As tallying of the votes for the West Hollywood City Council election drew nearer to a close Monday, former Councilmember John Duran and others continued to debate claims of antisemitism surrounding WeHo’s likely next councilmember, Chelsea Byers.
“Now, the dust hasn’t even settled from the last elections and we are being very cautious with new council member elect Chelsea Byers in West Hollywood,” Duran wrote on Facebook. “There are photos showing her with Hamas and the PLO. Now granted, Israel doesn’t always get it right and should be subject to criticism when necessary. The same is true about the United States government. We should criticize the US when it is wrong in foreign policy or domestic affairs. But aligning oneself with Hamas ? They are a militant fundamentalist nationalist organization attached to the Palestinians. And many in Hamas have wished death to the Jews. Chelsea Byers was supported by former Weho Councilwoman Abbe Land – who is Jewish. I think that I trust that Abbe carefully vetted some of this history with Chelsea Byers before she endorsed her.”
Neal Zaslavsky, an attorney who once represented former California Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman, went further in a reply to Duran’s post. “I personally handed (Byers) a copy of the Hamas Covenant, highlighting all of the areas where they call for death to Jews and total annihilation of the Jewish people and asked her to denounce this,” Zaslavsky wrote. “She didn’t. She claimed to have never seen the Hamas Covenant before and promised to ‘research’ it. Apparently, her research allowed her to continue supporting an anti-Semitic, Jew-hating group like Hamas.”
Byers addressed her past viewpoints in an October candidates discussing topics related to the Jewish community. The candidates were asked whether they would protect and preserve the city ordinance forbidding contracts with BDS (boycott divestment and sanctions) companies and whether they supported AB2844, a measure that prevents companies that boycott or discriminate against any sovereign state including Israel from doing business with the state of California.
“As much as you know on paper these tactics seem like legitimate and nonviolent and that was something I understood at one point in time, I now understand and see the very ways that BDS furthers anti-Semitism in really dangerous ways and harmful ways to our community and tears us apart,” Byers said. “So, I support the city of West Hollywood’s leadership on these issues.”
Voters in Weho again do not know what they are doing. The majority vote in last 2 Elections bring horrible clowns that they ultimately end up regretting. Horvath Ericsson examples Why is this?
Reminder that no candidate for city council in WeHo has ever won a majority of votes. We have been under minority rule for decades. This is why no candidate has ever had a mandate or a landslide. Numerical fact. They still work for and must engage and listen to us. We must demand consensus builders, and uniters rather than dividers. Councilmembers do the work for all of us, not just the minority of voters who checked their box. Such a council once existed (until two years ago) and can exist again.
It is numerically impossible for anyone to get a majority of votes. If you vote for 3 people, any one candidate can only get 1/3 of the votes. Even if someone was elected unanimously they’d onky have 33.3%
John had a good run and let his sexual needs tarnish his legacy. He should have just enjoyed his retirement instead of trying for a second act. I don’t think she’s anti-Semitic but even if she is, she won and time will tell. Let it go John. No one likes a sore loser especially you.
She does not get it. Yes, “BDS furthers anti-Semitism in really dangerous ways and harmful ways” – however she has not publicly disavowed her stands on the matter, instead believing “it’ll just blow over”. Nor has John Erickson commented on why he thought it was a good idea to appoint her to a sworn position in city government when she held those vile, hateful viewpoints. (Imagine – an antisemite voting on whether to have social service agencies rooted in the Jewish community continue their contracts with the city. Talk about conflicts of interest!) Shame on Chelsea, shame on John –… Read more »
John Duran is simply doing what every resident and voter must demand of people who hold offices of public trust and serve us (it’s not the other way around), he’s holding people accountable. Not one person who has ever served on the West Hollywood City Council has ever had a majority mandate or what some pompous buffoon once called a “landslide” victory. We elect council members with only a minority of voters and part of the divisiveness in this town is that holders of those offices govern like they have a majority mandate. They are all accountable to us every… Read more »
Yep! ! It looks like we are stuck with her. So the best thing we can do is hold her feet to the fire!
You said it beautifully… “Participatory democracy is not limited to one day in November.”
I feel terribly sorry for Lauren Meister who is going to have to try to work with her, Erickson, and Shyne (btw, is she going to keep that name?) for at least the next two years!
i’m sure it won’t be easy!
No, the best thing you can do is try to work with her, and give her a chance to prove herself, regardless of what you’ve heard or read. Even Duran has that sentiment. Sure, hold her feet to the fire, if something happens.
Wishing us all the best of luck with this “hope for a better public servant”.
Sorry. I’d write that I trust her as far as I could throw her, but she’s pretty small..
The people of the city of West Hollywood really blew it when they gave up their chance to elect Duran and elected an antisemite vapid airhead instead. The city will live to regret that, and they’re recent string of electing, vapid, self-serving, completely incompetent members.
Both flawed candidates.
WeHo will need to traverse another dark period before evolving in an authentic manner.
Duran is not flawed. He’s done more than most for this City, and always has had the very best intentions. He made a bad judgement call and was exploited by the man who took advantage for monetary gain. His loss in the election is all our loss and in no way whatsoever can he be coupled with Byers in any sentence or statement comparing them to be the same. Byers can never amount in anyway to the person that he is.
We are all flawed.
Your statement otherwise is proof
Byers voters scare me as much as Byers herself does. They either voted for her because they know her to be everything we fear, or they are just contrarians who are even more likely to vote for someone they have been warned against because “nobody’s gonna tell me what to do!” ….. kinda like pit bull dog owners. By the time she turns out to be the disaster we expect those people will have forgotten they voted for her.
Duran doesn’t have to push anything, Byers doesn’t hide who she is…you just have to open your eyes and ears and hear it for yourself. You chose poorly West Hollywood and we will continue to pay the price. Sad.
As a Jewish woman, I am not comfortable with Byers on the Council. Abbe Land brought us Lindsey Horvath and John Erickson–showing questionable judgment at best. A person pretending not to be an anti-semite is more dangerous than someone speaking her real mind.
A lineage of shame while believing themselves to be effective municipal servants.😢
Byers said dress normal to go unnoticed, so yes, way more dangerous.
All those that endorsed her, did so ignoring who she is and dismissing the facts to further their progressive agendas.
Exactly…she appeared to be the sweet girl next door, just like Lindsay Horvath. Talk about wolves in sheep’s clothing. Disingenuous and duplicitous.
Of course I would hate to see an antisemite on the city Council. So I hope that isn’t true.
But also it bothers me that there have been reports that Chelsea Byers never bothered to vote in a West Hollywood election before this one.
I think she got votes because she had a good advertising campaign. If you ever turned on Pandora…the free version… every time there was a commercial a break, it was a commercial for Chelsea Byers!
I’m glad the only organization I ever involved myself with was the KISS Army.
Supporting the BDS movement doesn’t make on an anti-Semite. Israel is running an apartheid form of rule in the occupied territories. One can call out Israel and not be an anti-Semite.
You’re wrong, but you are in good company. I am constantly stunned at how little people know about Israel. After enduring a thousand attacks Israel retaliates ONCE and THAT is what makes the news! Israel’s enemies have been offered everything they say they want, but they don’t accept it. They want the ISSUE, not the solution ….. and nothing less that the complete annihilation of Israel (their words, not mine).
Byers is a fascist anti semite and should be treated with the same hostility for the hateful person that she is plain and simple. She should be scorned and judged with the same hatred that DeLeon amd Cedillo receive.