OpEd: The one-sided West Hollywood Jewish Community Forum

On August 19th, five candidates out of ten were invited to the “West Hollywood Jewish Community Forum.” The email to candidates was sent by Dillon Hosier, Chair of ICAN, the Israeli American Civic Action Network. The invitation also included former Kol Ami Rabbi Denise Eger. Eger lives in Austin, Texas, but her brand is still ‘Kol Ami.’ The new Rabbi Reznick, currently working at Kol Ami, was not included.

In Hosier’s email dated 8/19, he wrote, “Given that ten candidates have qualified, we are limiting participation to select candidates who resonate most with our policy positions, and we would like to invite you to be part of the slate.” The five candidates invited were Larry Block, Rachel Schmeidler, Jordan Cockeram, Zekiah Wright, and George Nickle. Mayor John M. Erickson was not invited.

After accepting the invite, I questioned the integrity of the forum. Hosier was recently pushed off the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce PAC after a series of vicious tweets directed toward Mayor John M. Erickson.  I questioned the bias of the forum and the exclusion of Mayor Erickson.

Hosier replied, “Mayor Erickson is not invited because his views, statements, and actions fall far outside the bounds of acceptability of our organization’s policy, priorities, and values.”

At the 2022 forum, Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers left in tears after a series of attacks directed at her. 

Hosier’s conflicts run deep. After his ‘resignation’ — he was pushed off the board after violating the PAC’s confidentiality rules — Hosier sent an angry text saying, “If my candidate jumps in, you won’t be looking over your shoulder; you will be looking ahead of you.” Hosier’s candidate is Rachel Schmeidler. Hosier then built Schmeidler’s website and was seen at her photo shoot. Schmeidler has stated Hosier is no longer involved in her campaign.

At the 2022 candidate forum, Hosier used his personal bias to ensure that Robert Oliver did not get the support of the organization, despite Oliver and his husband both being Jewish with a long history of understanding and support for Israel. Oliver did not receive the endorsement.

If the past is prologue, Hosier is once again using candidates to promote his personal agenda. If Mayor John M. Erickson is not invited to speak for himself, and if 5 of 10 candidates are excluded from the forum entirely, then this is not a fair forum or debate. If there are endorsements and only 5 people are invited, and he favors one or two candidates in the race, Hosier is literally using the other candidates as fodder. There seems to be no fairness in this policy. It’s the same mentality causing harm in the Middle East — a unilateral, one-sided approach that doesn’t allow for peace.

The West Hollywood Jewish Candidate Forum is not a debate at all. As Hosier stated, candidates are pre-screened with predetermined views that he alone has decided fall far outside the bounds of acceptability. I’m working with Ben Savage to make sure all candidates are included. The public should make its own judgment. Endorsements from this organization should be left to the viewers, not the host with his obvious bias.

Mayor Erickson confirmed this evening that he has yet to be contacted. One resident contacted Kol Ami with the following statement: “I’m very disappointed. I will not go. I called and said they should invite all.” A copy of Hosier’s attack tweets against John M. Erickson, Lindsey Horvath, and Chelsea Lee Byers is below.