Earlier this week a push poll about issues central to West Hollywood voters was conducted by the Wallin research firm.
WEHOville was notified about a research poll after Council member John Erickson took to Twitter to sound a dramatic alarm.
The push-poll was:
✔️anti-trans
✔️anti-worker
✔️anti-renter
✔️anti-WeHoThis alt-right rightwing poll is disgusting! This kind of politics doesn’t belong in #WeHo!
Shame on you! https://t.co/NeJQVR1Y27
— Dr. John M. “GET VACCINATED” Erickson (@JErickson85) August 30, 2021
The poll was conducted to gauge West Hollywood voter perceptions. But Council member Erickson jumped the gun writing the push poll was anti-trans, anti-worker, anti-renter, anti-weho. Right Wing attacks. – but, none of those accusations are true. A copy of the results shows the poll to be informative and lacks any mention of any council person’s name.
WEHOville will publish the poll in its entirety over the Labor Day Weekend.
Over the past few months there has been lots of chatter to recall John Erickson. WEHOville has received at least half a dozen calls on this subject and has confirmed that at least two candidate’s has been asked to be on the ballot should a recall develop. The talk of a recall began after John Erickson and Mayor Horvath voted against Mayor-elect Meister for a position on SCAG, the Southern California Association of Governments. Erickson and Horvath appeared to work together to undermine West Hollywood’s seat on the board and later for endorsements for Horvath’s race for LA County Supervisor.
In addition to the vote against West Hollywood’s interests, a violation of each council member’s oath of office, there are allegations that Erickson and Horvath conspired to bring the Hotel Ordinance forward without a study session and without respect to the impact on West Hollywood’s budget along with gross mismanagement of the city finance’s.
Horvath got wind of the poll as Erickson made irate calls and took to twitter. Both Erickson and Horvath assumed the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce was behind the poll. Calls circulated between current and former city council members, the UNITE HERE representatives, the current and former city manager, as well as members of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
But the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is an independent entity and had no influence over the poll. The Poll was financed by an independent entity the Pandemic Recovery Coalition.
The poll was administered by a highly respected firm Wallin Opinion Research and led by Keith Kaplan, a West Hollywood resident and realtor and former Chair of the Chamber acting on his own. Kaplan reached out to Horvath to clarify her and Erickson’s misperception of the polling.
Kaplan shared his message to Horvath to clear up any confusion.
He wrote: Hi Lindsey. Keith Kaplan here. I understand that there is some confusion about the Wallin polling and the Pandemic Recovery Coalition. To be fully clear I am fully responsible as head of the Pandemic Recovery Coalition for this project and for this movement…. not wearing my Chamber hat but as a concerned citizen with 30 years of professional Public Policy work under my belt. Witnessing our council drag this city down dangerous paths. I worked with Wallin on this poll, a very normal project when policy issues are in question and a key element of the democratic process. If you have issues or concerns direct them to me, not the Chamber. — And to clarify even further, I am not acting as a Consultant to the Chamber and I am receiving no payment for this. I am simple acting as a concerned citizen.
Horvath had not replied to Kaplan. WEHOville reached out to both Council member Horvath and Council member Erickson for comment but did not receive a reply..
WEHOville will present the EXCLUSIVE -The West Hollywood Voter Survey- in a 3-part series beginning this weekend, Saturday-the Issues, Sunday-City Job Performance and Monday City Council Approval.
[…] businesses still struggling from the COVID pandemic. A PR campaign opposing the measures and a divisive public poll, both indirectly linked to the Chamber, put some councilmembers on the defensive, and the move to […]
Miss. HORvath and this Erickson person are acting like they care about the good people of WH. The reality is they care about them self and their huge egos. They should be immediately removed from their position in any kind of decision making while they are fully investigated. If wrong doing is discovered both should be arrested and jailed. This is NOT the first time the city of West Hollywood council members has been involved in criminal activity. Several years ago one was found guilty and served time in prison.
