As per usual, Traci Park’s propaganda machine steps up with its disinformation shots. In this instance, The Westside Current’s goal is to hope you stay focused on zip codes so you don’t notice the landlord PACs, MAGA donors, corporate real estate money, and the usual affluent gentry fueling Traci Park’s campaign.
Another Westside Current Debunk
The Westside Current just dropped yet another mad, deceptive piece this week—“Westside’s Million-Dollar Council Battle — Outside Funding Floods CD11 Race”—and it’s a masterclass in deceptive framing. Let’s break it down.
For starters, this isn’t news; it’s a rerun. The Westside Current is dusting off the exact same playbook they used in 2022. Back then, they manufactured an “outside money” scandal against progressive Erin Darling to distract voters from the truth— Traci Park was the one drowning in unscrupulous cash.
They are trying to pull the same trick on Faizah Malik now, but the math didn’t add up then, and it doesn’t add up now. As documented by Crosstown LA in its 2022 analysis“Big money flows in the District 11 city council race,” Traci Park benefited from over $1.37 million in outside, independent expenditures from corporate landlords and police unions—outspending her opponent’s outside support by nearly 5-to-1.
They call small-dollar donations from actual people “foreign influence,” but they call million-dollar checks from corporate PACs “local support.” Yea ok. Just more weirdo gaslighting from the white nationalist daily.
Who is the Actual Political “Newcomer”?
The article describes Faizah Malik as an “attorney and newer political face.” This is deliberate erasure.
Let’s be 100 about who the real newcomer is. Faizah Malik has been a fixture in Los Angeles housing justice for over 15 years—long before she ever asked for a vote. She was doing the work when it wasn’t an election year.
Traci Park? She didn’t exist in public life until 2020, when she burst onto the scene with a megaphone to stop a homeless shelter in Venice. She’s not a long-standing community leader—she’s a pandemic-era pop-up candidate manufactured by angry homeowner associations, police & Zionist lobbies, and corporate landlords to block affordable housing and protect property values.
Faizah spent 15 years fighting for renters. Park spent hers as a corporate bully’s bodyguard—she just swapped the courtroom for City Hall. One has a record of purpose. The other is a reactionary opportunist.
Here’s what Westside Current intentionally leaves out about Faizah Malik:
- 15+ years fighting for housing justice in Los Angeles
- Lead attorney on the Bruce’s Beach case—the landmark victory that returned oceanfront land stolen from a Black family nearly a century ago
- Managing Attorney at Public Counsel, directing housing justice initiatives
- Key architect of LA’s largest tenant protection expansion in 40 years (2023)
- Led legal efforts securing COVID rent relief for over 100,000 LA County households through a landmark settlement with the state
The Percentage Trick
Here’s where they try to be slick, and to give them credit, they are very skilled at manipulative media. The headline screams “Outside Funding Floods CD11 Race,” and the article leads with this:
- Malik: 23% of donations from out-of-state
- Park: 6% of donations from out-of-state
Sounds dramatic, right? Malik looks like the “outside money” candidate.
But buried in the article is this: both candidates received roughly the same amount of out-of-state money—about $58,000.
The percentages only look different because Park raised $1 million and Malik raised $250,000. Same dollars, different optics. As usual, the Westside Current articles read more like a press release blog for Traci Park.
Westside Current banks on people’s political ignorance and lack of diligence to check facts. The “outside funding” sounds damning until you understand that outside funding is standard practice in LA elections. According to the LA Forward Institute’s analysis, 38% of all contributions in LA’s 2024 primary came from people outside the city. In Council District 12’s race, over 60% came from outside LA.
So Malik’s 23% out-of-state funding is actually below the citywide norm. But that context would ruin the “outside money” narrative, wouldn’t it?
What They’re Distraction From: Traci Park’s Anti-renter and MAGA Funding Base
While Westside Current tries to distract you with deceptive numbers and framing, let’s talk about who’s funding Traci Park’s million-dollar anti-working-class war chest:
Landlord PACs- The Corporate Landlord Machine
While the Westside Current tries to scare you about $25 donations from housing advocates, they conveniently ignore the massive war chest funding Traci Park— the corporate landlord lobby. These aren’t just “business groups”; they are the primary architects of California’s housing affordability crisis, spending hundreds of millions to keep rents high and evictions easy.
Here’s who’s writing your girl Traci’s checks.
- California Apartment Association (CAA): The largest anti-renter force in the state. In 2024 alone, they mobilized over $135 million to defeat Proposition 33, crushing the effort to expand rent control for working families. They are the same group that lobbies against “just cause” eviction protections, ensuring landlords can kick out long-term tenants to jack up the rent.
- Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA): The local arm of the landlord lobby, AAGLA aggressively fights every tenant protection in City Hall. They sued the city to stop the pandemic-era eviction moratorium and are currently lobbying to weaken anti-harassment laws that protect renters from illegal lockouts and intimidation. As detailed by Public Counsel, AAGLA aggressively sued the City of Los Angeles to overturn ‘common-sense tenant protections’ that prevent arbitrary evictions, showing that they are more interested in displacement than in housing stability for everday people and in doing their part to mitigate the homelessness crisis.
- BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association): Representing major commercial real estate interests, BOMA’s PAC focuses on protecting property values over people. They actively campaign to repeal the “Mansion Tax” (Measure ULA), which funds affordable housing and homeless prevention programs.
