Firms Gave Thousands for Building Dept. Event
Previously we wrote a blurb on this little pay-to-play gambit that the Mayor put the axe to. Turns out, we had every reason to worry. Here's some snippets from today's LA Times:Developers, builders and lobbyists donated as much as $3,750 each in food, cash and door prizes at a Los Angeles Building and Safety Department charity event that was mostly attended by department employees, according to records released this week by the department.Here are some donors listed in the story (Links are to donation records with City Ethics):
The event, billed as "casino night," was held Nov. 7 at the White Lotus, a Hollywood nightclub. Building and Safety employees asked donors to sponsor the event or buy $30 tickets. Solicitations were sent on city letterhead.
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Building and Safety officials vowed to return about $7,800 that was raised from donors and was intended for the March of Dimes and other charities. A number of checks had been returned to businesses by Thursday.
The remainder of the money, nearly $12,800, was used for expenses.
The department prepared a list of the donors and their contributions, which was made public this week.
Mark Handel, president of MWH Development Corp
Richard Gould, vice president of Torrance-based JCC Homes
Mark Armbruster, a lobbyist and attorney
Sinanian Development Inc. of Tarzana
Keyes Toyota of Van Nuys
T. Viole Construction Co. of Tarzana
Posted by Anonymous @ 11/18/2005 08:11:00 AM
7 Comments:
The question is "where's Murelo on this one?" Didn't he donate? Opps, forgot, he doesn't have too. He's got the mayor in his hip pocket.
Antonio did support him suing the city over the fruit market deal. What I wonder is why didn't Murelo sue over the Gruel sale...
I just looked on the City Ethics donation website and all these people gave to many of the city council members. Shame on them!
9:02:
But Handel has given to Padilla's various non-state accounts. We're not talking 500 dollars every so often.
Shoot...I think this website broke a story on AP's i.e. money back in August?
DAMN, some of the same developers that gave bundles of cash to AV's boy Jose "Open Space" Huizar following his de facto appointment to City Council.
Steve Hymon TRIED to warn you dropouts from reality.
Corporations and developers should be prohibited from giving to non-profits, community organizations and charities. In fact, so should people who contribute to politicians. They're money is dirty and they're only trying to make themselves look good to the public. These contributions must stop.
Government should not be in the business of helping charities or raising money for such causes, regardless of the merits. It puts them in an ethical bind as demonstrated here.
It might even be most prudent to get rid of charities altogether. People only end up using them for public relations purposes; when those purpose succeed then more damage is inflicted upon communities and society than the benefits generated by the charities themselves.
Charities and non-profits are ruining our society!
I just posted on another thread about developers running Los Angeles and look at the proof:
-Mark Handel, president of MWH Development Corp
-Richard Gould, vice president of Torrance-based JCC Homes
-Mark Armbruster, a lobbyist and attorney
-Sinanian Development Inc. of Tarzana
-T. Viole Construction Co. of Tarzana
-Nathan Shappell, S&S Homes of Porter Ranch
-Dan Palmer, Las Lomas although his office is in Santa Monica
-Chiciarelli's, Granada Hills who parceled of his property to others
-K Hovanian, all over
-Ron Cooper, Beverly Hills
-Jim Brewer, Spiegel Development
I could go on and on, but I won't.
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