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You many have seen the video (above) of Mayor Eric Garcetti's SUV being blocked by pro-Ezell Ford demonstrators outside Getty House last week, and the mayor pleading he had to catch a flight to Washington for pre-set meetings on homelessness and police shootings. Turns out that the mayor also had a more pressing matter on his calendar in D.C.: a scheduled fundraiser for his reelection campaign at the Georgetown home of major Democratic Party fundraiser Harold Ickes. In an LA Times story by City Hall reporter Peter Jamison, Garcetti and his aides try to fudge the fact of the fundraiser, but Ickes fills in the confirming details.
In an interview Monday, Harold Ickes -- a veteran political operative and former top campaign and White House aide to President Clinton -- said the mayor was at his home in Georgetown on the evening of June 8 for a fundraising reception for Garcetti's 2017 campaign.
Ickes said Garcetti was present throughout the two-hour event, and "stayed afterward" to talk with some attendees….Ickes said the reception was attended by "40 or 50" guests, who were each asked to donate $1,400, the maximum individual contribution under L.A.'s campaign-finance limits.[skip]
Ickes, who also held a fundraiser for Garcetti's 2013 mayoral campaign, said the event was planned several months ago at the mayor's request.
"He knocked on the door again, and we were perfectly happy to do it," Ickes said.
So let's review. On the night before the police commission met to decide the racially charged question of whether last year's killing of Ford by two LAPD officers was justified, and with protesters outside his own home — and with the LAPD contemplating a tactical alert — the mayor left town to raise Georgetown money for a campaign that is two years away. Hmm.
Then, when asked, Garcetti and his people tried to not give the Times any details about the trip, saying any calendar would have to be reviewed by a lawyer first. On Friday, Jamison reports, Garcetti aide Jeff Millman finally provided an itinerary showing two half-hour meetings with Obama Adminstration officials at the White House.
Jamison reports that Garcetti told him last week that "I did see friends...before I went to the airport, for a moment," and refused to say whether he had attended a fundraiser. Garcetti says it's against his policy to talk about political fundraisers. We don't know if Garcetti saw any friends, but we now know he did hold a fundraiser and tried to keep it secret. Eventually, Garcetti campaign adviser Bill Carrick confirmed the existence of the fundraiser. Good digging by Jamison, who covers the mayor's office for the Times.
Garcetti, by the way, flew back from Washington overnight and returned to the city during Tuesday's police commission meeting, which he did not attend. He met that day with Ezell Ford's mother, who praised his involvement.
Here's the calendar @ericgarcetti office gave me last wk after I asked what mayor did in DC pic.twitter.com/yZznRpcVKn
— Peter Jamison (@PeteJamison) June 16, 2015
Screen grab of Mayor Garcetti engaging with protesters.
