Dear Neighbors,
If you have not already voted, I ask that you vote for Alex Fisch and Freddy Puza for City Council. Electing any of the other candidates will create a conservative majority on the Council which will slow or reverse environmental protection, workers’ rights, regulations which have kept renters in their homes, and long-term strategies to address homelessness. Some of the other candidates may say things that superficially sound good on these issues, but they are backed by conservative elected officials and business groups who are committed to derailing, delaying, and diluting policies that put people and the planet ahead of profits.
Alex and Freddy are endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Culver City Democratic Club, our Assembly Member Isaac Bryan, and our County Supervisor Holly Mitchell. They represent what is best about our community.
In an unprecedented move, Michael Hackman, the landlord of the Culver Studios, Culver Steps, and other major properties, has spent over $250,000 on a Political Action Committee to boost conservatives Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria, and on donations to PACs running negative campaigns against Fisch and Puza, including Culver City Neighbors United, Common Sense Culver City, and the Culver City Coalition. While candidates are not responsible for what independent PACs do, you should ask yourself what Hackman wants out of this election, whether it is what you want, and how comfortable you are with this flood of money from a single source.
Meanwhile, the Fisch and Puza campaigns have refused donations from developers. These are not my personal opinions or theories about campaign finance, they are facts which can easily be verified through the City’s website. The elected official responsible for the City first putting campaign finance data online? Alex Fisch. Please join me in re-electing him and in choosing Freddy Puza to replace Daniel Lee.
– Jeff Schwartz
Leaving all of the other misstatements and ommissions out of the equation, Mr. Schwartz keeps pushing the falsehood that the other candidates for City Council are “Conservatives.” There is only ONE Conservative running. He won’t be named here.
FACTS:
DENICE RENTERIA – DEMOCRAT (Latina/First-Generation American, Culver City born and raised)
KHIN KHIN GYI – DEMOCRAT (former Pres. of Culver City Democratic Club, Asian-American)
DAN O’BRIEN – DECLINE TO STATE (votes with Democrats, I saw him last weekend at a women’s reproductive rights event/pink party and I might add before Mr. Schwartz or anyone else jumps on this, CCDEMS really really liked Bernie Sanders, who is not a Democrat).
Facts Matter.
Facts sure do matter.
The CC Democratic Club did not endorse in the 2020 Presidential primary. Club endorsements require a 60% or greater share of the vote, and both Sanders and Warren had around 40%, with Biden a distant third and everyone from Bloomberg to Steyer having some dedicated supporters.
However, Sanders did win the 2020 Democratic primary in CC. See https://www.lavote.gov/docs/rrcc/svc/4085_final_community.pdf
Facts DO Matter. I believe that Jeff Schwartz just proved my point. Again, for anyone who believes his accusations about Conservatives running for office:
DENICE RENTERIA: DEMOCRAT
KHIN KHIN GYI: DEMOCRAT
DAN O’BRIEN: NO PARTY PREFERENCE (VOTES WITH DEMOCRATS)
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: NON-PARTISAN
Jeannine, you are disproving your own point.
I never called anyone a “Conservative,” because there is no Conservative Party.
You are correct that City Council is a nonpartisan office and have accurately described the candidates’ voter registrations. How Mr. O’Brien votes is unknown, since he has not held office.
Of the six candidates running however, it is accurate to describe the four who are not Alex Fisch and Freddy Puza as more conservative, and any of them, if elected, will form a conservative bloc on the Council with Vera and Ericksson and will steer the City to the right. That is what I wrote in the first paragraph of my letter. If people want that to happen, they have four options. One of them is Devin Yeager, who you declined to mention. He wants the same things locally as the other three conservatives – to protect the powerful: employers over workers, owners over renters, etc. The difference is that he says them proudly and with a sneer.
Mr. Schwartz just did it again: He just called the other candidates who are not HIS candidates “Conservative.” It’s right there, AGAIN. I can see it. Perhaps he might consider re-reading what he wrote. Regarding his repeated mis/disinformation about the other candidates and things that they “want,” he is making that up. All fabrications. Just because he has typed it over and over again does not make any of that true.
The candidates below have not said any of the things that Mr. Schwartz has made up:
*** DENICE RENTERIA (DEMOCRAT/LATINA/FEMINIST/ENVIRONMENTALIST/VOLUNTEER FOR HISTORICAL SOCIETY/BIKE RIDER),
*** KHIN KHIN GYI (DEMOCRAT/ASIAN-AMERICAN/FEMINIST/ENVIRONMENTALIST/PASSIONATE LEADER OF GETTING RID OF THE OIL FIELDS)
*** DAN O’BRIEN (FEMINIST/ENVIRONMENTALIST/SUPER-VOLUNTEER/PARKS ADVOCATE, CO-FOUNDER OF FEEDCULVER, SCOUT LEADER, and MEMBER OF THE FIRST HOMELESSNESS COMMITTEE)
“The Centre cannot hold … the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” (William Butler Yeats) there will not be a conservative majority when Dan and Denice are elected, there will be a reasonable, accessible, moderate majority, representing all the residents, even the ones who don’t vote for them.