Bell city elections: Council donor denies his $60K contribution is 'tea party money'

This post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

A retired Woodland Hills businessman said he donated more than $60,000 to a slate of City Council candidates in Bell to help elect a team of “honest” politicians in a city that has been battered by allegations of public corruption and graft.

But critics, including the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, contend that Gwilym McGrew is an outsider with no connection to the small, largely Latino city and that his donation represents “tea party money.”

McGrew denies he is a tea party member, though he said he does support the group’s position on healthcare.

McGrew said he became interested in Bell after reading about the high salaries of elected city leaders and administrators in the city last summer.

“I wanted honest candidates to have the opportunity to meet voters and get their message out,” he said.

The council election has been fractious, with candidates in agreement that the city is desperately in need of reform but at odds on how to achieve that.

McGrew's donations went to a slate of three candidates who have been running under the banner Justice for Bell, which has advocated disbanding the police force to help the city steer of possible bankruptcy. One of the Justice for Bell candidates, 34-year-old Miguel Sanchez, died late last week. Sanchez’ name will remain on Wednesday ballot. The other two candidates who received a donation from McGrew are Nestor Valencia and Mario Rivas.

In all, 16 candidates -- many of them political newcomers -- are vying for all five seat on the City Council.

McGrew, who has helped finance other politicians around the country including a Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, said he has not taken a position on whether to disband the police department.

“There’s a lot of smoke and probably some very big fires,” he said of the Police Department. "Should they decide to keep the police, they’re going to have to deal with a very difficult history.”

He said he initially offered campaign money to Danny Harber and Coco Ceja, but both turned him down. Harber is part of a slate of candidates calling itself United for Bell, which is supported by the police union.

The police union said it will spend around $30,000 supporting candidates, as well as an informational campaign to persuade citizens they should save the police force.

[For the record, 9:35 a.m. March 8: An earlier version of this post stated that McGrew had concluded that Bell needed to dump its police force. In fact, McGrew has not stated a position.] 

RELATED:

Voter guide: March 8 Los Angeles Election

-- Steve Marble and Christopher Goffard

Comments

[James Andrews]

Nice to see the police trying to elect their own bosses. That always works out so well.

[davidpaul]

so what if it is tea party money...what a relief...get some new blood in those old corrupt seats....best thing that could happen...throw the unions...the old rascals out...SEND EM HOME!!!

[Bob]

>>>which has advocated disbanding the police force to help the city steer of possible bankruptcy.

I believe that should be "steer off" not "steer of".

[Bob]

Wow! What a choice: The Bell police or the Tea Party. Which could be worse?

[Brainiac]

The police force is a rat's nest. They should not be allowed to fund election campaigns, since they're basically looking to save their own corrupt a$$es. And where do they get the money to fund their candidates? Probably from all of the illegal, quote-driven citations they issued over the past decade.

Once again, Adams, his cronies, and the entire Bell PD are showing themselves to be rotten to the core. So if one of their candidates is elected, will they score that a single?

[Common Sense]

This is the final push! Citizens of Bell, please consider supporting the Justice for Bell slate of candidates, including recently deceased Miguel Sanchez, who tirelessly and courageously fought for justice and political reform in this devastated city (against the backdrop of dirty campaign tactics from the police union and its puppet candidates).

Beware of the competing United for Bell slate, which is politically indebted to the police union (and labor unions, more broadly), and which has no real desire to address ethical and fiscal reform. Beware also of johnny-come-late carpetbaggers like Quintana, who so self-servingly left an even needier city next door (Cudahy), which had ZERO opposition candidates vying to replace the entrenched councilmembers of that awfully corrupt city.

[Chillipepper]

Dissolve the police agency when you have the chance. Don't end up like in many cities to pay incredulous pensions which none of them can afford.

Common Bell, show some common sense. You have been dupe before by all these so call public workers.. don't let them do this to you again. Get a clean slate and start anew.

Frankly there is no different with or without local police. The only difference is how much you want to put in their pocket.