Billionaire Gave $50,000 To Obscure Committee Supporting James McDonnell For Sheriff

Janet Crown pours $50,000 into campaign fund for LA County Sheriff hopeful Jim McDonnell.

By Brian Hews, Brian Hews, Peter Parker

A Hollywood mogul who is a member of an elite billionaire tycoon’s family is the main contributor to a little known campaign committee that is sinking tens of thousands of dollars to help sway the upcoming June 3rd Primary Election for Los Angeles County Sheriff in favor of candidate James McDonnell.

Janet Crown who hails from the family of billionaire James Crown, the owner of Henry Crown & Co. out of Chicago, gave $50,000 into an obscure campaign committee called Friends of McDonnell for Sheriff 2014 back on April 2.

The committee is not officially connected with McDonnell’s effort according to documents obtained by Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper from the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorders Office in Norwalk this past week.

Janet Crown is listed as owner of “Burn 60” on official documents submitted on behalf of the committee as required under California state election law, and wrote a personal check for $50,000 that was deposited to the Friends of McDonnell for Sheriff 2014 Committee.

The Crown Family is worth several billion dollars according to published media reports. Henry Crown & Co. is operated by James Crown with palatial offices on La Salle Street in downtown Chicago. Janet Crown is the sister of James Crown.

According to documents obtained by HMG-CN attorney Steven H. Kaufman, who is a well-known campaign operative based in downtown Los Angeles as well as Attorney Peter D. Kelly oversee the committee.

Kelly is a longtime scion in local, state and national Democratic Party politics and has close ties to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is mulling over another run for the Presidency in 2016.

Kaufman’s Figeoura Street address is listed as the primary contact for the campaign on behalf of the McDonnell for Sheriff McDonnell. Amended documents filed with the Registrar Recorder also shows that Kelly is the “Treasurer and Other Responsible Officer.”

Other contributors to the fund include Irving Azoff, CEO of Azoff MSG Entertainment in downtown in Los Angeles, as well as Brad Berman, who is President of American Skating Entertainment Centers in Phoenix. Both contributed $5,000 to the fund that is supporting McDonnell’s campaign.

Late last month Galpin Motors Inc., on Roscoe Blvd in Van Nuys, gave $10,000 to the committee. Sources told HMG-CN that Galpin has a lucrative contract with the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

Candidates running for Los Angeles County Sheriff can only accept contributions totaling $1,500 from individuals.

However, there are no limits on how much money an individual or company can spend on behalf of a candidate into an independent committee such as the one being hailed as “Friends of McDonnell for Sheriff 2014.”

Kaufman did not return phone inquiries about the committee from HMG-CN on Tuesday night. Kaufman is also one of the campaign committee treasurers to indicted Los Angeles County Assessor John R. Noguez who is standing trial on more than two dozen criminal counts for accepting bribes in exchange for lowering the values of multimillion-dollar commercial and residential properties throughout LA County.

HMG-CN also placed a call into Kelly’s political consulting firm called Vectis Strategies that has been in operation for the past three decades.

Kelly boasts photos of him and Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter as well as photos of other nationally recognized politicians including California State Senator Barbara Boxer.

One longtime friend of Janet Crown told HMG-CN in an interview “Janet is passionate about her politics and isn’t afraid to write huge checks to candidate and causes that she believes in.” The source did not want to be identified.

Radio ads began airing this week throughout Los Angeles County from the committee touting McDonnell’s qualities to be the next Sheriff. One of the ads features Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey. Lacey did not return a call to HMG-CN about the committee.

Crown is one of the most powerfully connected players in Hollywood.

She joined Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and created a department in the commercial and sponsorship division. In 1995, she become a Vice President of Client Services at Focus Media in Santa Monica, CA. In 2005, Crown opened her own fitness studio, Burn 60 in Brentwood.

According to a bio posted on line, it states “Janet is also involved in several leading non-profit organizations, including the Painted Turtle, the Every Child Foundation, the ISE Advisory Board of the Rand Corporation, the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, and the Lollipop Theater Network. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Steve Robinson and five children. She recently completed her first in a series of four children’s books. Her first title, Where Do the Animals Go When it Rains.”

HMG-CN also contacted Jim Kennedy, who is McDonnell’s primary campaign operative, but the call was not returned.