CommentsSOUTH OF THE 10 - Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has dropped $10,000 into Inglewood’s November 2 special election to raise taxes to assist with “easing traffic” related to the numerous sports venues located along Prairie Ave.
The Inglewood Transit Connector is designed to connect passengers from the Crenshaw/LAX rail line to the Forum and SoFi Stadium. What remains up in the air is whether the ITC will make a stop at the Clippers arena, which is currently under construction.
Multiple maps of the ITC’s planned route are circulating through the community, although the application on the state’s CEQA page doesn’t show a stop at the Clippers arena.
The environmental impact report for the Clippers arena highlighted the traffic and noise would be ‘significant’ and ‘unavoidable’.
State campaign finance records shows a committee open to “Steven A. Ballmer”, where he has pumped campaign contributions, into various elected officials, who has a hand in his project.
Ballmer has already donated to Mayor James Butts’ 2022 re-election, and Sen. Sydney Kamlager’s war chest, most likely as a favor for taking the lead on “fast-tracking” the project in order to limit environmental challenges.
A late campaign filing, made October 21, details Ballmer injected $10,000, into the Measure H and I campaign, to increase certain taxes, which will ultimately go towards the ITC.
Campaign mailers have appeared in Inglewood residents mailboxes without campaign disclosures required by state law. Instead, the mailers show the address to City Hall.
This isn’t the first instance of peculiar campaign related materials, penetrating Inglewood residents, by way of Steve Ballmer’s agents.
In 2017, a website was created called “Inglewood Forward” by The Robert Group. The website featured Inglewood business owners, and residents who were in support of the Clippers project, many of which are city commissioners and employees. The website and subsequent campaign mailers went out to the public without campaign disclosures as to who were paying for them.
The Robert Group was awarded a $300,000 no bid contract to produce a traffic study, related to the project, that we can’t recall materializing. 2UrbanGirls then contacted the company to ascertain why they weren’t disclosing who was funding their activities.
“So here’s the deal, this effort is not a political campaign and therefore would not require a campaign ID. The purpose of our effort is to support and recognize the many positive accomplishment and attributes of the community,” Christine Robert said.
2UrbanGirls contacted Jay Wierenga, Fair Political Practices Commission Communications Director, for further clarification of the legality of the mailers and website she is producing and whether it was a form of lobbying.
“This would be lobbying and subject to any local lobbying rules or ordinances,” said Wierenga.
The city’s municipal code does not regulate lobbying activities.
After we posed these questions to The Robert Group, the Inglewood Forward website was updated to reflect Ballmer was financing it, but failed to disclose a campaign ID number.
Wouldn’t these activities fall under state law, and not local, requiring the disclosure, seeing that Ballmer’s PAC is registered with the state?
On the other hand, how much is Stan Kroenke ponying up?
(2UrbanGirls has been cited in CityWatchLA, Compton Herald, Daily Breeze, Daily News, Inglewood Today, Intersections South LA, KCRW, KPCC, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, LA Watts Times, Mercury News, Orange County Register and The Atlantic.)
