Activist files more complaints against Mike Feuer campaign
A Westside activist who has previously complained to authorities about former lawmaker Mike Feuer and his campaign for Los Angeles city attorney has filed additional documents with state and local government watchdog agencies accusing Feuer of more alleged transgressions.
Laura Lake, an ally of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, whom Feuer is challenging in next week’s election, said she lodged complaints Friday with the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the city Ethics Commission.
The complaints allege that Feuer, a former state assemblyman, illegally used funds left over in his state officeholder account to pay the treasurer in his city race.
“I am asking the city Ethics Commission and the FPPC to investigate and take action immediately,” Lake said in a statement released Friday by Fix the City, a local activist group she is affiliated with. Earlier, Fix the City accused Feuer of exceeding the primary campaign spending limits he agreed to as a condition for receiving public matching funds.
Feuer campaign spokesman Dave Jacobson denied Lake’s allegations in a statement, and called the Trutanich camp “desperate.” Trutanich came in second behind Feuer in the four-way primary election and has been trailing in independent polls in the weeks since.
“After Mike left the Assembly, as is common with departing officials, he closed his officeholder account by distributing the remaining funds to worthy causes (as allowed by the FPPC) and paid his treasurer a final payment for maintaining and terminating the account,” the statement said.
“The Feuer primary campaign complied with the spending limits,” the statement adding, saying, “The amount cited by Fix the CIty does not take into account refunds to the campaign and expenses that are not attributable to the spending limit.”
Lake earlier filed a lawsuit over the Feuer campaign’s spending on a contingency-type contract that the former assemblyman had with campaign consultant John Shallman during the primary. A hearing in the case was scheduled for Friday afternoon in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The Feuer campaign has called the suit “frivolous” and an attempt to distract Trutanich’s opponent from the campaign.
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Twitter: @jeanmerl
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