CAMPAIGN TO RECALL MIKE BONIN FAILS
LOS ANGELES – The recall effort targeting progressive Westside Councilmember Mike Bonin has failed, and has not qualified for the ballot, City Clerk Holly Wolcott announced today.
In reaction, Bonin issued the following statement:
“Today is the end of a wasteful, distracting abuse of the electoral process – but it’s nowhere near the end of attacks on progressive values and the real solutions to homelessness. I believe housing and services end homelessness and make everyone safe. Recall proponents and re-election challengers oppose housing and services and insist on doubling down on failed, expensive strategies, like pushing unhoused people from block to block or throwing them in jail. I am pleased by today’s news, and I am going to keep on fighting for what I know is right.”
The failed effort to recall Mike Bonin was organized and largely supported by opponents of proven solutions to homelessness, and managed by professional right-wing operatives and hired guns who have tried to recall other progressive officials. Recall proponents had sued, appealed, or protested to stop supportive housing, emergency shelter, tiny homes, safe parking, safe camping, and many basic homeless services in the 11th District and beyond.
The recall campaign was funded in part by dark-money groups and run by GOP operatives including authorized recall representative Chad Morgan, a longtime Republican political operative from Orange County, Mike McCauley, a Utah Republican political operative who serves as the group’s treasurer, and Jimmy Camp, the former director of operations for the California Republican Party who ran the recall’s paid signature-gathering operation. It was also backed by Ric Grenell, the former Trump official who has formed “Fix California,” to reverse California’s progressive politics.
Bonin was first elected in 2013 with 62% of the vote and then resoundingly re-elected with 71% of the vote in 2017. He has been a progressive champion on the City Council, proposing effective solutions to homelessness, co-authoring the $15 minimum wage law, championing ambitious clean energy and environmental protection policies, expanding mass transit, and advocating for reimagining public safety.
