Campaign Donation Raises Ethics Questions For Jackson

Councilmember Jackson did not mention a 2022 election contribution from Hermosa Ave developer during project deliberations.

Hermosa Beach Councilmember Raymond Jackson voted in January to approve a development project by a man who had given him the maximum allowable election campaign contribution — without disclosing the donation to the public or recusing himself from the vote.

Kyle Ransford, the developer behind the long-pending renovation of 901 Hermosa Avenue, donated $250 to Jackson's 2022 city council campaign, according to Jackson's Form 460 campaign finance filing with the California Fair Political Practices Commission. This was the maximum an individual could have contributed to a Hermosa Beach city council candidate under the city's campaign finance rules at that time.

Ransford did not donate to any other sitting councilmember's 2022 campaign.

When the 901 Hermosa Avenue project came before the City Council in February, Jackson participated fully in the discussion and voted to approve it. He made no mention of the donation before or during council deliberations.

The Donation

Jackson's 2022 campaign finance records suggest that the donation was significant in context. His campaign raised just thirteen individual contributions, meaning each donor represented a meaningful share of his fundraising total. Of the thirteen contributions, only four were for the maximum amount (including Ransford's) and some were as low as $25.

The documentation detailing Ransford's 2022 donation to Jackson's re-election campaign

No Law Broken — But Questions Remain

No law appears to have been broken. California's Levine Act prohibits officials from participating in permit and entitlement decisions when an applicant has donated more than $250 to their campaign within the prior 12 months. The donation was made in October 2022, more than two years before the council vote.

But California's general conflict of interest principles and basic ethics norms call for transparency about financial relationships with parties appearing before elected officials, even when recusal is not legally required.

A Parking Irony

The relationship is particularly notable given Jackson's record on parking in Hermosa Beach's coastal zone. Jackson has been one of the council's most consistent voices in questioning residential parking availability near the beach, regularly pushing to tighten the city's permit program. Speaking in November on the subject, Jackson made a strong statement :

Next year, we will be submitting a local coastal program, and that's a process that will spotlight every vulnerability in a 40-year-old residential program... The Coastal Commission has typically not approved new or after-the-fact preferential parking programs unless it can be demonstrated that such a program would not result in adverse impacts to parking, to public parking supply that affect public access or recreation. Translated, if we reduce access or allow private vehicle storage to consume coastal zone capacity, we jeopardize the entire residential parking permit program. This also places our outdoor dining program at risk.

Jackson is now a California Coastal Commissioner, appointed in May of last year, which make his statements on parking provision all the more pointed.

The 901 Hermosa Avenue project adds zero new parking spaces to a downtown building whose actual square footage was itself disputed throughout a contentious approval process.

The proposed development involves the addition of office space on the top of the restored building (photo showing existing structure at 901 Hermosa Ave)

Jackson participated in the parking discussion at the February meeting. His contribution: suggesting the building should not be eligible for any parking permits — a proposal framed as protecting the surrounding neighborhood from the project's parking impact. He raised no overriding concern about approving a project that generates that impact without providing for it, and made no mention of his relationship with the developer who brought it.

Background

The 901 Hermosa Avenue project has had a lengthy path through city approval. Ransford's team submitted plans eight times over four years before the project reached the council. The February vote approved a third-story addition to the century-old building at the corner of Hermosa Avenue and 9th Street, originally constructed in 1928. Ransford agreed at the meeting to pay in-lieu parking fees rather than proceed with a plan to wall off 1,340 square feet of second-floor space to avoid parking requirements — a compromise that resolved the council's central objection to the project.

Jackson is expected to stand for re-election to the council this November, although he has not yet formally announced his candidacy.

The Hermosa Review contacted Mr. Jackson twice for comment before publication, but received no response.