The facts
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman's campaign is facing ethics complaints from influencers Kaitlyn Hennessy and Beatrice Gomberg, who allege it secretly paid social media stars to promote her while keeping voters in the dark. The complaints, filed with city and state ethics watchdogs, allege a "sustained" effort to conceal who was being paid, covering payments connected to a comedian's company, a campaign staffer with a large following, and several anonymous meme pages.
At the center of the allegations is comedian Adam Conover, creator and star of "Adam Ruins Everything," who has more than 400,000 Instagram followers. The complaint says Raman's campaign paid his company, SwizzleCorp, during a period when Conover was posting in support of Raman. Campaign finance reports initially labeled the payments "online ads" before they were amended to "video production services", according to the complaint.
Invoices Conover gave the Post show five bills from March 9 to April 4 totaling $2,447.13: 80 hours at $30 an hour, plus $12.13 for sign supplies and $35 for cookies. None mention video or social media. Conover said he has "publicly supported Nithya's campaigns since 2020, including on social media," and was never paid to post. He called the complaint "a flimsy political attack that's easily debunked" and accused the filers of "secretly working on behalf of the Bass campaign."
The complaint also targets Eric Cheng, who posts as "ericsaymore" to nearly 35,000 Instagram followers and 47,000 TikTok followers. Cheng joined Raman's campaign staff in September but continued posting about the candidate on his personal accounts. When he announced the job, Cheng wrote that he was "not getting $ to make videos or content about the race." Campaign staffers are exempt from the state's paid-influencer disclosure requirement unless creating social media content is their principal job.
The complaint further alleges that from about May 14 through at least Sept. 1, anonymous accounts bashed Mayor Karen Bass and Spencer Pratt, the reality-TV star who ran in the mayoral primary, while promoting Raman. The posts carried a "Paid for by Nithya Raman for Mayor 2026" tag but did not state that the poster was paid or include other wording required by the city, and many were not filed with the Ethics Commission within 24 hours as required. Violations of Los Angeles' rules can carry fines of up to $15,000 or three times the amount of money at issue.
Raman's campaign called it "a frivolous complaint." "Nithya's campaign has been fully transparent and in compliance with state and city law," the campaign said, adding, "We proactively sought and received guidance from the City's Ethics Commission staff on this matter to ensure our compliance with the law."
The complaint was prepared by Kaufman Legal Group, the law firm used by Bass' reelection campaign. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Bass campaign referred Hennessy and Gomberg to the firm and said it would cover their legal costs. Hennessy told the Post the pair only asked for a referral, learned about the Bass campaign's offer to pay their bills along with everyone else, and the pair intends to pay its own legal bills: "We have every intent of paying our own legal bills."
Hennessy said the pair previously filed three complaints against Tom Steyer's campaign for governor, filed one this week against Steve Hilton's campaign, and have filed others in Michigan and with the Federal Trade Commission.
Our take
Let’s get this straight: Nithya Raman’s campaign, which runs on a platform of clean government, is being accused of secretly paying influencers, and its best defense is an invoice for thirty-five fucking dollars in cookies. That’s not transparency, that’s a pathetic snack-based alibi for a scheme that reeks of bullshit from top to bottom. They paid Adam Conover’s SwizzleCorp over two grand, first calling it 'online ads' and then, when someone got suspicious, magically amending it to 'video production services.' The invoices show 80 hours of work at 30 bucks an hour, plus $12.13 for sign supplies and that legendary cookie line item. Not a single mention of video or social media. What kind of video production service bills for cookies, you absolute cunts? This is the political equivalent of a kid trying to hide a weed purchase on his mom’s credit card statement as 'gardening supplies.'
Then there’s the staffer, Eric Cheng, who posts to tens of thousands of followers. He joins the campaign and immediately announces he’s 'not getting $ to make videos or content about the race' while he proceeds to post about the fucking race on his personal accounts. The law says staffers are exempt unless social media is their principal job, so he’s technically covered, but come the fuck on. This is the same slimy, wink-wink logic that lets politicians claim they’ve never lied because they used a precise, lawyer-fucked definition of 'is.' It’s a coward’s loophole, and Raman’s campaign is crawling through it ass-first.
And let’s not ignore the anonymous meme pages shitting on Karen Bass and Spencer Pratt with Raman promo tags. The posts had the required 'Paid for by' label but allegedly skipped the crucial 'this poster was paid' disclosure and weren’t filed on time. That’s not an accident; that’s a calculated fucking dodge. The whole operation is a masterclass in how to launder influencer support through creative accounting and legal technicalities. Raman’s campaign calls the complaint 'frivolous' and says they 'proactively sought guidance' from the Ethics Commission. Translation: 'We asked how close we could skate to the line without getting fined, and now we’re pretending that asking for permission to be shady makes us saints.'
The cherry on this shit sundae is that the complaint was drafted by the law firm used by Karen Bass’s reelection campaign. Bass’s team referred the complainants and offered to pay their legal bills. So you’ve got one campaign allegedly running a covert influencer payola scheme, and the other campaign funding the ethics hit job to expose it. These pricks are having a slap fight in the mud, each claiming the other is dirtier. The only thing transparent here is the utter fucking cynicism of every person involved. Raman wants to sell herself as different, but her campaign’s paperwork reads like a tutorial for political grift, itemized down to the last oatmeal raisin. What a bunch of hypocritical dickheads.
