Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is returning $9,700 in contributions from entrepreneur Danny Bakewell Sr. and other leaders of a nonprofit group that received millions of dollars in gang prevention contracts from her office, according to her campaign.
The Bass campaign’s decision came after The Times questioned whether the donations might run afoul of a city law that restricts campaign contributions by city contractors.
Nearly two-thirds of the money came from Bakewell Sr., a longtime community leader who is also board chair of the nonprofit Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade-Black United Fund. The rest came from other Bakewell family members who have served on the nonprofit’s board.
Bass signed a $525,000 contract with Brotherhood Crusade last fall to provide gang prevention services in South L.A. Bakewell is listed in the contract’s paperwork as one of several leaders prohibited from making campaign contributions.
The city’s ethics law forbids businesses and nonprofits — along with their principals, such as chief executives and board chairs — from engaging in certain kinds of fundraising once they submit a bid on a city contract. The prohibition lasts until 12 months after that contract has been finalized.
During that period, contractors are barred from making donations to elected officials with power over their contracts.
Brotherhood Crusade has received more than $3 million in gang prevention work from Bass’ office since she became mayor, according to documents posted on RAMP LA, the city’s contracting website.
Bass, seeking a second term as mayor, is in a runoff with City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the Nov. 3 general election. Raman’s campaign declined to comment on the donations.
Bass campaign spokesman Alex Stack said the mayor would not accept an $1,800 contribution sent to the campaign from Bakewell last month. She also intends to refund a $2,500 contribution that Bakewell gave in 2025 to Bass’ anti-recall committee and $1,800 he gave to her reelection campaign in 2024, Stack said.
Bakewell, in an interview, said he had not been aware that his role at Brotherhood Crusade barred him from donating to Bass. He said he holds an unpaid position at the nonprofit and is not part of its day-to-day operations.
“I’m really sorry that I can’t contribute to her. I think she’s the best person for the job,” said Bakewell, a longtime Bass supporter who championed her work long before the veteran lawmaker was elected mayor in 2022.
Bakewell co-hosted an Aug. 16 fundraiser for Bass in South L.A., a few doors down from the Los Angeles Sentinel, the weekly newspaper he publishes.
That paper, which bills itself as the largest and most influential Black-owned news platform in the western U.S., heavily promoted the event, at one point posting a QR code on Instagram that links to a Bass campaign donation page.
Stephen Kaufman, a Bass campaign attorney, said Bakewell’s donations were not flagged because he was listed as retired on his contribution.
“The campaign goes to great lengths to review all contributions and ensure that they comply with city law, including reviewing the city contractor database,” Kaufman said.
Bakewell’s donations weren’t the only ones to pose issues for Brotherhood Crusade, which provides an array of services aimed at keeping kids from joining gangs.
His son, Danny Bakewell Jr., gave Bass’ reelection campaign $1,800 in September 2024. Bakewell Jr. was identified as a prohibited contributor in a contract Bass signed with Brotherhood Crusade in 2023 for about $141,000.
The same was true of Pamela Bakewell, Bakewell Sr.’s sister, who also donated $1,800 to Bass’ reelection in September 2024. Both have served on Brotherhood Crusade’s board.
Those contributions will also be returned, Stack said.
“The Brotherhood Crusade has been working with the City of Los Angeles for many years on gang intervention and youth support initiatives,” Stack said in a statement. “Once we were made aware that these individuals were unable to donate, their contributions were refunded. We take these matters seriously and expect others to do the same.”
The city’s contractor contribution law was approved by voters in 2011 as part of the ballot proposal known as Measure H. That measure placed new restrictions on those who seek city contracts worth $100,000 or more.
“If you have people who are seeking business from the city [who are] giving money to those who are deciding whether or not they’re going to get that business, that can look like a potential conflict of interest,” said Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson, who served five years as a Los Angeles ethics commissioner.
Enforcement of the law focuses on the bidders and contractors who make campaign donations, not the candidates who receive them. For violations that took place on or before Jan. 8, 2025, the maximum penalty is $5,000 per count or three times the donation. For violations after that date, the maximum penalty is $15,000 or triple the original donation.
In addition to Bakewell, the Aug. 16 Bass fundraiser was hosted by Citizens for Accountable Leadership, or CAL, a volunteer political group overseen by about two dozen Black community leaders.
Invitations to the Bass event featured the names of every CAL board member, including three who sit on city boards or commissions. Under the city’s ethics law, members of city boards and commissions are prohibited from appearing on fundraising invitations for city candidates.
The invitation featured the names of Eric Bates, who serves on the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission; Nicole Nicholas, who sits on the Board of Transportation Commissioners; and Vilma Dawson, who just joined the Police Permit Review Panel.
Nicholas and Dawson are Bass appointees. Bates was appointed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 and reappointed by Garcetti five years later.
Rickey Ivie, chair of CAL’s board, said the board members were not aware that their names had been put on the invitation. He said CAL, not individual board members, co-hosted the Bass fundraiser.
“CAL and its board members maintain that they have attempted to fully comply with both the letter and spirit of the law,” Ivie said in a statement.
The Ethics Commission has previously brought at least one enforcement case against a commissioner who appeared on a fundraising invite.
In 2022, the commission issued a $5,000 fine to Jill Banks Barad-Hopkins, who hosted a fundraiser for Councilmember Paul Koretz, then a candidate for city controller, while she was on the board that oversees the Department of Water and Power.
Koretz was fined $2,500. He voluntarily returned the money raised at the event — about $8,000, according to his campaign.
The post Bass returns campaign donations from leaders of anti-gang nonprofit after Times inquiry appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
