Elections in Inglewood, Calif., were once the stuff of lawn signs and candidate forums.
But as a wave of development transforms Inglewood into a destination for pro sports and entertainment, the race for mayor has become a contentious fight not just between political rivals, but also between some famous names with sway far outside the city limits.
On one side is incumbent James T. Butts Jr., who is getting support and money from the Los Angeles Clippers _ an NBA franchise he hopes to bring to Inglewood �� and as celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Shaquille O'Neal.
On the other is clergyman Marc Little, who is backed by a major entertainment company with a key stake in the city, reality TV producer Kris Jenner and retired boxer "Sugar" Shane Mosley.
"What you got is almost a proxy war," said University of Southern California law professor Jody Armour. "You have both candidates who are standing for proxies or surrogates."
The sudden interest in Inglewood politics comes after decades of losses, including the Lakers to Staples Center and the closing of the famed Hollywood Park racetrack.
Now a revived Forum is hosting top musical acts. An NFL stadium shared by the Rams and Chargers is under construction and a Clippers arena is in planning stages. A rail line will soon roll through town, which is generating culture cache thanks to the HBO show "Insecure."
With all that change comes money and heightened focus on City Hall politics. And that some residents wonder if all the outside attention will distract officials from the more basic issues they care about, like traffic, crime and community development.
Both candidates said they would not be influenced by wealthy donors and would address the key concerns of residents. They differ on how to do that.
Butts sees development as the linchpin to the revival of the city of 110,000. He has courted two NFL teams, L.A. Philharmonic's youth program and the Girl Scouts USA to make Inglewood their homes.
"Everybody wants to come and do business in Inglewood," Butts said. "In the last four to five years, the city of Inglewood has accomplished what only three mega-cities have done, and that would be Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. But it took them a generation to accomplish it."
But when he tried to bring the Clippers to the city, it ignited a battle with Madison Square Garden Co., which owns the competing Forum.
The fight between Butts and MSG started last year when Inglewood signed an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Clippers to build a 22-acre arena across the street from the forthcoming football stadium.
MSG alleges in a lawsuit that Butts tricked the company into ending its lease of vacant city-owned land it used for overflow parking, thinking it was clearing the way for development of a technology park.
The city later offered the land to the Clippers to build an arena a mile from the Forum. Butts denies the accusation.
MSG hired lobbyists to oppose a state Senate bill to fast-track the arena. When that proved unsuccessful, the company threw its support behind Little, the most prominent name in a field of four challengers to Butts.
So far, MSG has spent more than $600,000 on Little's campaign. The total is higher if counting the dozens of contributions of $900 or more from lawyers, TV honchos, record executives, musicians and others in the entertainment industry, like Jenner, with some association to MSG.
Jenner is close to the family of Irving Azoff, who worked with MSG in a $100 million renovation of the Forum.
Inglewood has no limit on the amount contributors can donate.
Little has raised $700,000 to Butts' $250,000.
Political science professor Fernando Guerra said it's expected that moneyed interests will use cash to gain access. It's problematic, he said, when half of a candidate's campaign contributions come from one developer or interest.
"That's way too much influence," he said. "I don't care what the candidate says. If they know a majority of money that helped get them elected came from one particular source, they are going to at minimum give them access and at maximum listen to them."
Little said the mayor's vote is only one on a council of five, and if elected, he would represent city residents.
MSG said it has known Little before it acquired the Forum in 2012 from Faithful Central Bible Church, where Little is a pastor and legal counsel, and the company says he's the right candidate to lead Inglewood into the future.
We "have been consistently impressed by his commitment to Inglewood and his hard work to make the city a better place to live and do business," Kimberly Kerns, a spokeswoman for MSG, said in a statement.
The company did not comment when asked if it has encouraged its celebrity roster to contribute to Little.
Butts said MSG is trying to "gain control through a puppet of what's going to be the most dynamic sports entertainment economy in the county. They are going to be disappointed that the residents are not easily fooled."
Little said he's partnering with people who want to bring change to the city. MSG's support, he said, is not merely a slight to Butts. Little said his work as an entertainment attorney has brought in celebrity support for his campaign.
Mosley, the retired boxer, is one example.
He donated $1,000 to Little, calling him a "man of integrity."
The two have known each other for over two decades, Mosley said, and Little has been his attorney at times. The Las Vegas resident said he visits Inglewood regularly when he stays in his Playa del Rey home.
"I care about what happens there," he said in an emailed statement. "I fought my second-to-last fight at the Forum. MSG, the owner of the Forum, has always treated me well, and they have been badly affected by Mayor Butts."
Butts has celebrity friends, too. Retired Lakers star O'Neal endorsed him and Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr., posted on Facebook a minute-long video urging voters to re-elect Butts.
"Inglewood is looking so beautiful now," Snoop said. "It should look good forever like that. Let's keep Mayor Butts in office."
It was only four years ago that Butts was on the receiving end of MSG's generosity. In that campaign, he collected $25,000 from the company and Azoff, about 10 percent of his total fundraising.
Now, he is getting a boost to the tune of $26,000 from the Clippers and people associated with the project. The team's owner, Steve Ballmer, donated more than $350,000 to a committee that supports Butts' mayoral bid.
Murphy's Bowl, the Clippers-controlled company behind the arena project, points to Butts' record of lowering crime and unemployment.
"We are proud to support him and the community in a race where Inglewood's interests are being pitted against New York-based commercial interests," Alice Walton, spokeswoman for the arena project, said in a statement.
Others connected to the Clippers project back Butts, too. Hollywood Park Casino Co., which is owned by Stockbridge Capital of San Francisco and lists Chris Meany as a licensee, gave $55,000 to a committee that supports Butts. Meany, the Clippers project manager and his development company, Wilson Meany, gave $15,000 to Butts and the committee.
"As someone who has done business in Inglewood for 15 years _ before Jim Butts was elected mayor, and after _ I've seen the positive impact of his strong leadership in working to improve the social and economic well-being of all Inglewood residents," Meany said in a statement.
The election could change the fate of the Clippers arena project. The development is in the midst of an 18-month environmental review. A three-year exclusivity agreement could fall apart if the city makes the project difficult or unwieldy, Butts said.
Little said he would support the Clippers moving to Inglewood, but he opposes the current arena proposal.
In a dozen billboards flying across the city, Little promotes more affordable housing, slowing the rise of rents, addressing noise, traffic and potholes and bringing integrity back to a city facing increased scrutiny for paying council members and other city employees six-figure salaries.
Pamphlets mailed to Inglewood homes showed Butts' scowling face spliced next to that of President Donald Trump and accused the mayor of abuse, nepotism, corruption, bullying and cronyism.
Linking the Democratic mayor to Trump may seem an unusual tactic for Little, a conservative who wrote about his political beliefs in a 2012 book titled "The Prodigal Republican: Faith and Politics." (Neither candidate will appear on the ballot next to a party affiliation.)
"This race is not about celebrity endorsements," Little said. "People are hurting in our community."
Little said that if elected, he would continue economic revitalization, call for community policing and address concerns on traffic, home affordability and infrastructure issues.
Additionally, he would push for residents to have more of a say in city politics by moving meetings to the evenings when more residents can attend, soliciting community participation and bringing transparency to a City Council in which discussions and disagreements are rare.
Dermot Givens, an attorney and political consultant, said Inglewood voters are older black churchgoers.
In the 2014 election, fewer than 16,000 people voted. Butts won with 83 percent of the vote.
Also on the ballot are businessman Joseph A. Soto, actor-turned-entrepreneur Brandon Myers and retired nurse Mohamed Ben Amor.
