City Council Race Turns Ugly

The Culver City Observer has received an anonymous, inflammatory flyer that blasted two of the City Council candidates as lackeys of the local chamber of commerce.

The campaign flyer, which was distributed to residents this week, drew strong rebuke from local residents and people on social media who wondered about"our city of kindness."

The flyer attacking Albert Vera and Marcus Tiggs was apparently created by a group identified only as "Ad Hoc Committee for Culver City Residents First." In the flyer, the group does not provide any further information about itself nor post the required FPPC statements about who is paying for the campaign literature.

When contacted, the Fair Political Practices Commission said "it appears no such organization exists"and noted they been advised of the possible violation of California State Election codes.

Under California Law, political committees and groups must register with the FPPC and report to them under most circumstances.

Several residents told the Culver City Observer they may know the culprits behind this underhanded attack. They noted that their front door security cameras had captured he images of the people delivering them. The Culver City Observer said it intends to run any usable pictures forwarded to its staff and will name any of the individuals it can identify.

Many people took to social media following the flyer distribution, most to denounce the tactics and facts on the flyer. One post by Michael King has almost 400 comments and is still growing. Most of residents wanted to get to the bottom of this flyer and retain the Culver City moniker as the "city of kindness."

Former and current members of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce told the Observer that the chamber is not run by "fat cats who control City Hall." In fact, they said, the chamber has a long history of working with local community groups to find common ground and a balance between residents and local businesses. Most of the chamber members are small businesses, they added.

The board members acknowledged that the chamber has a Political Action Committee and, like many other PACs it makes a small contribution to the candidates they endorse.

In addition to Albert Vera and Marcus Tiggs, the City Council candidates also include Alex Fisch and Daniel Lee.