Democrats like to claim they’re the fairer sex’s last line of defense in the Republican-waged “war on women.” Which makes it all the more hypocritical that President Obama will attend a fundraiser at the California home of a venture capitalist and potential gubernatorial candidate who leaned on his political contacts to help a business partner escape charges for striking his girlfriend 117 times in a 30-minute span back in 2013.
Steve Westly will host Obama and other Democrats at his Atherton home on Feb. 11. The cost to attend the event ranges from $25,000 for VIPs and $250 for general admission. Proceeds will go to the Democratic Hope Fund, which raises money to help retire Obama’s lingering campaign debt.
Westly, the former controller of California, has been a prolific fundraiser for Democrats. He bundled more than $500,000 for Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to Obama and other Democrats, including Hillary Clinton.
Invitation to Feb. 11 fundraiser at Steve Westly’s home.
But when Westly isn’t raising money for Democrats he’s helping CEOs wiggle out of felony domestic violence charges.
Westly joined the board of directors of RadiumOne, a digital ad company, in Nov. 2013, three months after the company’s founder and then-CEO, Gurbaksh Chahal allegedly viciously assaulted his girlfriend at his home. Chahal was slapped with 45 felony charges and released on $1 million bond.
When the case threatened to derail RadiumOne’s $100 million IPO, Westly stepped in to help, according to emails obtained by The Wall Street Journal last year.
The emails show that Westly attempted to help Chahal avoid exposure in the case — to “make this go away,” according to an email between the pair — by putting him in touch with Willie Brown, a lawyer, former mayor of San Francisco and speaker of the California Assembly.
According to The Journal, Westly emailed Chahal on Dec. 3, 2013, telling him that Brown “believes that he can help you” and that Brown knew the district attorney and “may be able to ‘back him off.'”
He said that Brown was a “very good deal broker.”
Chahal wrote Westly six days later, saying that he had paid Brown a $250,000 retainer.
“Just met him. Wants $1 million if he can make this go away. Just gave him a $250K retainer. If you meet him tomorrow. Apply some pressure on him to make this go away in 2013,” he wrote.
“Wow. That’s pricey, but probably worth it if he can make it happen. I suspect he will pull out all the stops to get this done,” Westly responded.
Other emails show that Westly corresponded with Brown’s assistant to try to set up meetings between Brown and district attorney George Gascon. They also show that Westly was concerned with the fate of RadiumOne’s IPO.
“We can’t move forward with the IPO until we resolve [Chahal’s] legal issues. The board has asked me to work with you and [Chahal] to do whatever it takes to get this behind us,” Westly wrote in a Jan. 18, 2014, email to Brown’s assistant.
There is no evidence that such a meeting ever took place or that Gascon was swayed by Brown.
But Chahal was granted reprieve. The judge handling the case ruled that video from Chahal’s residence was inadmissible. Brown subsequently refunded $198,400 of Chahal’s retainer.
The charges against Chahal were knocked down to misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty to those and agreed to a $500 fine, probation and community service.
The tech entrepreneur was fired from RadiumOne shortly after and complained that he had been duped by the company. The IPO that Westly and company tried to save ultimately failed. Westly left the company last July.
Five months after the conclusion of Chahal’s case another woman accused him of repeatedly kicking her in the leg and threatening to report her to immigration authorities. Chahal was released on $100,000 bond in that case, and prosecutors considered revoking his probation.
Proceeds from the event at Westly’s home will go only to the Democratic Hope Fund, the event’s organizer, Ajay Jain Bhutoria tells The Daily Caller. Bhutoria serves on Hillary Clinton’s national finance committee but says that none of the money will go to her campaign.
After Chahal pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the domestic assault case the Democratic National Committee returned tens of thousands of dollars in contributions he had given to the party.
“Domestic violence of any kind is absolutely unacceptable, and as soon as we learned of his actions, the DNC took immediate action to return all contributions from this cycle,” a DNC spokeswoman told TheDC at the time. (RELATED: Major Democratic Donor Pleads Guilty To Domestic Abuse, Receives Only Community Service)
Bhutoria did not respond to follow-up questions about whether it’s appropriate to host a fundraiser at Westly’s home.