I believe that West Hollywood voters are smart people. They can see through the smoke of donations, especially out-of-state donations.
They have the intelligence to do research, consider candidates’ policy history and the candidates’ ideas about West Hollywood to make informed decisions about who they believe is best suited to help navigate West Hollywood into the future. They don’t need to be inundated with mailers, yard signs, robo calls, etc. to tell them which candidate is the best for West Hollywood. The voters are smarter than that.
I believe that if residents take a few minutes to read the platform of each candidate and get to know him/her, they will be able to make an informed decision. No amount of money spent on a campaign will influence the intelligent voters of West Hollywood.
It is my opinion that it’s not about how much money a candidates raises. It’s about how being level headed, unbiased, grounded, compassionate, empathetic, analytical and with the ability to listen twice as much as talk.
I want your trust in me, which I will earn, that I will always do the right thing for the residents of West Hollywood with no personal gain for me or anyone else.
I want to do that without the influence of donors. I don’t believe in fundraisers, I believe in “friend-raisers.”
As a city council member, I will not owe “favors” to ANYONE for taking campaign donations. I will never make a decision based upon a donation. I will not give preferential treatment to donors, because I won’t have any donors. My votes on city council issues will be based upon the needs of the residents and the community. You come first. You matter. My vote on issues cannot be bought.
I am not suggesting that anyone who takes campaign donations will be influenced by the donors, but I will not have that cloud of suspicion hanging over me. I do believe in campaign transparency so that every donor and the amount donated be made public before the election.
The needs of the residents and the quality of life for everyone in West Hollywood are more important to me than any amount of money I could raise.
Editor’s Note: WEHOville has invited all candidates in the March 5, 2019, election for City Council to submit up to three op-eds each for publication before the election. This is the second from Eric Jon Schmidt.
While taking no position on your candidacy, I urge you to study William Proxmire, a long-time United States Senator who in his last two campaigns (which he won comfortably) spent less than $200 on his reelection efforts. Senator Proxmire was also the force behind the Golden Fleece Award, which he awarded monthly to projects he viewed were merely to serve the interests of the supporting politician and were complete wastes of taxpayer money. The recent Saturday morning trump balloon fiasco (which you are on record as supporting) comes to mind–it would still be great to get an accounting of how… Read more »
Alan, you can request information regarding what the City Spent on the trump baby event through the freedom of information act. You just need to request it through the City Clerk’s office. I am not on record of supporting the event. We were there to protest the event and tell Meister and Duran what a waste of money it was. We did tell them that. If you have ever heard me at City Council Meeting you would know that I am against wasteful spending and I support a complete overhaul of the budget. I recently requested all the statements for… Read more »
Mr. Schmidt, I refer you to your comments posted on this site on Sunday October 28, 2018 at 4:18 a.m. in which you praised the event as one allowing people to let off steam, before closing your comments with “Job well done”. Further, I witnessed you give an on-camera interview praising the event, and clearly enjoying your bit of unearned media in support of your campaign. Your argument now that you there to protest the event is spurious and specious, at best. Perhaps you want to clarify your remarks above to avoid the clear appearance that they are a demonstrable… Read more »
I did an interview talking about my running for City Council. No where in the interview was the trump event mentioned. You seem to be looking for something that isn’t there. Just because I said job well done doesn’t mean I agreed with it. As stupid as the event was, Duran did a good job pulling it off. It did allow people to let off steam, but again it does not mean I agree with it. I can see how you have extrapolated that conclusion, but it doesn’t make it true.
Bingo!
I could not possibly care less what Alan thinks. I have read everything that “Alan” has written over the years and It has all had the same agenda. I don’t need or expect any votes from Wehoville readers. I would never align myself with that group. But, it is fun to see the claws come out
😂😂😂😂
Mr. Schmidt, your words are indelibly marked in the public record.
Alan, Not that it is of particular relevancy, as far as candidate positions go, but Mr. Schmidt was asked to own up to a lie he was clearly caught in, back in April, regarding a video profile he had on the web, which he said didn’t belong to him. Captured clearly on web.archive.org. He said it was a fake profile, created by someone else, who stole his laptop, yet it was linked to from another profile he clearly owns, and has not denied owning. Still no explanation on that one. I feel for him, that he probably felt under attack… Read more »
“I don’t need or expect any votes from Wehoville readers.”
Eric, then why did you write this editorial in this publication, in the first place? Seriously?
The late Senator William Proxmire’s “Golden Fleece Award,” that he bestowed monthly upon an agency responsible for supposedly “the most outrageous example of federal waste,” was not only hypocritical but an example of an anti-intellectual/anti-science premise that has come to dominate the current political discourse. We NEVER seen a “Golden Fleece Award” bestowed upon any of the sacred cows of the military industrial complex that account for majority of our discretionary spending or any criticism of the numerous imperialist war efforts that met with his complete approval. Proxmire picked on Academia and Public Science Research by mendaciously misrepresenting their research,… Read more »
Thank you for introducing yourself. I will pledge my vote and support to you right now if you promise that as a City Council member you will fight West Hollywood’s runaway problem of hotel over-development.
Thank you. Please read my website. I talk extensively about overdevelopment. I will vote NO on all new development unless it is affordable housing.
I will be having a Town Hall meeting after the first of the year for people who want to ask me questions. I will introduce myself and then there will be 45 minutes for questions and answers. I will answer every question to the best of my ability. This is NOT a fund raiser. I will announce the date and place soon.
Lol. I’m sure that’ll be a sell out crowd. 😂😂
Lets face it when nobody wants to donate its easy to say ‘not taking donations”.
Thank you smart voter but I said this on March 5th when I made my announcement a year before the election at the city council meeting. I have donor offers everyday which I turn down.
Do you seriously want to base someone’s credibility on their ability to get donations? There is no shortage of fundamentalist ministers, “get rich quick” scammers, corporate shills and, billionaire sycophants who have not only mastered the art but; whose damage to society is rather apparent!