Jeffrey Prang is not endorsing Heidi Shink in Tuesday’s West Hollywood City Council election. In fact, Prang said today, he isn’t endorsing anyone.
Prang reiterated that after Shink’s campaign mailed local voters a card that suggested Shink has the endorsement of Prang, a longtime City Council member who resigned in December after he was elected L.A. County Assessor. Shink is running against John Heilman, another long-time Council member, and Larry Block and Cole Ettman in a race to fill Prang’s seat.
“Heidi Shink is a personal friend and somebody that I have supported and appointed to city boards and commissions,” Prang said. “I served for 18 years with John Heilman and have the highest respect for his intellect and his creative approach to issues and the significant contributions he has made to West Hollywood, which has made it one of the most significant cities in the nation. I have decided to make no formal endorsements in this City Council race.
“I am extremely disappointed that Heidi used me in a mailer in a matter that implies my endorsement. I was neither consulted nor did I or would I have authorized the use of my name and likeness on this mailer, and I have conveyed that to both Heidi and her campaign.”
The Shink campaign mailer features a photo of Prang and Shink. It quotes Prang as saying “The future of West Hollywood looks brighter when we have a strong, sensible, bright, hardworking and smart leader, and I believe that person is Heidi Shink.” Marco Meneghin, who works for the Shink campaign, said the mailer was not intended to suggest that Prang was endorsing Shink.
“”We have a video tape from March, that quote which we used was from March 15. we have the video tape and that’s where the quote is from,” he said, arguing that it indicated Prang’s support of Shink but not his endorsement.
Prang should send out a press release if he isn’t endorsing her.
So Prang comes out and says he didnt say it but then a video of him saying it is released and then he says I said it but I didnt really mean it? Did he have his fingers crossed? Im no fan of Shink (as I have commented in the past) but this is dirty pool. He said it and now he is worried that she will lose so he wants to pretend he didn’t. Im sure Prang was all for Shink when he thought it would mean Cher money for him but now he sees he needs Heilmans developer… Read more »
Ah, yes, Ralph. Cole Ettman — who acts like his plan is to clean up City Hall but is dogged by lawsuits and campaign finance violations. His positions in debates show a distinct lack of knowledge of the subject matters. Or perhaps he really plans to allow no schools, fire departments, or parks to be expanded since they’d all require statements of overriding consideration — which he claims he’d never grant. He also across as smug and disrespectful.
All the more reason to vote for Cole Ettman. Not supported by any sitting council member, will be an independent voice, and has experience!
Nothing that Heidi & her campaign do surprise me any longer. She has, in my opinion, run a wretchedly bad campaign, with one major stumble after another. I find it very telling that (as far as I know) not a single Human Services Commissioner that Heidi served with or a a single Planning Commissioner that she currently serves with (well, I don’t know about Meister’s recent appointee) has endorsed Heidi. She’s pretty much reviled on the Planning Commission.
The bottom line is that Mr. Prang says he is disappointed in Ms. Shink for using his likeness and words to in a way that “implies” that he endorsed Shink. That means he does not support her. I think many of us share Mr. Prang’s sentiment.
I hope for her own sake Ms. Shink stops her corrupt practices. While Orange is the New black is an interesting T.V. show, I don’t see her doing “houch prison wine” pairings and being pleased with that kind of life.
I agree with Josh
For Shink’s campaign to say the mailer wasn’t meant to imply an endorsement is disingenuous in the extreme. This sort of constant misuse of quotes to imply an endorsement, combined with constant inaccurate and disingenuous accusations and nasty insults about Heilman — while Shink and D’Amico falsely pretend to be trying to change the tone at City Hall — says much about the integrity of the campaign and candidate, and those like D’Amico who openly support such tactics and engage in them as well. Ethics investigations for pocketing money from her campaign, ignoring requests from donors to get their money… Read more »
As a recipient of one of the mailers, I certainly thought it meant Jeff Prang was endorsing Shink for City Council, and that he agreed to being featured publicly doing so. While the video does show he was supportive as of March 15 (assuming that’s when it was filmed), that doesn’t mean he favors her on May 28, nor does it mean he wanted to publicly endorse her. If you look at the video, you’ll also see that the quote on the mailer was changed somewhat. There was a lot of condensing and trimming going on. Given that Prang was… Read more »
Disco – if Heilman wins, he’s not going to “control” Horvath – she’s got a huge political future ahead of her (beyond the city), and likely is going to work toward compromise and amity on the council. She likely will be the “swing” vote, at least behind the scenes. She got more votes than him of course in March. Shink on the other hand if elected is going to be facing the voters in less than 2 years, owe her election to D’Amico, and isn’t ever going to cross him. Huge difference. Heilman has been a consensus player in his… Read more »
Oliver, I couldn’t agree with you more. Since moving to WeHo in 2003, I worked as Jeff Prang’s City Council Deputy for 4 1/2 years, since remained active serving on various City Commissions, volunteered in every City Election WeHo has held in the past 12 years, even served as President of the WeHo|Bev Hills Democratic Club during all the mudslinging that occurred in the 2011 election, and during all those years of being involved in the community, I only learned of Ms. Shink about 1 1/2-2 years ago with Jeff Prang singing praises to her potential as a future candidate.… Read more »
This sure seems like an enthusiastic endorsement: https://www.facebook.com/1715240844/videos/10200680266405135/