Influencers filed ethics complaint against Raman campaign — with help from Bass lawyers
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- Two influencers have accused Nithya Raman’s mayoral campaign of paying social media influencers who improperly disclosed the payments.
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who → file → payments
The legal fees for their complaint are being covered by Mayor Karen Bass’ mayoral campaign.
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fees → cover → campaign
- Raman’s campaign says it hasn’t done anything wrong, and that social media influencers weren’t paid for their posts.
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influencers → say → posts
Two social media influencers who filed an ethics complaint against Tom Steyer’s California gubernatorial campaign have submitted new complaints to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, accusing Nithya Raman’s mayoral campaign of paying influencers without proper disclosure.
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who → file → disclosure
Their complaints, it turns out, received a legal assist from the campaign of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
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it → turn → Bass
The metadata for a draft of their filings last week revealed that they had been created with the help of the law firm used by Bass’ election campaign.
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they → reveal → campaign
Kaitlyn Hennessy, who filed the complaint with Beatrice Gomberg, acknowledged to The Times that the Bass campaign steered them to the Kaufman Legal Group, which helped prepare the complaint.
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which → file → complaint
Bass’ campaign said it is picking up the tab for the legal work but wasn’t paying Hennessy and Gomberg for their efforts.
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it → say → efforts
The complaint focused on posts by comedian and TV personality Adam Conover and influencer-turned-Raman staffer Eric Cheng, along with a host of so-called “meme” accounts, which repost content created by others, sometimes at the behest of political campaigns.
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which → focus → campaigns
The Raman campaign said it has done nothing wrong and denied any wrongdoing on behalf of Cheng.
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it → say → Cheng
Conover also denied any wrongdoing.
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Conover → deny → wrongdoing
The Bass campaign’s decision to cover legal costs for the complaints is unlikely to pose ethics issues, according to legal experts consulted by The Times, provided the payments are reported by the campaign in its disclosure reports, which the campaign said it intends to do.
“As long as a campaign is transparent in reporting its expenditures, there’s nothing inherently wrong for a campaign to have its lawyers file an ethics complaint for the campaign or somebody else with their informed consent,” said Jeffrey Daar, a former president of the L.A. Ethics Commission.
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Daar → cover → Commission
Conover’s posts promoting Raman already attracted scrutiny in ethics complaints filed in May by former L.A. City Council candidate Dylan Kendall.
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posts → promote → Kendall
Conover told The Times that payments made by the campaign to a company connected to him were not for his posts but for video work one of his staffers did for Raman’s campaign.
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one → tell → campaign
They initially were described in Raman’s campaign filings as payments for online ads but later were amended to say they were for video production services.
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they → describe → services
A spokesperson for Raman’s campaign said Cheng is paid for work he does for the campaign, not for posts on his personal social media account, and that it had gotten guidance from L.A. Ethics Commission staff on Cheng’s disclosure requirements to ensure it was in compliance.
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it → say → compliance
The spokesperson added that Cheng voluntarily posted on his social media account that he would be joining the campaign before his employment began.
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employment → add → campaign
The L.A. Ethics Commission and FPPC declined to comment on the status of the complaint or the prior one brought by Kendall.
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Commission → decline → Kendall
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Marymount University’s law school who also previously served as the president of the ethics commission, said that because news of an ethics complaint can have a political impact before its merits have been evaluated, it is important to view filings late in an election cycle with greater scrutiny.
“Whenever I see that there’s an ethics complaint filed this close to the election, I always pause for a minute,” she said.
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she → serve → minute
California is one of the few states in the country that require social media influencers to disclose if they have been paid by a political campaign to create content.
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they → require → content
Political groups are required to notify paid creators of the requirement.
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groups → require → requirement
New state legislation signed into law last month gives the FPPC the power to refer alleged violators to law enforcement for possible misdemeanor charges, and violations can be penalized with a fine of up to $5,000 per instance.
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violations → sign → instance
The L.A. Ethics Commission can levy fines of up to $15,000 or three times the amount of money at issue.
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Commission → levy → issue
The FPPC last month concluded its investigation into Steyer’s campaign and found that it had properly followed the rules, but it did say that several social media influencers, including Cheng, the Raman staffer, had not properly disclosed payments from the Steyer campaign.
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influencers → conclude → campaign
Hennessy and Gomberg are continuing to investigate improperly disclosed social media posts in races across the country, including the L.A. mayoral race, because of their concerns about the corrosive impact this content can have on the electoral process, Hennessy said.
“It’s really disappointing to me, because you see how this impacts races,” Hennessy said.
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Hennessy → continue → races
“When you have this undisclosed content, people don’t understand that what they’re watching is an ad.”
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watching → have → what
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