All but one of WeHo’s City Council candidates filed the required campaign finance paperwork on Thursday, 11 days before Election Day, revealing how much cash on hand (COH) each has, as well as how much they are in debt.
Robert Oliver leads the pack with $68,172 in cash on hand, having raised a total of $130,000 from major developers, unions and Hollywood industry money. With no debt to pay off, it raises the question: How will he spend it with eight days to go?
Ben Savage has $64,733 cash on hand, but his campaign is deeply in debt. Will he repay his $67,000 loan with that cash or spend it on an ad blitz?
John Duran has the third most cash on hand with $54,761, and his campaign has no debt.
Below is how much the rest of the candidates have on hand:
4. Chelsea Byers — $27,121 / $2,000 debt
5. Marquita Thomas — $21,683 / no debt
6. Lauren Meister — $14,161 / no debt
7. Zekiah Wright — $12,445 / no debt
8. Jordan Cockeram — $4,985 / $4,706 debt
9. Sarah Adolphson — $5,377 / no debt
10. Steve Martin — $1,434 / $27,000 debt
11. Adam Darvis — $0 / no debt
John Heilman had not filed by the deadline at midnight Thursday, an FPPC violation.
West Hollywood developers and lobbyists have set up three independent expenditure committees — Friends of John Heilman , Friends of Robert Oliver and Friends of Chelsea Byers. UNITE HERE has also set up independent expenditure committees to help Oliver, Byers and Wright, and separate committees to attack Meister and Duran. There are no independent expenditure committees to help Meister or Duran.
A campaign consultant who reviewed the numbers and was granted anonymity to speak freely on the issue believes there are four frontrunners for the three spots on City Council: Meister, Duran, Heilman and Oliver.
Robert Oliver’s flip-flopping on the Public Safety Commission showed his true colors. It’s politics as usual. He’s just another career politician.
What you’re describing is Steven Martin. He wrote that 15 page defund the police op ed as a former councilmember in 2020. Steven is a real flip flopper.
I appreciate this column – truly!
Good work, Brandon.
Confused as to how developers and unions support the same candidate.
THAT doesn’t make any sense.
makes total sense, developers enter into an agreement with the union to gain support for the project and by off the opposstion.
I am not sure that using Keith Kaplan is a good idea as a source for predicting election results. No one predicted the results in 2020 because in that election the incumbents had huge amounts of cash on hand. I remain very confident based upon my interactions with the voters. But the only poll that matters will be on November 8th.
You’re a class act, Steve.
And the floppiest of flip floppers
https://wehoonline.com/2020/07/03/opinion-its-times-for-west-hollywood-to-reimagine-its-public-safety-services/
I don’t see anything for John Duran. I’m not surprised that Heilman is heavily supported by developers but I’m still disgusted by it. So this means that the two Johns want us to welcome them back with open arms but they are already breaking campaign laws. Do we really want them back? My dream team is Meister,Martin, and Cockeram. We need some new untainted fresh blood on the council.
It was in the text above the list.
Should read the details.
No, we don’t want Heilman and Duran back, but *we* may get them.
I’m not super opposed to Duran, Heilman, and Martin, but I’d love to see a new generation of Council members join Lauren Meister to help steer our city to a more prosperous and safe future. Plus, I love the Hollywood spark Savage and the pragmatism Cockeram would provide.
They would be way better than Oliver, Byers or Wright. Have no issue with either one of them over these three.
Agreed.
Your dream team would be an outstanding result.
Of course Oliver has all the money! Corporations, developers, and unite here have thrown money at him! They stand a lot to gain if he gets on the council!! And sadly, if voters are ill informed, he will! That would be a tragedy for West Hollywood
We don’t need more foxes in the hen house of West Hollywood. Unite Here believes WH to be their captive but we need to prove them wrong as it will be the end of what was originally a fairly noble experiment.
Complete tragedy! No vote for Oliver, Byers or Wright.
It shows you that with no prior experience, Oliver and Byer have managed to raised a pretty good amount thanks to their ties with union Unite Here 11. We certainly don’t need any more of that union’s control over West Hollywood. Shyne, Erickson and Horvath have been doing their bidding for the last few years and look what a mess we’re in. NO on Oliver and Byers. HARD NO.
NO VOTE for Oliver…..cant bare the thought of enduring more pain and torture of more years of a SHE council.
Duran should use his campaign funds to reimburse the city for damages cause by his Grindr penis during Deputygate.