As you probably know, we’ve never accepted any donations from corporations -- or individuals tied to real estate development or fossil fuels.

We haven’t benefited from independent expenditures by PACs either -- until last week. And I wanted to be transparent about this. (thread)

An org called Streets For All raised money from a few sources, including Lyft, and spent some of it in our race.

Ground Game LA and Courage California also spent small amounts.

I had no control over this, (by law, PACs can’t coordinate with campaigns,) but I wanted you to know.

Streets For All advocates for a more walkable and bikeable LA, and I strongly support that mission.

But I don’t believe wealthy individuals or corporations should have more say than any of us. In my ideal world, this kind of spending wouldn’t exist.

Cities can’t outlaw PAC spending: it is protected as speech because of the Citizens United decision in the Supreme Court.

The only thing we as candidates can do is be transparent about it, make sure we’re not swayed by it, and empower residents to hold us accountable as well.

Overall, the amount of outside PAC spending on my behalf in this race is still comparatively small (~$12k).

And it pales in comparison to my opponent, for whom outside groups have spent about $470k, much of it from outside LA.
https://ethics.lacity.org/data/campaigns/independent-expenditures

$470k in PAC money on behalf of my opponent is a lot for a city council race. Big enough to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.

That’s why I felt it was important to speak up when even a smaller amount was spent on my behalf in a similar fashion.

I believe the only way to stop corruption in City Hall is to run clean campaigns and get money out of politics -- completely.

You can read my entire platform for how I’ll make City Hall work for us on my website: https://www.nithyaforthecity.com/platform/make-city-hall-work-for-us