John Heilman for WeHo City Council

We need strong, experienced leadership to get West Hollywood back on track

I was thrilled the other day when I heard the news that John Heilman, the former WeHo City Councilmember who narrowly lost his seat in the 2020 West Hollywood City Council election, had announced his attention to run again this November. I was extremely sad when John lost last time around, and since then, as I’ve written about in several articles recently, the city has taken a severe turn for the worse. The new City Councilmembers have sent the city into a state of crisis on several levels, including in terms of crime, homelessness and it’s financial affairs.

Before 2020 John had served on the City Council pretty much consistently since the inception of the city in 1984. He played a role perhaps bigger than anyone else in making West Hollywood the world class city that it is today, and also making it one of the leading cities when it comes to promoting and protecting progressive values. Until recently West Hollywood was one of the most fiscally sound cities in America with a strong budget surplus. All of those great things have been put at risk by the current City Council, and I’m thrilled John is running to save WeHo and turn things around.

Now I understand why some might be confused about why someone young who once ran myself for City Council in the past as a “change agent” would endorse someone like John. While I am all for new candidates and new ideas, I also don’t believe in change for the sake of change. John Erickson and Sepi Shyne were elected in 2020 as new faces on a purely superficial basis, and look where it got us. I’m for change, but only if it’s change that’s actually going to benefit our community.

It is now John Heilman who represents change, change from the kind of irresponsible and feckless leadership that we currently have running our city. He has the experience, gravitas, sound judgment and substantive understanding of the issues to address our challenges and get things back in order. There are 3 City Council seats up in November, and I will announce my endorsements for the other 2 seats closer to the election, but I wanted to make it clear that my number 1 endorsement is for John Heilman; getting him back in office is my priority and I will do everything in my power to help him do so.