Elections
Once Again, Councilmember David Ryu Can’t Stop Lying in Public
At a campaign debate, incumbent David Ryu repeatedly (and dishonestly) denigrated the DSA, Ground Game LA, and his opponent Nithya Raman.
At the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association CD4 debate on October 21, incumbent Councilmember David Ryu once again attacked the organizations endorsing his challenger Nithya Raman (including DSA-LA and Ground Game LA), and claimed sole credit for passing campaign finance reform.
In fact, however, Ground Game LA has pushed for those reforms for years. Here are three separate letters, signed by Ground Game LA, submitted to City Council and the Ethics commission in December 2018, February 2019, and August 2020. These letters were all submitted during Ryu’s term. The letters push for matching funds reform, a ban on donations from developers, and redistricting, respectively:
All of these letters were, functionally, ignored.
He also repeated his claim that “Nithya has zero experience navigating the complex systems and politics to get housing for homeless people,” which seems to contradict this statement he made about her on Facebook in May of last year:
“Today’s #APAHM feature is Nithya Raman, executive director of Time’s Up Entertainment. With a background in non-profit and international development sectors, she has worked on issues facing low-income city residents, including access to basic services, housing and homelessness, in India and in Los Angeles.
In her words, ‘[Female empowerment] means that women are able to make their own choices. And that they are able to do the kind of work that they want to do, and live the kind of lives they want to live. And not be restrained by social or economic barriers from realizing their own journeys.’”
Ryu also mispronounced Raman’s name several times during the debate. After running against her for over a year, it’s difficult to believe that it’s not on purpose at this point.
Where have we seen this before?
KNOCK.LA is a project paid for by Ground Game LA. This article was not authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.
Nithya Raman is one of several candidates endorsed by Ground Game LA.
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