Spiritualist and best-selling author Marianne Williamson supports Erin Darling for the Los Angeles City Council

By Nick Antonicello

A former presidential candidate who is a national bestselling author and spiritualist has endorsed Erin Darling, a tenants attorney and civil rights attorney for the LA City Council, for the vacancy vacated by retiree Mike Bonin over his opponent Traci Park, also a lawyer and resident of Venice.

According to WIKIPEDIA, Marianne Deborah Williamson is an American author, spiritual leader and political activist. She is the author of 14 books, including four New York Times number-one bestsellers in the “Tips, How-To, and Miscellaneous” category.

Founder of Project Angel Food, a volunteer food delivery program that serves people living at home with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses, she is also a co-founder of the Peace Alliance, a non-profit organization from education and advocacy that supports peace. building projects. Williamson often appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In 2014, Williamson unsuccessfully ran as an independent representing California’s 33rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, which includes the Venice Beach neighborhood.

On January 9, 2019, she announced her campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election and suspended her campaign on January 10, 2020. She later supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at a rally in Austin , Texas on February 23, 2020. .

Williamson was hired as a columnist for Newsweek shortly after the campaign ended.

Marianne Williamson was born in Houston, Texas in 1952, the youngest of three children to Samuel “Sam” Williamson, a World War II veteran and immigration attorney, and Sophie Ann (Kaplan), wife homemaker and community volunteer.

Williamson attended Bellaire High School in Houston ISD, serving as the student council class secretary. After graduating, she spent two years studying drama and philosophy at Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she was a roommate of eventual film producer Lynda Obst. In 1973, Williamson – an active anti-war protester – dropped out of college and lived what she described as “a nomadic existence” during “her lost decade”.

Williamson became the “spiritual leader” of today’s Church, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan, where she had 2,300 worshipers and 50,000 viewers. She booked high-profile musical guests such as Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, expanded the bookstore, more than tripled the drop in church membership, increased the congregation’s racial and sexual orientation diversity , pulled the church out of growing debt and made the church one of the countries. largest churches in Unity.

Williamson is the author of 13 books. Seven have been on the New York Times bestseller list, with four reaching number one. Over three million copies have been sold.

In 2014, Williamson ran as an independent for California’s 33rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. She was hailed as a “tireless” campaigner, but criticized for failing to spell out details in her plans. Her supporters saw her lack of plans as a strength and said she was not a “tailor-made candidate” who gives “talk”.

Prominent elected officials and public officials have endorsed his campaign, including Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream); former governors Jennifer Granholm (Michigan) and Jesse Ventura (Minnesota); former US Representatives Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Alan Grayson of Florida; as well as CNN cable commentator and former Obama administration official Van Jones.

Williamson has campaigned on progressive issues such as campaign finance reform, women’s reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality. She raised $2.4 million, of which she personally contributed 25%.

Williamson finished fourth out of 18 candidates, with 14,335 votes or 13.2% of the vote as Republican Elan Carr finished first in the primary with 21.6% of the vote, but lost the general election to the first voting Democrat from primary, Ted. Lieu, now the incumbent who sits on the House Judiciary Committee and is a grassroots coastal activist and chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee in the House Majority Leadership.

On November 15, 2018, Williamson announced the formation of a Presidential Exploratory Committee in a video in which she said there had been a “miracle in this country in 1776 and we need another.” [that would require] a co-creative effort, an effort of love and a gift of love, to our country and hopefully to our world.

Williamson, who has stated his disbelief in “mainstream politics” and believes it “must be ignored”, expressed his view that inspiration is underrepresented in political conversation and his thought that the foundations of American democracy were under threat, requiring an “all-person politics that speaks to emotions and psychology.

On January 28, 2019, Williamson officially launched his presidential campaign, in front of 2,000 people in Los Angeles, and named Maurice Daniel – who served alongside Donna Brazile in Dick Gephardt’s campaign for the Democratic nomination in 1988 – as his national campaign manager. , with her campaign committee, “Marianne Williamson for President”, officially filed on February 4.

On January 2, 2020, after missing several fundraising goals, Williamson announced that she would have to continue her run without campaign staff. On January 10, Williamson announced the end of her efforts and pledged her support for the Democratic candidate who would be former Vice President and U.S. Senator from Delaware Joe Biden.

Darling has compiled an impressive list of politically engaged women, as well as prominent elected women, including Williamson, Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda, LA County Supervisors Holly Mitchell (Chair), Hilda Solis (former U.S. Secretary of Labor under Barack Obama) and Retired LA City Council Member Sheila Kuehl Ruth Galanter, LAUSD School Board Member Jackie Goldberg, Assembly Members Tina McKinnor and LA Council Member-Elect Laura Friedman Eunisses Hernandez, former Santa Monica mayors Gleam Davis and Pam O’Connor as well as longtime LA labor icon Dolores Huerta.

Born and raised in Venice and passionate about local surfing, Erin Darling attended California Senators Ben Allen and Henry Stern’s law school and served as a member of the Venice Neighborhood Council. Married with a three-year-old son, Darling offered a 5-point plan to end the scourge of street homelessness while delivering a detailed climate change platform that won him the Sierra Club’s endorsement. . The longtime resident played Little League here in Venice as well as high school baseball and football. A tenant rights advocate, Darling is a strong supporter of rent stabilization and intends to implement a rapid response and voter services system that allows his office to respond to calls and emails from residents in the 48 hours. Darling is the self-described progressive Democrat who is committed to changing and challenging the culture of downtown politics and the bureaucracy that has City Hall held hostage.

“We can do so much better,” offered the first hope.

Nick Antonicello is a longtime Venetian and covers the LA City Council race in CD-11. Antonicello has filed more reports, stories and updates on this council race than any other outlet. Do you have an opinion or advice on the race? Email Antonicello at nantoni@mindspring.com