Yet Another Investigation of Eric Hacopian?

We get a lot of tips here at the Burbank Blog.  Many of them we ignore, as we can't post everything that comes into our inbox.  But every once in a while, we get something so interesting, we can't help but share it.

This juicy tidbit comes to us courtesy of someone who says they are active in Common Cause, a group dedicated to transparency in government.  It lays out a pretty damning case, in our humble opinion, of alleged payola "journalism" by notoriously underhanded consultant Eric Hacopian. 

The e-mail, sent about a month ago to FPPC Chair Anne Ravel, lays out an alleged pattern of payola and suspicious coincidences of the Mayor Sam blog attacking candidates running against a Hacopian client. 

This comes, of course, at the heels of the FPPC's investigation into requiring blogs to disclose payments from political consultants, just like how campaigns have to disclose what they spend on say, newspaper advertisements or PR consultants.

What the letter fails to point out, is that the "Mayor Sam" blog not only seemingly does Hacopian's bidding, but also how utterly laughable the blog has become.  Take for example the sad case of Assembly wannabe Adrin Nazarian, who hired Hacopian to do his race for Assembly.  Earlier this year, the Mayor Sam blog brutally and nastily levied hit after hit against Laurette Healey.  That is, when polls and perception showed her to be Nazarian's prime rival in the race.  

Now that the race has clarified, and newcomer Brian Johnson is perceived to be the primary threat against Adrin Nazarian -- surprise!  The Mayor Sam blog has now directed its fire toward Brian Johnson. 

What makes it all so laughable and unbelievable is that the bloggers at Mayor Sam, who allege to be Republicans, widely cite and quote Los Angeles Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman(!) 

If the Dem-leaning Huffington Post started repeatedly trashing anyone running against a Karl Rove (i.e., Republican) client, you would, umm, suspect that something was amiss.  We're not brain surgeons over here, but we recognize a suspicious pattern when we see one. 

Our sources tell us that FPPC director Ravel was serious to require these disclosures, but dropped her request for a new law when a couple attorneys informed her that the FPPC already had the tools in existing law to prosecute payola blogs and corrupt and misleading actions by political consultants. 

Adrin Nazarian cannot afford another ethics investigation.  Might Eric Hacopian's blatant overreach come to harm his clients?   Stay tuned...

Redacted forwarded e-mail begins here:

----Original Message-----
From: __________  _____________ <___________@aol.com>
To: aravel <aravel@fppc.ca.gov>
Sent: Sat, Apr 21, 2012 9:05 am
Subject: Blogging Disclosures

Ms. Anne Ravel, Chair

Fair Political Practices Commission
428 J Street, Suite 620
Sacramento, CA 95814

Via electronic mail:  aravel@fppc.ca.gov

 

April 21, 2012

 

Dear Ms. Ravel,

 

I read with great interest your proposal to mandate disclosure when political campaigns, through their hired “consultants,” purchase biased coverage from a blog.  (Available at:  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/04/fair-political-practices-disclose-campaigns-pay-bloggers.html ).  If we members of the public believe the bloggers’ mantra, that their medium is now the news-delivery equivalent for print media, then we are rightfully outraged at this practice.  And we deserve to know if politicians are buying favorable coverage for themselves or unfavorable coverage for their opponents, just as someone in 1980 would want to know if a campaign had expended funds to bribe a newspaper reporter.  Thus, on behalf of good-government and sunshine-law proponents everywhere, I support your proposal.

 

Nowhere is the need for disclosure laws more clear than in the case of political consultant Eric Hacopian’s relationship with a blog calling itself Mayor Sam’s Sister City.  (http:www.mayorsam.org ).  An analysis by members of my good-government group has shown that the Mayor Sam blog routinely (in fact, only) smears the opponents of paying Hacopian clients.  The examples on the list below should be an embarrassment to those who expect to at least have a sense of the biases of media sources.

 

1.    In 2005, the Mayor Sam blog ran a series of highly positive stories for Los Angeles City Council candidate Nick Pacheco, as well as a number of highly negative stories excoriating his opponent.  Pacheco was a Hacopian client.  Midway during the campaign, Hacopian and Pacheco parted company, at which point Mayor Sam’s positive coverage stopped.

2.     In 2009, the Mayor Sam blog devoted much of the year to positive stories about Los Angeles City Council candidate Paul Krekorian, as well as a number of stories ripping Krekorian’s opponent Christine Essel.  Krekorian is a Hacopian client.  In a make-or-break race for Hacopian, over 60 highly biased stories appeared on the Mayor Sam blog.

3.     In 2010, Assembly member Mike Gatto ran against Hacopian client Nayiri Nahabedian.  The Mayor Sam blog published over 10 stories negative against Gatto, stories which were later retracted over allegations that they were false and libelous.

4.     In 2011, Los Angeles City Council member Jose Huizar ran for re-election against Rudy Martinez, a Hacopian client.  The Mayor Sam blog published over 20 stories excoriating Huizar and praising Martinez, making wild claims about the former.

5.     In 2011, Los Angeles City Council member Jan Perry got into a very public spat with former Assembly Speaker, now Council President Herb Wesson.  Perry hired Hacopian as her political consultant.  Suddenly, the Mayor Sam blog began running a series of stories ripping into Wesson and his allies, including vicious personal attacks.

6.     In 2012, Jimmy Gomez is running for an open State Assembly seat against Luis Lopez.  Luis Lopez hired Hacopian to do his race.  Suddenly, stories began appearing on the Mayor Sam blog ripping Jimmy Gomez, the perceived front-runner in the race.

7.     In 2012, Laurette Healey is running for an open State Assembly seat against Adrin Nazarian.  Nazarian is a Hacopian client.  Yes, you guessed it.  Highly inflammatory pieces against Healey are appearing on the Mayor Sam blog.

 

Our informal study showed that the “coverage” on this blog is always highly skewed in favor of Hacopian clients.  The coverage becomes even more laughable when understanding the public political bent of the bloggers is ostensibly “Republican/Libertarian.”  Paul Krekorian and Luis Lopez, for example, are both extremely pro-labor liberals, and when a Republican blog goes out of its way to praise people like that, I think it is safe to say that something is amiss.

 

I wish the above examples were anomalous, but sadly they are not.  The public has a right to know when an alleged “media” or “news” outlet is a wholly owned subsidiary of one political consultant.  I strongly applaud your efforts to require disclosure of payola in the blogging world.

 

_______________   __________________

Los Angeles

***(Active in the Common Cause, the Democratic Party, and my kitchen)