Latest Filing Shows Bonin Recall Campaign Fundraising Slowing Down

The folks pushing to recall L.A. City Councilmember Mike Bonin filed new paperwork showing that their fundraising efforts slowed in the last quarter of 2017. The Committee to Support the Recall of Mike Bonin raised $33,403 from October through December 2017. This is down about 20 percent from the $41,462 they raised from July through September.

The recall group has been raising funds for six months, and in that time raised just shy of $75,000 in total donations. In addition, the campaign’s co-chair and consultant Alexis Edelstein loaned the group $20,000.

According to an end-of-year update at the group’s website, they need “at least $200,000 to initiate the 120-day signature gathering phase” and are now looking at two possible calendars:

To initiate a June scenario, we would need to raise an additional $400,000 by June. […] A more likely November scenario would require us to raise an additional $300,000 by November.

The timeline on the recall committee homepage (today’s screen grab above) still shows a plan to submit signatures by “February 26, 2018” for a recall election some time from “July 17 – September 4, 2018.” As of today, signature gathering has not yet started.

On October 30, Edelstein stated that the committee had raised “close to $100,000” though, according to its paperwork, at the time they had raised just under $60,000 in outright donations. From the group’s website, it is clear that they are including Edelstein’s $20,000 loan in their “amount raised” claims. Again according to their website, after expenses, the campaign has $20,633 cash on hand, an amount very similar to the $20,000 Edelstein loan.

The paperwork also shows that the group paid Edelstein a total of $9,500 as a consultant.