Ballot Statement Controversy Stemmed From 'Misunderstanding,' Says Fine

The removal of former City Council District 1 candidate Kim Fine's name from the ballot statement of current District 1 candidate Jim Light has some members of the community up in arms; however, the entire incident stemmed from a misunderstanding, according to the players involved.

When she finished third in the race for District 1 and was ineligible for the runoff election, Fine told both Light and his opponent, businessman Jeff Ginsburg, that she would support their campaigns, she told Patch. She did not explicitly endorse either candidate because she wanted to be able to work with whoever was elected, she said.

"I didn't learn that I was in Jim's ballot statement until it was too late for him to voluntarily make changes," Fine told Patch.

The original ballot statement filed on March 25 read, "I am privileged to have the endorsement of both former District 1 candidates Kim Fine and Dianne Prado"; it was changed to read, "I am privileged to have the endorsement of former District 1 candidate Dianne Prado."

In order to change the statement, Fine was required to file a writ in Los Angeles Superior Court, which she did on April 2.

"I called Jim and told him I would be filing it merely as a formality so that my name could be removed," she said.

According to the writ, Fine was "subjected ... to harassment and ridicule, with unknown persons leaving harassing notes at (her) home" because her name appeared in Light's ballot statement.

Light was out of the area at the time and could not be served with the writ; however, he sent an email to City Clerk Eleanor Manzano informing her of the situation:

"(Fine) was not aware I had put her name in the statement endorsing me. That was a misunderstanding arising from a meeting in which Kim stated she wanted to be supportive of my campaign (and still does). Though she was not elected to city council, she wants to work with whomever is elected.

"I have spoken with Kim; she knows no malice or misrepresentation was intended. It was simply too late for me to make a change voluntarily, since the statement filing deadline had passed."

In the email, Light also requested that the sentence about the endorsement be changed.

Once the ballot statement was changed, Fine asked the court to dismiss the writ. The dismissal was approved and processed April 24.

"It wasn't like there was malice on Jim's part; it was just a misunderstanding, and that's pretty much it," Fine said. "He was very accommodating the whole way through."

Light's opponent in the race for District 1, Ginsburg, did reimburse Fine for the legal fees related to the writ, Ginsburg told Patch.

"I said, 'Well, if you need money for legal fees … I'd be willing to make a donation to your campaign to offset some of your loans,'" Ginsburg said. "'I'll make a $500 donation to your campaign from myself personally.' … I'm not going to mix this with my campaign, but I said I'll do a personal donation."

Because Fine's political action committee had been dissolved, Ginsburg ended up writing a check to her business.

Fine declined to comment on the record in regard to an item posted in a Patch blog by former District 1 candidate Dianne Prado, which alleged that Fine had been bullied into going to court to remove Fine's name from Light's ballot statement.

Current District 1 councilman and mayoral candidate Steve Aspel, who was mentioned in Prado's blog post, vehemently denied bullying Fine into filing the writ.

"There's nothing to the allegations. It sounds silly—I can't even believe I'm saying this," he told Patch. "The allegations are ridiculous. I really like Kim Fine. She's a nice person, and I would never say anything bad about her or to her."

He said Fine initially approached him.

"About two weeks after the ballot statements … were filed, Kim called me and said that she found out that Jim had put her name on his ballot as an endorsement, and she didn't want it on there—she didn't endorse anybody," Aspel said. "Kim searched me out and asked me for advice; I found out what she had to do about getting the writ; and then she took care of it herself, and she took care of it with Jim."

He called Fine a "good-hearted, really nice person."

"She's a wonderful lady, and she's getting advice from everybody, it turns out," Aspel said.