“WeHo United for John Heilman for City Council 2015” is the first of the so-called “independent expenditure” committees to have emerged in the June 2 race for a seat on the City Council.
As of April 14, the committee had amassed donations of $40,012, with the majority of that from real estate interests. The biggest donors are the Mani Brothers and Venice Investments, which each donated $15,000. David and Yousef Emrani’s Venice Investments is the developer of the Sunset Plaza project at 8255-8295 Sunset Blvd. near Sweetzer. Daniel and Simon Mani are owners of the 9000 and 9200 Sunset Blvd. office buildings.
Townscape Management, the developer of the controversial projects at 8899 Beverly Blvd. and 8150 Sunset Blvd., donated $5,012. Ace Outdoor, which frequently engages with the city for permits for billboards on Sunset Boulevard, donated $5,000.
Independent expenditure committees by law are not allowed to coordinate their spending or campaign efforts with candidates they support.
If you want so-called “Independent Expenditure” campaigns to go away, candidates need to disavow them and then promise to either recuse themselves when votes on the donor’s issues come up or vote against them. In the March election, none of this money was “independent”; John Duran was running around town twisting arms to insure developers contributed to the “anyone but Lauren Meister” PAC. When an incumbent is knocking on your door for money, most developers won’t say “no”.
And as we have Term Limits for local and state legislators, I think it is high time that we have the same for national legislators (Senators and Congresspersons). Some of them have been in Congress for far too long. Even The President is limited to two four year terms ! And, as far as I know, the “retirement” benefits for members of Congress are absurd – even if they served just one term.
No Jimmy real elections and rotation of leadership is democracy. One individual having power in a community for over 30 years isn’t democracy, Term limits were passed. The voters already spoke, that’s democracy. One guy trying to still hold on to power even after losing the last election is an obvious power grab. And with all the money the big developers are pumping into his IE committee its also an effort to buy the election.
@Tom Smart. My wife and I would like to meet you at Fiesta Cantina for a smoke and a chat. We are buying drinks.
@Shawn: Leave Jimmy alone. Don’t attack commenters! Heilman is running for a 2 year seat; ergo you don’t know what you are talking about. But I didn’t use the word “uneducated.”
Let’s see if Jimmy is right. Maybe there will only be 3 qualified candidates after the City Prosecutor asks the District Attorney to indict Ms. HS.
And that Shawn, having diffence of opinions, is called democracy.
@jimmypalmieri I totally disagree with you position on Heilman. We live in a democracy. The idea of democracy is rotation of leader ship and what the majority decides in a vote. Our president only get 8 years. Many in the community came together and worked to straighten our democracy and by popular vote passed term limits. Limiting any council member to a total of 12 years. It wasnt retroactive. But it was clear the community doesn’t want the same few with power on city council for years upon years. That’s the real issue in this for many. Me Heilman has… Read more »
I do not agree with everything John Heilman votes for on council, but I am definitely sure he is the right candidate for this election. THERE IS NO OTHER QUALIFIED AS WELL AS HE, NOT EVEN CLOSE. John’s tenure has become the conversation rather than what he has done for West Hollywood. I would be very happy if he returns, as it will give much needed EXPERIENCE on the council. I admire all of the candidates for their hard work, but I am really not OK with any of them learning on the job, while running a city with a… Read more »
@Tom Smart: Would you kindly substantiate your claims by giving us specific examples of exactly how John Heilman acts as though he “owns the city” and evidence of “his back room deals with his Developer cronies”?
whoops, i meant bowed OUT of course
I don’t think we should be holding Heilman up next to Jesus Christ. He wasn’t the only one making the city a good place to live. Other coucil people over the years, city staff, residents, volunteers etc. He now acts like this is HIS city and thus he should be able to call all of the shots. It’s time for him to go and he should have bowed up gracefully.
As the FIRST registered WeHo domestic partnership (in 1985, as I recall) when my then spouse and I slept in my car outside the then City Hall located in Plummer Park to be Numero Uno, I do thank Mr. Heilman for being a part of this scenario. But John over these last 30 years has, regrettably, lost his way. When Term Limits appeared on two previous ballots, he declared, in essence, that elections are term limits. Well, he lost this past March and now he is not keeping his word so how can he be trusted?