Influencers' ethics complaint against Raman campaign prepared by Bass campaign's law firm

Influencers Kaitlyn Hennessy and Beatrice Gomberg filed complaints with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and the Los Angeles Ethics Commission accusing Nithya Raman's mayoral campaign of paying social media influencers without proper disclosure. 1 2 The complaint focuses on posts by comedian Adam Conover and by Eric Cheng, an influencer who became a Raman staffer, along with a number of anonymous "meme" accounts. 1 2 The complaint was prepared with the help of Kaufman Legal Group, the law firm used by Mayor Karen Bass's reelection campaign; the Los Angeles Times first reported this on Thursday after seeing the metadata of a draft of the filings. 1 2

The Bass campaign said it is paying for the legal work but not paying Hennessy and Gomberg themselves. 1 The accounts of how the arrangement arose differ: the Times says Hennessy acknowledged the Bass campaign steered them to the firm, while Hennessy told the New York Post they only asked for a referral, learned of the offer to pay their bills 'with the rest of the world', and intend to pay their own legal bills. 1 2 Legal experts told the Times the Bass campaign's payment is unlikely to raise ethics issues if it is reported in disclosure filings, which the campaign said it intends to do; Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Marymount law professor, said complaints filed this close to an election warrant extra scrutiny. 1

The complaint alleges that Raman's campaign paid Conover's company, SwizzleCorp, while he posted in support of her; the payments were first labelled 'online ads' in campaign finance reports and later amended to 'video production services'. 2 1 Conover denied wrongdoing, said he has never been paid to support Raman, and said a staffer did a few weeks of hourly work for the campaign; he gave the Post invoices for five bills totalling $2,447.13, none mentioning video or social media. He also accused the influencers of secretly working for the Bass campaign. 2 1 The complaint alleges Cheng, who joined the campaign staff in September, kept posting about Raman and was hired in a way that let his posts fall under the staffer exemption; the Raman campaign says he is paid for campaign work, not personal posts, and that it sought guidance from Ethics Commission staff. 2 1

The complaint also alleges that from about May 14 through at least Sept. 1, anonymous accounts criticised Bass and Spencer Pratt while promoting Raman, with a 'Paid for by Nithya Raman for Mayor 2026' tag but without the wording the city requires, and often not filed with the Ethics Commission within 24 hours. 2 The Raman campaign called the complaint 'frivolous' and said it has been fully transparent and compliant with state and city law. 2 1 Earlier complaints about Conover's posts were filed in May by former council candidate Dylan Kendall, and those investigations are ongoing; the FPPC last month cleared Tom Steyer's gubernatorial campaign of breaking the rules but said several influencers, including Cheng, had not properly disclosed payments from it. 1

Violations of Los Angeles rules can bring fines up to $15,000 or three times the amount at issue; new state law lets the FPPC refer alleged violators to law enforcement, with fines up to $5,000 per instance. Hennessy said the pair have also filed complaints against the campaigns of Steyer and Steve Hilton, in Michigan and with the Federal Trade Commission. 1 2