AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s donations to Measure S approach $3M—this year

With city elections rapidly approaching, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation continues to pour money into Measure S, contributing nearly $3 million since the start of the year.

In the first three weeks of the year, the foundation donated $300,000 into the campaign, then it funneled $1.95 million to the campaign in the three weeks from January 22 to February 18. The latest filings show show it has since given another $600,000.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been the main backer of the March 7 ballot measure since its inception in November 2015. If passed by voters, Measure S would put a two-year moratorium on all development projects requiring zoning or height changes or adjustments to the city’s General Plan.

Numerous individual donors have also kicked in small contributions to the Measure S campaign—but more than 99 percent of the money raised during that three-week period came from the foundation.

The foundation’s hefty donations haven’t matched what groups opposing the measure have raised.

The two groups fighting Measure S have amassed more than $4.5 million in donations since the start of the year, campaign filings show.

That money has come from a wide array of donors, including labor unions, trade associations, and prominent developers such as Westfield and Crescent Heights, which is building a pair of towers behind the Hollywood Palladium.

Those towers will be located across the street from AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s headquarters. The nonprofit’s president, Michael Weinstein, drafted the ballot measure with senior AHF staffers. He says the initiative is part of the foundation’s efforts to fight “social justice battles against governments that fail to serve the people.”

City Controller Ron Galperin has criticized the foundation for promoting and bankrolling the measure.

• Measure S: 8 things to know about LA’s anti-development ballot measure [Curbed LA]
• City Controller blasts AIDS Healthcare Foundation for pushing Measure S [Curbed LA]
• AIDS Healthcare Foundation dumps another $300K into development fight [Curbed LA]