Linsey is a two face you know what! She always has been. She voted for G.W. Bush and worked for his campaign. She is corrupt and dishonest as the can be. Both of these people need to kicked out of WH city council! They have no business being in decision making positions for the good people of WH
Will the poll show how many babies the progressively woke and wonderfully narcissistic John Erikson has helped slaughter? Sad that he’s so bitter and angry, he doesn’t have the intellectual intelligence to figure out that his past actions caused his current unhappiness, it must be our fault. He’s like a new old queen.
Seems he has a major bitch with God but takes out his personal rath on the immediate community through some convoluted reasoning and prefers bullying and figurative hostage taking of women. Living in one’s head is not a good recipe for governance.
I love Keith Kaplan!
I can see why it through both of them into a tailspin. When the public points out that you’re not doing your job- it’s hard to swallow.
They don’t answer to the West Hollywood public, they answer to an audience beyond the borders of West Hollywood in an attempt to curry favor for their higher political aspirations. West Hollywood is merely a farm team for these wannabes. Horvath has never had West Hollywood as her priority; hers has only been about her and her grandiloquent sense of pompousness. Erickson is just a bufoon. Shyne is a naive practitioner of identit y politics.
yes. Yes. YES!
Well said, Alan. And unfortunately, this is true for most politicians these days. Local politics is just a stepping stone. Pols see politics for what it is – a road to riches. No need to answer to the “little people.” Sadly, the majority of the population does not see this and continues to worship their chosen candidates.
It seems that anything that contradicts the views of the far left is automatically called, “alt-right rightwing and is disgusting.” Isn’t that what Newsom calls the recall? Do not question us we are the all knowing and righteous.
They’ve got nothing else than to throw that out there and hope it sticks. If they would just take these results and do better it would carry them a lot further. And restore our faith in their leadership.
This Karen wants to deprive people the right to drive a car. She doesn’t believe in equal access and equal rights. The Horvath hacks are out in force while the politician sells all of us out.
Hey all,
Let’s see the whole transcript, this “story” likely blown out of all proportion in Larry Block/WeHoVille’s sensationalist delusions of grandeur linked to WeHo’s self-indulgent spoiled population of aging queens (of all sexual persuasions) and the general tone of Ms Morrill’s Chamber of Commerce anti-labor advocacy for an anachronistic vision of West Hollywood as some kind of touristic gay pumpernickel principality behind the barricades.
I would guess that the complaints about this WEHOville story and journalism integrity are coming from readers who still subscribe to the Los Angles Times and haven’t cut the cable. As for WEHOville, it’s the local news source for West Hollywood. Along with the WEHO Times. Both are technically blogs. In 2007, I, along with the Daily Kos, was individually sued through the FEC Federal Election Commission. Congress Rep Mary Bono sued me, and in a landmark decision, we both won. The FEC unanimously (GOP & DEM committee) resolved two complaints alleging that Internet blog activity is subject to Commission… Read more »
Much of the information that people are receiving on these blogs are comparable to the value of a dead fish.
Unfortunately your analogy is off and adds noting to the quality of life.
Small minds talk about people.
Mediocre minds talk about events.
Great minds talk about ideas.
Facts matter.
Opinions without facts are worthless.
Its no wonder the mindless are flocking to the blogs.
Traditional honest fact based media, as you call it, is very cheap now. The Wall Street Journal is now only $4 per month. NY Times is $4.50. You can get 6 months of the LA times for $1. Of course these are only available online, large splashy blogs. Most of the staffs now are just out of college journalism school graduates. Everyone else took early retirement. You sound like a person who would want the hard copy. That’s another story and would end up costing up to $2,900 a year plus. But you could wrap a ton of fish at… Read more »
Without any idea what I read, how I read it or what my global news sources might be, the judgments you make reveal much…not a happy soul having seen you in action. It’s never too late to be relevant.
I guess we can decide for ourselves if John Erickson’s attacks were true once WeHoville publishes the poll questions, but I suspect that the poll was not promoting progressive values. I can’t help but think that whoever paid for the poll is quite content that it was money well spent. A push poll is not exactly something that makes headlines but John Erickson’s unfortunate reaction is what makes for an amusing article; the poll would have passed largely unnoticed but for his amplification. It is all part of the learning curve.
