Who's Winning the LA Astroturf War?

Uncovering the Big Money Behind So-Called "Grassroots" Campaigns

This is a guest post from The Carousel about “Grassroots” propaganda in LA politics by attorney Michael Jensen.

A screenshot from Michael Jensen’s Lucidspark chart tracking the money behind so-called “grassroots” campaigns in LA. Full chart at bottom of page or here.

Over the last few weeks, my mailbox has been inundated with campaign mailers for our local elections. My routine practice in the past was to toss these directly into the recycling bin, but this year, some of them caught my attention with the message that Progressive candidates—Karen Bass, Erin Darling, Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, and Katy Yaroslavsky—are conducting “grassroots” campaigns while their opponents—Rick Caruso, Traci Park, Gilbert Cedillo (now defeated), Mitchel O’Farrell, and Sam Yebri, respectively—are funded by “big donors” and “special interests.” A recent email from my Councilmember, Mike Bonin, had the same message.

Is that true, I wondered? I’ve seen Darling and Bass ads on Monday Night Footbal…