An Update on the still litigous Mike Feuer/John Shallman "Matching Fundgate" Lawsuit

** Opps!! We almost forgot about this byproduct of the nasty City Attorney Race from two years ago---Scott Johnson. 

LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY MIKE FEUER TRYING TO SWEEP HIS SERIOUS CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS UNDER THE RUG

The California Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument in the matter Laura Lake v. Mike Feuer and John Shallman (appeals court case # B251369) for January 29, 2015.

Lake, a community activist from Westwood, sued Feuer and his campaign consultant John Shallman in March 2013, under the private Attorney General Act, for numerous State and Local campaign finance violations including among other charges, defrauding the taxpayers of Los Angeles out of $350,000 which Feuer received as matching funds.    

This case follows a long line of public corruption cases that have come to light in the last few years for various State and Local officials including John Noguez, Ron Calderon, Richard Alarcon, Leeland Yee, Rodrick Wright, and elected officials with the City of Bell.

BACKGROUND FACTS

In May 2013, the trial court GRANTED Feuer and Shallman’s ANTI-SLAPP motion on the basis that “Campaign finance violations are protected by the First Amendment.“ This ruling essentially dismissed the case.

Lake believes the trial court ruled incorrectly.  In September 2013 she filed an appeal.  Her appeal is based on the holdings of many prior appellate court opinions including, City of Long Beach v. California Citizens for Neighborhood Empowerment (2003) 111 Cal. App 4^th 302, 309, which holds, “"[I]t is clear this result is not what the Legislature intended to achieve in passing the anti-SLAPP statute, and respondents cannot use section 425.16 as a shield behind which to hide from otherwise valid local election regulations."

 

In the Long Beach case, the trial court granted an ANTI–SLAPP motion, and the appellate court reversed.

 

FEUER’S QUID PRO QUO

More troubling is that the Feuer Legal Defense Fund received $1,000 from attorney Gregory W. Smith and another $1,000 from his wife Yuma Smith on June 28, 2013. 

On June 4, 2014, Feuer, in his role as Los Angeles City Attorney, recommended the City of Los Angeles pay attorney Gregory W. Smith $1,471,584.70 to settle the case Peter J. Bakotich, et al v. City of Los Angeles, (Los Angeles Superior Court case # BC442344).

The State number for the Feuer Legal Defense Fund is 1356553. Its filings can be found through the Los Angeles City Ethics commission web site.

SHALLMAN

 

John Shallman is a prominent political campaign consultant. In addition to Feuer, he was the chief strategist for Wendy Greuel, Kevin de Leon, Janice Hahn, Tom Torlakson, and Bob Hertzberg.

Shallman was also a longtime colleague of convicted campaign fundraiser Kindee Durkee, who is currently serving an 8 year prison sentence in a Federal Penitentiary for embezzling from her numerous campaign clients. Diane Feinstein claimed Durkee took $5 million dollars from her and sued her for those funds.  Shallman claimed Durkee took $1 million dollars from him and yet he never sued her for those funds. Shallman is currently also a defendant in a lawsuit filed by victims of Durkee.