- California Real Estate PAC (CREPAC): The political arm of the California Association of Realtors, this group funnels tens of millions into electing politicians who will block tenant rights. They are a primary reason why state laws like Costa-Hawkins (which bans rent control on single-family homes and newer apartments) remain on the books. They even had to admit their ‘role in racist housing’ practices, yet their PAC continues to fund candidates like Traci Park who block affordable housing and reinforce systemic racism today.
The Threat to Renters
When these groups spend millions to elect a candidate like Traci Park, they expect a return on their investment. That return is higher rents, fewer protections, and more evictions. They aren’t donating to improve the Westside; they’re investing in your displacement.
Are you a local who dislikes gentrification? Then there’s no way you could support Traci Park.
Traci Park’s MAGA Donors
- The Nagel family (Decron Properties) — gave $113,000+ to Donald Trump and Republicans, including $50,000 to Trump Victory (2019) and $35,500 to Trump Victory (2020). The Jack and Gitta Nagel Foundation also funds the conservative Heritage Foundation and staunchly Zionist causes, including Bar-Ilan University.
- Lisa Korbatov — Trump bundler with direct access to the former President. She personally leveraged her relationship to Donald Trump to stop the Purple Line subway. Her husband, Igor Korbatov, brokered the controversial deal where Trump acquired a Beverly Hills mansion for effectively $0 (via a clerical error) and sold it for $9.5 million. She’s a documented business partner of Elliott Broidy, a top convicted (and later pardoned) Trump fundraiser.
- The Dror family — Brentwood landlord Brian Dror is a consistent donor to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ron DeSantis through vehicles like the Trump-aligned EMMER PAC. He also funds conservative firefighter PACs and is connected to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The Police Union Pattern:
In 2022, the LA Police Protective League funneled corporate landlord money through an independent expenditure committee to support Park. Douglas Emmett Inc., one of the largest commercial landlords in LA, contributed approximately $566,000 through the LAPPL’s independent expenditure fund—coinciding with their fight to avoid installing fire sprinklers at Barrington Plaza, which led to one of the largest mass evictions in LA history.
Mind you, LAPPL seems to be laying low this early in the 2026 cycle—likely because Park’s Palisades fire windfall donations are paying the bills for now. But don’t be surprised when the police union money floods in later when she needs the independent expenditure cash injection to close the deal. We’ve seen this move before.
The Conservative Firefighter Union Money
Don’t forget the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC)—the firefighters’ union that, alongside the LAPPL, spent nearly $1 million combined to elect Park in 2022. Their shared attorney, Matthew McNicholas, personally threw in $50,000 to Park’s campaign.McNicholas is the same lawyer who sued to prevent the city from releasing police officer data pursuant to public records requests—a lawsuit denounced by First Amendment experts as meritless. When the same lawyer is fighting to hide police misconduct records AND representing the firefighters’ union, you’re not looking at two separate organizations—you’re looking at one right-wing agenda.
Plus the Usual Venice NIMBYs and Real Estate Gangsters
And let’s not forget the local players: Tammi Pardee, Gjelina, Mark Ryavec, Jim Murez & Family, Chris Zonnas, Christian Wrede, Brad Neal, Mike Newhouse, and the Venice Chamber of Commerce crowd. Sadly, some people I saw on the Park donation list used to side with the rooted community and its predominant working-class values and interests. These are just some of the names of those who benefit when rents spike, and longtime residents are pushed out.
But Westside Current wants you to worry about housing advocates in Michigan.
A full breakdown of the local businesses bankrolling displacement is coming soon. =)
Who Wrote this Garbage?
Jamie Paige founded the Westside Current. She also served as Traci Park’s Communications Director for CD11—a position announced on the official city council staff page. While she reportedly departed the outlet in October 2025, the editorial orientation she established remains, and in my estimation, is likely still ghostwriting and overseeing much of the Westside Current’s propaganda.
The article’s co-author, Arya Rahimian, appears to be the same Arya Rahimian who serves as a Managing Director at Kroll (corporate valuation firm) and is a member of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle. For those who don’t know, the Milken Institute was founded by Michael Milken, who was convicted of six felony counts, including securities fraud, in 1990, sentenced to 10 years in prison, and was later pardoned by Donald Trump after lobbying by Republican mega-donors. Rahimian also wrote a piece advocating for Pacific Palisades secession, praising “single-family homeownership and wealth” while attacking Measure ULA—the mansion tax that funds affordable housing and homelessness prevention.
The other co-author, Sebastian Zapata, appears to be connected to LMU’s student publication—a young Brown writer providing optical cover for gentrifier propaganda. Classic Traci Park PR: deploy POC faces to launder white nationalist policy and messaging.
Oh, and peep their comment section. That’s their audience. That’s who they serve
Money Still Can’t Buy Traci Love
The article deceptively frames Park’s $1 million haul as evidence of her strength. What they don’t mention: In 2022, Park outspent Erin Darling by 5-to-1, and still barely won by only 4%.
Money didn’t buy a mandate then. Manufactured “outside money” narratives won’t obscure the real story now.
You already know who’s funding Park—landlord PACs, MAGA donors, Zionists, police unions, corporate real estate. Malik’s quarter-million comes from housing justice advocates, labor unions, and renters who’ve seen her fight for them.
One candidate has a PR machine. The other has a long record of working for everyday people.
Look—I don’t expect facts or morality to sway the gentry, the staunch capitalists, or the not-so-undercover white nationalists riding with Traci. Like Trump supporters, their threshold for ethical reasoning is somewhere past the horizon. This ain’t for them.
This is for those who are genuinely uninformed—people who don’t yet know who Traci Park really is, what she represents, or who’ve been fooled by her very skilled PR operation.
Mike Bravo
More Venice Than You
✌🏽
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