Councilwoman Martinez Put on Notice

VOICES-Dear Councilwoman Martinez (photo) … As residents of the San Fernando Valley, we look forward to the upcoming city election on March 3, and hope that your campaign will educate voters on the challenges facing the diverse communities of the Sixth District. But your campaign is not just about one person, one neighborhood, or one community. It is about the future of Los Angeles as a whole and your plans for revitalizing and strengthening this great city of ours. 

Recent events, though, give us pause for concern about your commitment to defending the genuine interests of your constituents. Among these include the potential influence of your husband’s consulting firm, G7 Strategy Group, Inc., on your decision-making as a member of the Los Angeles City Council. 

According to online records from the California Secretary of State’s office, G7 Strategy—for which your husband, Gerardo Guzman, is the only listed employee—received more than $125,000 from an independent expenditure committee, Keep CA Strong, to coordinate campaign activities during this past election cycle. This is in addition to the nearly $30,000 G7 Strategy received from Raul Bocanegra’s 2014 campaign committee to spearhead his re-election bid to the State Assembly (this same committee also contributed to your 2013 LA City Council race). Both Keep CA Strong and G7 Strategy, it is worth pointing out, were funded by some of the biggest special interest groups—oil, real estate, pharmaceuticals, and utilities—in the state. 

In short, how do we know who is influencing you, Councilwoman Martinez, when direct payments to your husband, vis-à-vis G7 Strategy, are not required to be reported to the public? How do we know that an unscrupulous developer or special interest group isn’t circumventing campaign laws and the City’s Code of Ethics by making direct payments to G7 Strategy in exchange for special treatment by you in your position as councilwoman? Big money has no place in local politics. 

We look forward to your forthright and honest response to our concerns raised in this letter.

 

(Cristina Arballo lives in Panorama City and Pete Moran in Van Nuys. Katherine Beech, Van Nuys and David M. Rodriguez, Sylmar also contributed to this letter. Views expressed are not necessarily those of CityWatch.)

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CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 3

Pub: Jan 9, 2015