You thought it was all over on March 5? Think again! Today the man who was perhaps the most unusual candidate in that West Hollywood City Council election has announced that he has filed a document with the City Clerk stating his intention to run again in November 2020.
Eric Jon Schmidt, who came in last among the 11 candidates with only 167 votes (0.3% of the total), says he will run as “Eric Schmidt” this time.
“I am starting early so I can meet and speak with as many residents as possible,” Schmidt said in his announcement. “I want to hear first hand what their concerns are. And, just like last time, I will not take campaign contributions.”
Schmidt’s campaign garnered worldwide attention in gay media and on gossip sites with the revelation of his profile on DudesNude.com, a porn site where he posted videos of himself having sex with other men. On that site, Schmidt described himself as “a horny little sexhibitionist.”
While Schmidt lost the March 5 election (the winners were incumbents Lindsey Horvath, Lauren Meister and John D’Amico, in that order) he has claimed that coverage of him attracted thousands of new followers on the DudesNude porn site. To actually be on the 2020 ballot he will have to get the signatures of 20 to 30 of the city’s registered voters.
“I have ten main issues that I will work on as a City Council Member, but my two main concerns are public safety and renters rights,” Schmidt says in his announcement.
“I, along with 80% of West Hollywood residents am a renter. I know how it feels to be treated like a second class citizen. I know what it is like to be ignored when I file a complaint to the city Code Compliance office. I will work very hard to put a stop to this and to be an advocate for renters. Something this city has never seen. I will not support rent increases more that 1%. I will develop a system were renters can rate their landlords, buildings and the response times regarding complaints. I will advocate that the code compliance office lists every complaint about a residential property and the action taken by code compliance and the landlord on a weekly basis on the city’s website.
“Landlords should be happy with this because it will create competition so ‘good’ landlords should have a higher occupancy rate and a lower turnover rate.”
In his announcement, Schmidt criticizes his current landlord for not properly addressing issues with his kitchen sink and bathroom toilet.
“I live in a building where the dirty dishwater comes up my kitchen sink every day, (that is why we eat out) but the city compliance department tells me that a compliance officer must witness it personally before the city will contact the property owner even though I have videos of it happening. A compliance officer would have to spend all day here since it happen at different times.”
Two seats – those of John Heilman and John Duran – will be up for election on Nov. 2, 2020. While Schmidt is the only person to announce his candidacy thus far, those who follow WeHo politics closely expect that Sepi Shyne, the attorney ranked fourth in the March election, will run again. Also rumored to be considering a run is John Erickson, appointed by John Heilman to the city Planning Commission.
Gross! This misogynist has NO place in WeHo! It’s bad enough that we are enduring Duran, but this joke will be far worse than Duran! His shameless self promotion on a site that he’s long over due to retire from and his continued undertone of women hating are one of a few things that makes this person a potential liability for WeHo! We’ve endured enough. No more same old, same old.
Agreed. Hank, I don’t understand why you give this guy so much attention. To put things in perspective, there were other candidates running in 2019 who had good ideas, who received far less attention from this publication. I realize that some of them didn’t write editorials, and that you allowed up to three for each. 167 votes, THOUSANDS less than he claimed he would get a year ago because of his DN profile, and he’s still abusing the our election process for his own personal attention. It is gross. Could you please just not cover him anymore? I know from… Read more »
Randy: We cannot refuse to cover a candidate because we don’t like him or disagree with his views. We are committed to providing equal coverage to all candidates (although some take more actions that generate more coverage — positive or negative). And we invite all elected officials to write op-eds and offer comments and to subscribe to our daily email list, which only John D’Amico does.
Hank, respectfully, I think this candidate received more coverage in the 2019 election than many others, going back to your coverage of him in early 2018. This isn’t about disagreeing with his views: it is about his wasting our time. Which I think has pretty much been proven. Regardless, I don’t remember your coverage for Shyne, Thomas, Hood, etc., being as extensive. That said, I don’t think your coverage has been “equal.” I believe he has received too much coverage, and that is empowering him, in the process, to waste all of our time, and abuse our Democratic process, even… Read more »
Randy: and the New York Times has been criticized for its extensive coverage of Donald Trump and his scandalous behavior. You must understand that journalists don’t make the news, we just report it. A candidate for public office’s appearances in public sex videos and hateful and misogynist comments about city employees is news, sad as that might be
Hank, you do get to decide what is newsworthy and what is not. Just like any publication. Within the last year we had to read about his Dudesnude activity, his running for office, then his not running, then his running again. His association with someone else running for office (who may, or may not be a partner). He was also granted a few editorials. I believe Mr. Schmidt is just seeking attention. And we are giving it to him with this news coverage, comments on the articles, and on your FB page, as well as his editorials. The 2020 election… Read more »
Completely agree. If Wehoville is doing this for eyeballs, it is poor judgement. Wehoville owes this imposter candidate nothing.
It is my understanding of California election law, that to fundraise as a candidate, you must be formally declared with the proper paperwork in place.
At least one former candidate is currently soliciting donations for a 2020 campaign that they have not declared legally.
I do my best to ignore anything said by or written about this man. It’s hard at times due to the constant cries for attention.
I think it’s interesting if John Erickson runs. My stage name in adult films is Erik Erikson. We are both equally qualified to be a City Council Member. The only requirement is to be level headed with life experience. There is nothing else that can qualify anyone to be a Council Member. It’s all about the ability to listen to Residents and make decisions which best benefit the community and the Residents without any outside influence.
Wasting city resources on the ink needed to print his name on the ballot might be good for marketing his amateur porn career, but this laughingstock continues to make a mockery of the democratic process. We’re all sorry about his toilet, but it might have something to do with his apparent fixation with coprophilia, as has been reported here and there.