By Karen Ocamb

The long sharp knives of negative campaigning have begun sticking it to several candidates in the March 6 West Hollywood election. Unfortunately, the format of the televised West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce debate Feb. 22 was not conducive to an exchange of charges and responses now exploding in campaign mailers.

The bulk of the debate, which will be re-run several times on West Hollywood City Channel, focused on affordable housing and new development in the city, giving all 10 candidates a chance to briefly explain their views.

The real campaign duel, however, is between the incumbents who have been endorsed by the West Hollywood Democratic Club and Stonewall Democratic Club, Mayor John Heilman, Mayor Pro Tem Sal Guarriello, and Councilmember Abbe Land, and the "Save West Hollywood" slate of attorney Steve Martin, retired businessman Ed Buck and Heavenly Wilson.

During the debate, Martin alleged that the incumbents have taken campaign contributions from developers who are planning five and 10-story buildings. Land acknowledged that she accepted contributions from developers, among scores of others, so she can get her message out. But she told IN, "I don't take campaign contributions to influence my vote. Not at all."

Land reminded the audience that all development projects are subject to a public process and while the Council is considering mix-use projects that may produce larger buildings, no such projects have come before them.

Heilman noted that when Martin was on the Council, he pushed for Sunset Millennium project, which Martin now concedes may be too big. "I'm glad to hear him admit that he was wrong when he voted for it," Heilman said. "It was a major project, and he was the one who really supported it." Martin said he had learned from his mistakes.

Asked how he reconciled his rhetoric on campaign contributions with his record of having violated state campaign finance laws, Martin explained that he made a "mistake" and charged Land with a similar impropriety.

"I think I made one mistake transferring some money from an Assembly account that I had briefly into a Council account," Martin said. "When I found out that was a violation, I simply gave the money to charity. I think Abbe Land also had a surplus when she ran for her Assembly race, and she gave that money to a committee called Committee for Good Government or Responsible Government, which just recently she gave $2,500 to that independent expenditure campaign which recently put out a report card giving her an 'A+.' She hasn't been cited yet, but I'm sure she will be because, frankly, that's transferring Assembly money for her City Council race, even though it's an 'independent expenditure.' Also, one of the other councilmembers was recently admonished by the district attorney of Los Angeles for doing fundraising for Abbe Land's Assembly race out of City Hall and putting an RSVP to his Council deputy. I think people have to be a bit careful here, before they start tossing around these kinds of things."

The campaign finance question referred to a violation by Martin of the Political Reform Act, according to a Jan. 4, 2005, letter from the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). While a councilmember, Martin formed an exploratory committee to run for the Assembly in the March 7, 2000, primary. He raised about $39,000. But he withdrew from the race in November 1999, the FPPC letter says, turning Martin's campaign money into surplus funds on Dec. 31, 1999, subject to the legal restrictions of Government Code section 89519.

"From January 2000 through July 2000, Mr. Martin impermissibly used the surplus campaign funds to make contributions to other candidates, totaling $2,600. In addition, Mr. Martin transferred surplus campaign funds totaling $28,000 to his city council committee in violation of the local $1,000 contribution limit," the FPPC letter reads.

In October 2002, City Attorney Mike Jenkins told Martin he would have to "dispose" of the money. Martin "impermissibly" gave a $1,000 contribution to a candidate and gave the rest to a number of charities.

The FPPC closed the matter without instituting a formal enforcement, the letter says, because it was Martin's first offense, he was no longer an elected official, he "attempted to remediate the violation," and the violation "is not relatively significant." However, the letter reads, "Mr. Martin has been advised that his conduct violated state campaign laws," and the violation could be used against him in the future.

Land told IN that the law allows a brief window immediately after the election during which the candidate can contribute to other candidates, political action committees (PACs), or organizations. She said she dispersed money from her Assembly account in June, "before I knew who was running" in the City Council race. Some of the contributions went to elected officials such as state Sen. Sheila James Kuehl and Sec. of State Debra Bowen, as well as the Coalition for Responsible Leadership, the PAC to which Martin referred during the debate. The CRL helped her in the past, and they also contributed to organizations Land supports. When she found out CRL was the group responsible for the Renter's Report Card campaign mailer, she asked to be re-funded her $2,000 contribution. "That's not how I intended to have that money used," Land told IN.

Martin's allegation about another councilmember who was "recently admonished" by the D.A.'s office, actually refers to Councilmember Jeff Prang, who is not up for re-election. D.A. spokesperson Jane Robison told IN that there has been no recent investigation of any complaint involving West Hollywood since January 2007. Martin and Buck told IN, however, that the D.A. did take action against Prang last year and they had the letter to Prang on D.A. letterhead to prove it.

The letter to Prang, which Buck provided to IN, is dated May 11, 2006, from the Public Integrity Division explaining that the office had received a complaint that Prang was "using City of West Hollywood resources for political purposes in violation of California law. Specifically, it is alleged that on May 2, 2006, you sent an e-mail through a Yahoo! group account (Councilmember Prang News@yahoogroups.com) endorsing assembly candidate Abbe Land and soliciting political contributions. It is alleged that the Yahoo! group account is maintained by the City of West Hollywood."

Prang told IN the Yahoo! group account was not maintained by the city, was not sent from City Hall, and was in fact his personal e-mail listserv through which he sent his regular newsletter. The problem, as the D.A.'s letter noted, was that the newsletter contained a link to another Yahoo! homepage which had a greeting from Prang as a City Councilmember and told anyone with questions about city business to contact his deputy, Josh Kurpies. "It was not an RSVP," Prang told IN.

The link "raises concerns," the letter said. "For example, it would be improper for someone responding to your email to link to the homepage and request additional candidate or fundraising information from you or Josh Kurpies by way of your city e-mail addresses or city telephones."

However, the D.A.'s office concluded, "since this appears to be an isolated incident" and they determined it did not meet the threshold for a criminal investigation, "this matter is officially closed."

Prang told IN that, in order to avoid any further confusion or even the appearance of a conflict of interest, he stopped using Yahoo! groups and purchased the services of a private e-mail distributor for his newsletter.

Buck and Martin told IN that by reviewing the controversial e-mail and issuing the letter, the D.A.'s office took "action" against the alleged "illegal fundraising activities ... conducted from offices at City Hall." They also maintained that even though Prang was not running for re-election, the incident was indicative of the "culture of corruption" in City Hall and therefore a legitimate charge in the current election.

Prang balked. "It's all about spin," he told IN, "taking things that are innocuous and making them sound terrible. It's very Karl Rovian," referring to President Bush's political director.

For information about the election, visit www.weho.org.