Jack Weiss Took Dough from Outdoor Ad Pushers
 |
Councilman Jack Weiss
The present City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, who cut sweetheart deals during his tenure that allowed proliferation of vast numbers of outdoor ads on Los Angeles boulevards, is termed out. Weiss considers himself the Anti-Delgadillo and hopes to replace him in the March 3 election.
"Tenants and others angered by the ads on the National Blvd. building as well as others around the city may be disturbed to learn that Weiss was the recipient of a $1,000 campaign contribution in 2007 from Barry Rush, according to City Ethics Commission reports," writes Dennis Hathaway, president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight.
The news hit the blogosphere a few days before Weiss held a Wednesday press conference across the street from the six-story building on National Boulevard to update anti-clutter activists and the media about his efforts to rid the city of ugly supergraphics, which have been popping up like pimples on hormonal teenagers for the last couple of years.
On hand was a fire official who told the small contingent of journalists that the Los Angeles Fire Department has ordered the owners of nearly 20 buildings, including the one on National Boulevard, to remove the heavy, vinyl supergraphics now draping these buildings, many of which would prevent people from escaping in a fire.
Hathaway also reports that Worldwide Rush contributed to many other politicians who have allowed billboard proliferation while failing to put teeth in the city's disastrous billboard ban. These include, says Hathaway, "$1,000 to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and $500 each to councilmen Ed Reyes, Tom LaBonge, Bill Rosendahl, and council president Eric Garcetti, who said in a recent radio interview that he had never knowingly taken campaign contributions from billboard companies."
In response to Hathaway's charge, Weiss' Deputy Chief of Staff, Lisa Hansen, told the L.A. Weekly: "Every time the billboard/supergraphic issue has been discussed in Committee, Planning Commission, or City Council, Jack Weiss has been the most outspoken and most aggressive advocate for putting a stop to illegal supergraphics. No one has a tougher record fighting supergraphics than Jack Weiss, proof that he does what's right regardless of contributions."
Weiss' acceptance of Barry Rush's money, however, shows the councilman has no trouble playing both sides of the billboard.
Write Comment
Email to Friend
Print Article
