OpEd: “We come in Peace”

“We come in peace, again,” uttered the Chair of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce David Wood at the last city council meeting. Wood, along with Genevieve Morrill, President and CEO of the Chamber had presided over one of the meanest elections in the history of West Hollywood.

Elections have consequences, and 2024 will be the most consequential election for the city of West Hollywood in history. The Chamber of Commerce and the City Council lost the right to make the decision regarding wages and benefits for all employees in the city of WeHo.  This was suppose to be the election that brought us together but the Chamber of Commerce led by its potty-mouth CEO Genevieve Morrill left the city’s business community fragmented and broken.

While the Chamber of Commerce came “in peace,” said David Wood, they lost everything. It was game-set-match. The UNITE HERE Local 11 would establish itself as the ruling party over workers’ rights and how business gets done in West Hollywood. Genevieve Morrill made one poor decision after another.

The first and worst decision was to place John Duran as Chair of the WEHO PAC. He brought his baggage and hitmen. The goal was to dismember John Erickson’s career. Duran enlisted Erickson/Byers arch-enemy Dillon Hosier, tirade-tweeter of anti-Semitism accusations against Erickson and Byers. I rode with Genevieve Morrill in my golf cart after the grand opening of the Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Clinic and told her this was bad and what Dillon had told me about Duran’s plotting. She brushed it off. I called David Wood, Chair of the Chamber, and told him what was going on. He said he didn’t know Dillon. They didn’t believe me.

I was not a candidate in the race at the time but had a front-row seat. Duran had to disclose sex with two of the city council candidates. Dillon Hosier had to resign after his tweets came back to haunt the process. Duran’s right arm and Chamber PAC consultant George Urch was then caught with candidate George Nickle. This is an illegal coordination between a candidate and a PAC. George Nickle never offered an explanation, and when George Urch was questioned by the WEHO PAC about the infraction, he immediately resigned.  Genevieve Morrill blamed me.

The dalliance between Urch and Nickle resulted in a formal complaint to the Fair Political Practices Commission from an unknown party.   Genevieve Morrill would call me up screaming. “How dare I make the Chamber look bad, and why am I protecting John Erickson?”  They wanted me to release two year old compromising photos and copy of John Erickson on Grindr. They had a plan to ruin his career. I would not cooperate. Morrill would scold me that I was hiding that but hurting the Chamber.  Hosier would file a series of FPPC violations against me including that I was  “coordinating with the Erickson campaign”. 

A few days after my mother passed I decided to hop in the race.  Part of my decision was that I did not see a candidate in the race that offered pro-business ideas. But more than anything, fighting for my city and against a union 3-vote lock was paramount. I’d enter the race to throw a wrench into Duran’s plot. And I did, shortly thereafter getting a call from a board member of the Stonewall Democratic Club: “You really fucked up Duran’s and Cockeram’s plan.”   

The WEHO PAC was dysfunctional, filled with special interests.   One of those persons was Nick Remedio.  Remedio is the general manager of the W-Hotel in Hollywood, and a Los Angeles resident.  Nick is a former partner in this publication who was in sensitive negotiations with UNITE HERE Local 11 as he was voting whom to endorse in the Weho city council election.  Remedio would eventually vote for the former 2022 UNITE HERE Candidate Zekiah Wright and curry his own favor.   They were all turncoats.  Genevieve just kept looking the other way.

Sources close to the PAC confirmed John Duran final blows.   Duran went into one of his famous tirades.  This time he went after Jay Handel, owner of the Woods cannabis dispensary.  Handel suggested the PAC rolling with Erickson, and Duran went nuts.  Remember that Torie Osborn outburst?   Duran left the room threatening Handel.”You give me Cockeram, and I’ll give you Erickson”.  “I’m going to get you,” “I’ll get you,” surprising all in the room.  Morrill made no decisions. Duran resigned a few days later.  

After Duran resigned, he enlisted Zekiah Wright to pull papers and run for the city council, and he would land her the Chamber endorsement. This was another violation of the FPPC rules. Wright then secured the Chamber endorsement, and Duran threw a fundraiser.  The Chamber had 5 weeks of infighting before making their endorsements.  A few days after giving Wright the endorsement they were arrested and charged with multiple felony counts.  https://wehoonline.com/2024/09/17/zekiah-wright-weho-chamber-endorsed-candidate-arrested-felony-charges/.   

Genevieve Morrill oversees the 3 bodies of work under the Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber, the WEHO PAC, and WEHO for the PEOPLE.   One is for the membership, one is for the special interest and the one is for community outreach.   The Chair of WEHO for the PEOPLE was Alan Strassburg.  Strassburg was also the treasurer for the George Nickle campaign.   Strassburg was able to pose as the Chair of Weho for the People and then ask questions during the debates without any transparency.  Morrill looked the other way again.   Transparency took a back seat at the Chamber.   Strassburg would have a hand in selecting the moderator of the debate and the questions.

Despite being the only business owner in the race with two memberships at the Chamber the endorsement process was tainted against me.   Imagine being told that “I fucked myself” for having a working relationship with John Erickson.  Imagine being told that we need a younger person of color on the ticket.   But more than that, imagine BlockParty, the only Pride store in Weho, being removed from the Chamber of Commerce website just hours after Genevieve Morrill’s call.

BlockParty and YMLA shared one membership, and Boystown Media the other. Morrill told me “I fucked myself,” and wrote about it here, but more than that, within hours BlockParty was removed from the Chamber of Commerce website.  

I asked about pro-rating WEHOonline’s membership because I did not plan on being the owner by the end of this year, but Gen then yelled about me canceling my memberships. Within 3 hours, I received an email that BlockParty had been removed from the Chamber’s website. I replied, “WOW Gen, really?” to which Morrill replied, “Did I misunderstand you?” My final answer was, “Forget it, doesn’t matter.” My next call was to Jamie Wilson, who confirmed that he had told her clearly that this had nothing to do with BlockParty. But we were tossed out of the Chamber, and two weeks ago, we were not invited to be included in our first Friday meeting of the month.  The only Pride store in the city banished and ex-communicated from the Chamber of Commerce.  I waited six weeks for an olive branch from Genevieve Morrill, (and I sent one to no reply) before opting to tell this story.   

There is no peace without change.   Genevieve Morrill is not capable of bringing people together.  It’s time to honor her service and move West Hollywood forward.  It’s time for Gen to go.