Seriously, Larry. WeHoville under your control is an embarrassment. This is not journalism. You are obfuscating instead of informing. It seems you took a page from Fox News. Mark (my husband) got the push poll. I was in the same room and could hear several of the questions. It was most certainly a push poll, as even your headline acknowledges, meant to lead voters to the pollster’s preferred right-wing, anti-worker, anti-homeless answers. Even your own headline — noting it was a “push poll” contradicts your claim the poll was simply an attempt to “gauge West Hollywood voter perceptions.” Do you… Read more »
As mentioned the poll will be published in its entirety despite your suggestions that it will not be.
Where does the article say the push poll will be published in its entirety (i.e. including the leading diatribes)? All I see it say is “WEHOville will present the EXCLUSIVE -The West Hollywood Voter Survey- in a 3-part series beginning this weekend, Saturday-the Issues, Sunday-City Job Performance and Monday City Council Approval.“ Nowhere does that say you’ll publish every word that was read to voters. And it’s clear you’re breaking the poll up into three pieces — i.e. not publishing it all at once. And it seems you’re waiting for the results, instead of letting readers see what voters heard on its… Read more »
Check the bold print after the first paragraph “WEHOville will publish the poll in its entirety over the Labor Day Weekend” It’s very clear.
You should be disappointed in your council members reaction to a poll ! Not the story that covers it.
My husband and I were both outraged as soon as we heard the poll because it’s a BS right-wing garbage that asks loaded questions. Why would I be upset my council members share my opinion about this nonsense? Google “push poll” and you’ll see it’s defined as, “an ostensible opinion poll in which the true objective is to sway voters using loaded or manipulative questions.” I’ve commissioned and written polls as part of my job. This one was totally unprofessional, biased garbage designed to influence voters opinions not to gauge them. Calling it out is appropriate and necessary. Even Larry’s… Read more »
Karen a poll is an opinion survey. Do you need to have that explained?
Clearly someone published talking points for the incestuous WEHO political cabal to repeat over and over in an attempt to discredit legitimate civic engagement. The attempt to malign is a Trumpian exercise in condescending thought control. Bring on the poll and let the chips fall as the may. Never fear truth, but fear those who attempt to damper that fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone truth may be found.
Baloney.
Oops! I just posted a comment saying I didn’t see where Larry said the poll would be posted in its entirety and belatedly saw that you did say it’ll be posted in it’s entirety … Apologies. That said, the article says at the tend that the poll will be broken up into three parts — and indicates it’ll include results. You should post the entire poll AT ONCE, not in three parts, independent of results so readers can assess for themselves if it’s a push poll before the results to the leading questions are published. And if it’s a push… Read more »
The poll was commissioned by a Democrat and you don’t seem to want to let the people make up their own mind. The readers will see the questions and the answers. It’s quite simple. Question 1. In your own words, what do you feel is the most important issue facing your community today? a) Covid-19, b) Public Safety, c) Affordable housing, d) economy/jobs, e) environmental issues, f) government, g) other, h) nothing/none, i) dont know. —- so you are reciting the mis-information, we will publish the poll and the metrics in its entirety.
Keep doing your job Larry! If it ruffles a few delicate feathers, it means you’re doing your job being an effective member of the Fourth Estate. If one does an oopsie and then creates a new line of attack, it simply means there’s something to hide and protect. Bring on the poll, and its results. Anyone who doesn’t like them will label it as a right-wing attack, but such tired reliance on intellectually lazy insult is starting to fall on deaf ears. Publish it as you see fit, I know you’re not one to be bullied. Frankly, it’s about time… Read more »
You’re my favorite Old Gay Boomer! Keep speaking up about those silly “progressive” millennials. It’s guys our age who really know what the world is all about. I think we should rename Boystown “Daddytown,” and I’d vote for Boomer Daddy Al is its mayor!
Let go “Earl Eason”. Grace is clearly not your strong suit. WEHOville is doing just fine without you. You’d have to move back to cast your vote for me!
Yes.
Karen…Just read the Los Angeles Times for your comfort news. It is not right wing. And basically now is mainly popular at assisted living centers! You’re probably are a Morning Joe girl!
Why do you comment as different pseudonyms instead of just the one name?
It’s bizarre.