The six candidates running for seats representing Westwood have raised more than $15 million combined for the midterm election, the most expensive the community has seen in years.
Before this year, the seats in Congress, the California Senate and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors had not been seen as competitive because incumbents had represented the district for years.
The retirement of incumbents have changed the races, however. Henry Waxman is retiring after serving the district that includes Westwood in Congress for 40 years. At the same time, Zev Yaroslavsky’s term limit is up after 20 years on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Additionally, there is an open seat in the California Senate because incumbent State Senator Ted Lieu is running for Waxman’s Congressional seat.
With the open seats and recent rulings on campaign finances, candidates have spent millions more than typically spent in an election.
In line with the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling in 2010, individuals and organizations can donate an unlimited amount of money to a super political action committee, also known as a Super PAC. Though the committee may not coordinate with candidates, it can spend money advocating for or against them.
Super PACs have also shown up in this year’s election in districts that include Westwood. According to the Center for Responsive Politics that tracks campaign spending, the American Alliance and the Bold Agenda PAC combined spent about $550,000 advocating for Elan Carr and $100,000 advocating against Lieu. Carr, a Republican, and Lieu, a Democrat, are running to replace Waxman in California’s 33rd Congressional District.
Carr’s campaign spent the money on voting mailers and television commercials, according to the center.
Lieu has received a significantly smaller amount of donations from super PACs, with about $20,000 supporting him from the committees, according to the record.
However, he has raised about $2 million from contributors such as former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan and several unions, pulling ahead of Carr by about $600,000.
Lieu drafted a bill as a state senator calling for an advisory vote in the 2014 ballot on the Citizens United case. He criticized Super PACs, saying he thinks they reduce people’s voice in politics.
“The Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations and billionaires to influence our elections undermines the peoples’ participation in their own elections,” he said in a statement in July, after the bill passed the legislature.
John Van Winkle, a campaign manager for Carr, said the majority of donations to Carr have come from individuals and from those in the district. He said the campaign can’t dictate how or where super PACs contribute money.
“There’s nothing we can do to control what others spend,” he said.
Because two Democrats are running for the State Senate and the Board of Supervisors race is nonpartisan, spending for both races is not as heavily divided along party lines.
However, Bill Bloomfield’s nearly $1.3 million donation to support Ben Allen, running to represent Westwood’s district in the California Senate, has raised some criticism from Sandra Fluke, his opponent.
Bloomfield, a Republican-turned-independent, ran unsuccessfully against Waxman in 2012 after spending about $8 million on his campaign.
“There’s a desperate need to address the (campaign finance) problem,” Fluke told the Bruin Monday, referencing Bloomfield’s donation.
Bloomfield, on his website, said he is trying to prevent special interests from heavily influencing candidates. He has praised Allen, calling Allen passionate and ethical.
“Until our campaign finance system is overhauled, we are trying to level the playing field for smart, ethical, good government-type candidates,” he said.
Allen’s campaign has said it does not communicate with Bloomfield about how he spends his money.
Fluke has received more than a $1 million, including about $40,000 from Planned Parenthood’s L.A. chapter and from about 5,000 individual contributors. Not counting Bloomfield’s donation, Fluke’s campaign has raised more money than Allen’s.
In the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors race, both Bobby Shriver and Sheila Kuehl raised more than $4 million each. Kuehl, a former state senator, has received more than $2 million from unions, while Shriver, a former mayor of Santa Monica, has received donations from business owners. He has also put about $1 million of his own money toward the race.
The midterm election will be held Tuesday.
VOTER FRAUD DOES EXIST?
As an
Independent I personally think that the majority of both parties stink, but I
do trust the splintering millions who belong to the TEA PARTY. I also do
believe that Voter Fraud is not a myth and the biggest violators are the
Liberal-Democrats.
The
national Press influenced by the Democrats will keep this low profile or prefer
to ignore it even though it is a major issue that damages our election
integrity? The Democrats will do anything to win, even to cheating the system.
Unethical advocates will drive from one country to another, to one precinct to
another or even in a close state, voting over and over again? Then there was
ACORN that signed up just about anybody, offering a small amount of money.
However they were eventually caught, but have adapted to another bogus
organization?
The
pro-amnesty Hispanic activist organization the National Council of La Raza
helpfully promoted a Washington Post article explaining which states people can
vote in without having to use a photo ID. – See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/ If that doesn’t
make the average person suspicious—what will?
Every prudent American should
carefully scrutinize the thousands of electronic voting machines scattered
around the country in the election hall. Complaints that were warranted is the fact that if you are
voting for a Republican it transfers your vote to a Democrat, with excuses that
it was an error when it was calibrated. But this has been happening more and more
so stand and watch that your precious vote is correct. It happened in Maryland and Illinois, so be vigilant and make sure your
vote goes to your selected politician or approved issue.
“Vote flipping” is the phrase given when a vote flips from
one candidate or party selected to the other. In these cases, the Republican
option flipped to the Democratic one. The cause of the issue of Republican
votes turning blue is said to be a “calibration issue,” but Illinois is not
the only state experiencing these early voting issues. According to WBALTV, complaints of “vote flipping”
are plaguing several counties in Maryland.
The Daily Caller E-media publicized an avenue to expose Voter
Fraud, by contacting ‘True the Vote’,
one of the conservative groups that was singled out by the IRS in the
tax-exempt targeting scandal prior to the Presidential election that is
launching a new app to make voter fraud easier to report.
The app, called VoteStand, allows users a quickly and easily
report suspicious activity. The app will be released for iOS and Android
on Nov. 1.
According to the app’s website,
the VoteStand is “America’s first. Online election fraud reporting app.
VoteStand provides you the online tools and support you need to quickly report
suspected election illegalities as they happen.”
The features of VoteStand, according to its website, are:
Secure
VoteStand
uses a high level encryption, inside the app allowing information to get to the
right people to make reporting voter fraud easily. Count on us to provide you
with the best reporting tool around.
Report
The
app uses your geo-location and the user filled report in order to provide
enough evidence to procure legal action against the person/persons committing
the fraud.
Investigate
After
an easy sign up, the app is ready to use and report all visual evidence of
voter fraud. The processes are as easy as taking a picture and filling out some
identifying information about the incident. That’s it!
Voter
Fraud is more prevalent than most American think. Our election laws have been
compromised as in a study by Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES)
shows what many Americans are aware of Obama and the Executive know—illegal
aliens have been voting. Yes, they recognize it is illegal—but being
in this country without documents is also illegal. More than 14 percent of non-citizens in both the 2008 and 2010
samples indicated that they were registered to vote. One has to wonder what the
percentage is in 2014.
The Declaration of Perjury is lame, and instead should have some
teeth in it? Perhaps on a conviction for a non-citizen, should be sentenced to
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Tent City in Maricopa County, Arizona with the feds paying
the bill. Even the new Colorado absentee ballot was compromised almost
immediately. Democrats are the biggest culprits and look the other way on any
irregularities. Without any fear of contradiction California having the largest
populations of illegal aliens and a crazy Governor Jerry Brown who welcomes
criminal nationals in his Sanctuary state has no requirement of a picture ID to
vote. Therefore, how can a Californian truly knows that their vote count when
the whole system is has been undermined by people who have no right to be in this
sovereign country.