As the election for city council heats up, no news is bad news for at least one candidate who has so far failed to file his campaign finance report. At the same time, too little news also bodes ill for a perennial candidate while good news for an incumbent could cut both ways.

Christopher Landavazo is running on a platform calling for higher ethics by public officials.

First the “no news candidate”; despite his platform centered on “bringing law and order back to democracy in West Hollywood” and his castigating incumbents for unethical activities, Christopher Landavazo has missed the deadline for filing his campaign finance reports.

That filing was due into the city clerk’s office on Monday, Jan. 28, or postmarked on Friday, Jan. 25.

According to City Clerk Corey Schaffer, the “Govt. Code and guidelines that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) forwarded to me regarding late filings allows me to… enforce… fines [once] I provide notification to the candidate that they have not filed their statement.

“Once I notify them,” he told WeHo News, “the candidate has 10 days from that notification to file the statement (5 days for the 2nd pre-election statement). If they do not file within 10 days I am required to start fining them $10 a day (from that date forward) until they file the statement.

The maximum fine is $100.

If the clerk must send a second notification in writing, as required by the FPPC, and the “candidate never files their statement,” he said, “I can turn the matter over to the FPPC for investigation.  I’m not sure at that point what steps the FPPC takes because we have never had to do that.

Mr. Landavazo is making his first run for public office; his campaign is being run by John Applegate, who once ran council member John Duran’s campaigns and fundraisers.

Mr. Duran has charged that Mr. Applegate has appropriated his donor lists, numbering some 10,000 names, when the two parted ways last year.

Steve Martin is running his seventh campaign for council office, two of which have been successful. He lags far behind incumbents and one challenger in fundraising.

Campaign consultant and manager for the Duran and Jeffrey Prang campaigns, Steve Afriat, told WeHo News that a failure to report campaign proceeds, “argues against his being a candidate with any kind of integrity.

“If he was acting with integrity, he would practice transparency.”

Neither Mr. Landavazo nor Mr. Applegate returned calls for comment.

The “too little news candidate,” Steve Martin, filed his financials, but demonstrated a weak start to fundraising. He has raised, in toto, only $13,418 since announcing his campaign in early November, 2012.

That puts him far behind first time candidate Sam Borelli, who has raised a total of $20,358 – nearly two-and-a-half times more than Mr. Martin.

The “good news” came in for Mayor Jeffrey Prang, who is running for his fifth term and has long been identified as a Democratic Party stalwart and operative.

The Speaker of the California State Assembly, John Perez, the openly gay assembly member from downtown Los Angeles and former labor union organizer, gave an effusive endorsement of Mr. Prang’s race for office.

He wrote, in part, “Jeff is conscientious public official. He is smart, very-well respected, and hard-working. But most importantly, he is accessible and responsive, and he has never forgotten his roots, or those who elected him. His integrity is beyond reproach.

“He's been a champion for LGBT rights sustainable economic growth, affordable housing, the environment, and animal welfare. He's been a friend to working men and women, which is why the LA Federation of Labor has endorsed his re-election.

“Jeffrey Prang is my friend and I am proud to support Mayor Prang's re-election campaign.”

Other endorsements from Democratic elected officials include:

Mayor Jeffrey Prang received the endorsements of key Democratic Party leaders, including Speakr John Perez, Rep. Adam Schiff and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, demonstrating a central pojnt made by advocates of term limits - long-time incumbents get a "leg up" in elections that challengers cannot overcome

State Controller John Chiang, U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, as well as West Hollywood Council members John D’Amico, John Duran and John Heilman.

While campaign manager for the Yes on C term limits measure, Scott Schmidt, declined to comment on the city council race, the proponents of term limits have made the “leg up” enjoyed by incumbents a central argument against open-ended service, not only in the ability to raise campaign cash, but also the ability to obtain much desired endorsements from recognizable figures.

Advocates of term limits are wary of professional politicians maintaining their seats by using the support of those with whom they develop long-time relationships, particularly lobbyists with business before the city.

However, by extension, that same wariness encompasses the long-term relationships formed in the political realm.

That dynamic played out on the ground in the latest campaign for State Assembly, in which Steve Martin and many of those who are backing his term limits initiative supported Richard Bloom against incumbent Betsy Butler.

Ms. Butler came under heavy fire from supporters of the Bloom campaign for receiving endorsements and cash from the Democratic Party, giving her a nearly 4-1 financial advantage over Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom.

Despite that advantage, however, Mayor Bloom became the Assembly member for the newly-drawn 50^th District.

It remains to be seen if Mr. Prang’s endorsements prove a boon or cause a backlash.

Two other candidates filings found their way to the city's web site, Tristan Schukraft's and Rusty Wiggs'.

Mr. Schukraft's donations - $3383 - came out of his own pocket, and Mr. Wiggs' $100 donation apparently came out of pocket as well. 

That amount is the amount necessary to create a bank account.