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The Kardashian family, the Los Angeles Dodgers and other affluent Angelenos sent gifts to the office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, which her office sent back, according to documents released by the city to a Reuters journalist.
Ben Welsh, formerly of the Los Angeles Times and currently an applications editor with Reuters, filed a public records request with the mayor’s office to obtain records of the gifts and the corresponding cash value that her office has received since taking office last fall.
Welsh posted the correspondence on Reddit and shared a spreadsheet of the items Bass’s office has received, rejected and the big names who sent them.
The headliner among those gift-givers is one of the world’s most recognized last names: Kardashian.
According to the records shared with Welsh, last month, Kim Kardashian attempted to send the mayor a $600 goodie bag containing Kardashian-branded products, including hot sauce, liquor, makeup items, beauty care products and clothing from Kim’s shapewear brand, SKIMS.
The gift was returned by the mayor’s office, records show, and not because Kim endorsed Bass’s opponent in last November’s mayoral election.
The city has strict rules regarding gifts and the monetary limit that an elected official can receive to avoid ethical misconduct.
Elected officials are prohibited from accepting any gifts from lobbyists, but it can get a bit confusing after that. They can accept gifts worth up to $100 from restricted source, i.e. a person or company that has previous financial ties to the city, or up to $390 from a reportable source — an entity with no government business dealings.
Any gift totalling more than $50 is required to be disclosed, according to the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.
The Kardashian gift was valued at $600, meaning, even if Bass was interested in Kendall Jenner’s tequila, Rob Kardashian’s hot sauce or Kourtney Kardashian’s LED light mask, she can’t accept the gifts for ethical reasons.
But the Kardashians weren’t the only ones turned down by the mayor. Welsh’s spreadsheet shows the Los Angeles Dodgers sent Bass a custom jersey, sweatshirt and yearbook, which she declined. The total of that gift was $229.
Bass spurned another L.A. sports team, sending back two jerseys sent to her by LAFC. The gift from the defending MLS Champions totaled $260.
She also sent back a $97 necklace from designer Maya Brenner, a $156 skincare package from an herbal supplement company, and a $400 gift set of shirts, jackets and shoes by Howard Sunkin, a former Dodgers executive and founder of a public relations firm.
Bass did accept several gifts below the $100 limit, as well as a coffee package totalling $150 from Robert Avetisyan, representative of the Republic of Artsakh to the United States. Because that gift totals more than $100, it lends to reason that the gift fell under the umbrella of a reportable source.
It’s unclear if all the rejected gifts were sent back to their senders, but the city does have guidelines for donating the unwanted or wanted-but-unable-to-accept gifts.
For a link of the communication between Welsh and Bass’s office, as well as the spreadsheet tracking the gifts sent to the mayor’s office, click here.
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