping. Perhaps Heidi should give back the money she received from the developer.

Gail H.
Gail H.
9 years ago
Reply to  Mikey

From.what I’ve read, the money from the kings road developer was returned.

Emily P
Emily P
9 years ago

@Gail H Exactly. Heidi isn’t owned by ANYONE. Heilman has ALREADY taken in more money from developers than all the other candidates COMBINED!!!! And personally, I appreciate someone who can reevaluate a situation when new information comes to light. Keeping to the same position just to appear consistent even when information changes is called stubbornness; changing your evaluation when new information is available is called leadership.

Gail H.
Gail H.
9 years ago

@Guy Point taken. City council has a just a minute ago finally changed to reflect the leadership skills of more than one woman and with that necessary change, Shink is calling for a reconsideration of more and more development in our 1.89 square mile city. Shink is a pragmatist and is not in anyone’s back pocket.

Guy Privaton (@guyprivaton)

@Gail & Emily

gimme a break

no one is trying to stop a woman from being on the council

lets see Lindsey Horvath
OH
Lauren Meister
OH
and before that
Abbe Land for umpteen years

give us a break

if that’s all a candidates got in their campaign toolbox
they’ve got no substance to give us
and are trying to distract us from it

But I agree w Stacy 100% !!!

Jim Nasium
Jim Nasium
9 years ago

LOL, you can’t win with her Jimmy.

Gail H.
Gail H.
9 years ago

@jimmypalmieri You have got to be kidding? What you call the “woman nonsense” is alive and well in boystown. as Stacy is clearly demonstrating with her untended comments.

Stacy Davidson
Stacy Davidson
9 years ago

I’m a woman and it does not seem like anybody is ganging up on her – it seems like she made some mistakes and she should remedy them or take responsibility . She was the one who marched to boycott the Beverly Hills hotel, and then Busted the boycott. She was the one who promised an intimate experience with Cher that was a bait and switch and disappointed everyone. And she is the one who also ACCEPTED DONATIONS FROM DEVELOPERS like the one mentioned from the developer of 826 n kings road above! And quite honestly she was the one… Read more »

jimmypalmieri
jimmypalmieri
9 years ago

emily….knock the woman nonesense off. it’s an old diversion method that no longer works. not in west hollywood anyway.