As per usual, Traci Park’s propaganda machine steps up with their 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 a deliberate erasure of her actual record.
Let’s be clear about who the real ‘outsider’ 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 even enter the public consciousness until 2020, when she burst onto the scene with a megaphone to stop a homeless shelter in Venice.
She isn’t a long-standing community leader; she is a pandemic-era pop-up candidate manufactured by angry homeowner associations and corporate landlords to stop affordable housing, shelters, and anyone who threatens their property values. Faizah has a record of purpose; Traci is just 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
“Newer political face”? Faizah has been in the trenches for working-class LA renters for about 15yrs, while Park was practicing employment law for corporations—you know, helping bosses fire workers. But that record doesn’t fit the narrative, so they flatten it.
The Percentage Trick
Here’s where it gets slick. 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. The article reads more like a press release for Traci Park.
Westside Current banks on people’s political ignorance and lack of diligence to check facts. The “outside funding” sounds damning but when 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 belowthe citywide norm. But that context would ruin the “outside money” narrative, wouldn’t it?
What They Didn’t Follow: The Money That Actually Matters
While Westside Current obsesses over zip codes, let’s talk about who is funding 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 is exactly who is writing the checks:
- California Apartment Association (CAA): This is the single 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 eviction moratorium during the pandemic and are currently lobbying to weaken the 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, proving they are more interested in displacement than housing stability for renters and in turn the homelessness crisis.
- BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association): Representing massive commercial real estate interests, BOMA’s PAC is focused 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.
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 delivered letters 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 who mass evicted 600 families, 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 movie before.
The Conservative Firefighter Union Money
Don’t forget the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC)—the firefighters’ union that, alongside the racist ass 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, Jim Murez & Family, Chris Zonnas, Christian Wrede, Brad Neal, Mike Newhouse, and the Venice Chamber of Commerce crowd. These are 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 criticizing the “mansion tax.”
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 tries to frame Park’s $1 million haul as evidence of her strength. What they don’t mention: In 2022, Park outspent Erin Darling by 3-to-10 times, depending on how you count independent expenditures.
The result? All that money and Park won by only 4%.
Money didn’t buy a mandate then, and manufactured “outside money” narratives won’t obscure the real story now. Traci Park is funded by corporate landlords and MAGA donors. She’s running against a real one—a housing justice attorney with 15 years of boundary-pushing wins. No personal PR fluff publication required.
Park’s million dollars comes from landlord PACs fighting rent control, MAGA donors who funded Trump, staunch Zionists, and corporate real estate interests that profit from displacement.
Malik’s quarter-million comes from housing justice advocates, labor unions, and renters who’ve seen her fight for them.
Look—I don’t expect facts 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
✌🏽
