Justin Blakely
BY BRIAN HEWS
Hews Media Group-Los Cerritos Community News has obtained documents from the Norwalk-Registrar Recorder’s Office that show Compton City Council Candidate Justin Blakely only recently moved and registered to vote in the city of Compton.
Those same documents show that Blakely, who is only 23, has never voted in any city or special election.
In addition, campaign documents obtained by HMG-LCCN show that Blakely violated the Political Reform Act and could face heavy fines.
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DOCUMENT showing Blakely has never voted in a city election. Click on image to view larger document.
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Blakely, who sources are telling HMG-LCCN is backed by the local cannabis industry, surprisingly beat incumbent Emma Sharif by 200 votes in the April primary, but the vote was split between three candidates.
Many Compton residents were upset at Blakely’s dirty campaign tactics that used highly offensive attack mailers against Sharif, a popular method with notorious Los Angeles area political operatives; but the campaign worked.
Sharif is a well-respected Council woman with many high-level endorsements, including L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
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SHARIF ENDORSEMENTS include Supervisors Hahn and Ridley-Thomas and Congresswomen Karen Bass and Nanette Barragon.
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The first document shows Blakely registering with the Recorder’s office on July 30, 2016 with an address of 1530 W 124th Street in Los Angeles, a 1,400 square foot home near the Chester Washington Golf Course.
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DOCUMENT showing Blakely registered in Los Angeles in 2016. Click on image to view larger document.
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The document is evidence that Blakely did not register to vote until he was twenty years-old (7/30/2016) and living at the home on 124th street. Sources tell HMG-LCCN that Blakely attended California State University at Dominguez Hills which is very close to the 124th street residence.
This will raise questions about Blakely’s statement, “I did not vote because I was away at college.”
“Away at school,” one resident told HMG-LCCN, “what is he talking about? He went to school at Dominguez which is only a couple miles away from where he lived. He could have walked to his polling place if he really cared.”
In addition, a check of online real estate records for the 124th street home shows the house owned by Lynda Smith, who is rumored to be Blakely’s mother.
According to Blakely’s campaign finance reports dated January-March 2019, Ms. Smith recently donated $7,000 to his campaign.
Blakely subsequently moved into Compton in December 2018, just four months prior to the primary election, registering with the Recorder’s office using 1005 S. Castlegate Ave. in Compton as his new address.
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DOCUMENT showing Blakely registering in Compton in Dec. 2018, moving into Compton four months prior to the election. Click on image to view larger document.
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The property is a duplex, 1003 Castlegate is the main house, 1005 is the back apartment.
Four months later, and only thirteen days after the primary election, Blakely once again moved, registering this time at 1306 S. Atlantic Blvd Dr. Apt 6 in Compton.
In between the move from Castlegate to Atlantic, Blakely, who sources tell HMG-LCCN just recently graduated from college, opened his city council campaign committee.
According to campaign documents dated January-March 2019, Blakely managed to loan himself $8,766.30 on Jan 15, 2019. He also received the $7,000 from Smith and $8,000 from Calvin Blakely on Feb. 15, 2019 and paid out over $23,000 in expenses.
And it is those campaign donations and expenses that could land Blakely in legal hot water with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission.
In a March 4, 2019 interview with Melissa Hebert, Publisher of 2UrbanGirls news site, Blakely, after being asked if he had a campaign committee, told 2UrbanGirls that he was not legally able to establish a city council campaign committee until after Feb 19, 2019.
2UrbanGirls: Have you opened a campaign account to raise funds?
Blakely: No. I was only rightfully certified as a candidate on Tuesday, February 19th. Now that I am a candidate I am awaiting my committee ID number.”
But Blakely reported on his campaign documents that he received almost $24,000 for his campaign, in three installments, between Jan. 15 and Feb. 15.
He also paid out the entire amount of donations in four payments; two to the city of Compton, one to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder, and one to Silva Communications.
The payments were not dated, but they would likely have been paid on or around Feb. 18.
According to FPPC website documents pertaining to finance and recordkeeping laws found online, Blakely likely violated FPPC laws because he had not established his committee prior to the donations and payments.
The FPPC rules state “every [campaign] committee must have a treasurer before the committee may accept contributions or make expenditures. Contributions may not be accepted and expenditures may not be made if the treasurer’s post is vacant at any time.”
Each installment and payment are a violation of FPPC campaign laws and carries a maximum fine of $2,000 each, consequently Blakely is staring at a possible fine of $14,000
Accusations of money laundering are also swirling around Blakely’s campaign involving the $8,766.30 the 23 year-old Blakely managed to loan himself on Jan 15, this while he lived in a back house in Compton and just recently graduated from college.
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HOW DID BLAKELY GET $8,700? Blakely’s Linkedin shows that he does not a have a current job nor does he have any former jobs.
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A campaign consultant, who wished to remain anonymous, told HMG-LCCN that a candidate who loans himself thousands is a red flag, “usually that means the candidate is laundering money. Someone gave the candidate money, they deposited it into their checking account, and then wrote a personal check to the committee.”
HMG-LCCN sent questions several times to Blakely for comment, he had not answered at the time of publication.
