🗳️ June 2026 Primary Election Ballot Analysis (III): County and City (L.A.) Local Offices

Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted – unposted segments are marked [PENDING]):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers the Local Offices (excluding US Congress and State Assembly)

• County of Los Angeles: Board of Supervisors, 3^rd District ❦ County Assessor ❦ County Sheriff
• City of Los Angeles: Mayor of Los Angeles ❦ City Attorney ❦ City Controller

🗳️

County of Los Angeles

Board of Supervisors, 3^rd District

The County Supervisors are the folks that govern the county — and exert a lot of power. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors serves as the governing body for LA County, acting as the executive, legislative, and quasi-judicial authority for over 10 million residents. Five elected members manage the county’s $36B+ budget, oversee major departments (health, public safety), set local laws/ordinances, and provide municipal services to unincorporated areas. There was recently an election that started the process to expand the Board of Supervisors and to add a County Mayor, but no changes have been made yet.

The current incumbent, Lindsey Horvath, was first elected during the last election cycle in 2022. If I recall correctly, she was a councilwomen in West Hollywood before the election. In general, I like how she has represented the district and led the board. From her opponents, I want an argument about why she needs to be replaced that resonates and is strong.

◯ Tonia Arey (NP/Leans 🐘)

According to her LinkedIn profile, Tonia Arey is a real estate agent in Agoura, CA. She has a BS in Kinesiology from San Francisco State. It appears her primary reason for running was the response to the Malibu and Pacific Palisades wildfires: She believes Calabasas has been turned into a dumping ground for toxic and hazardous waste. She blames that on Supe Horvath. A lot of this comes from her active involvement in Protect Calabasas, a grassroots organization committed to preserving the health and safety of our neighborhoods.

Her website details her disputes with Horvath and why she feels Horvath is out of touch with the district. First, she’s upset that Lindsey Horvath endorsed George Gascon’s failed re-election campaign despite the fact that voters in District 3 went the other way by a roughly 60–40 margin. Second, she’s upset that Lindsey Horvath endorsed Marissa Roy, a hardline, DSA-aligned anti-prosecution candidate who believes in imposing a 100-day moratorium on the prosecution of misdemeanors, and has made repealing Los Angeles’s anti-encampment law a central part of her platform. This is primarily because of Marissa Roy’s alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America, a progressive group that has strong anti-zionist leanings (she does repeat the stronger MAGA opinion of DSA on her website — i.e., that they openly support Hamas and foment antisemitism on a daily basis and that Zohran Mamdani is an antisemite and a threat to Jews, but I beleive that’s an exaggeration).

In terms of issues, she has the following areas of emphasis: (1) Public Safety, in particular supporting law enforcement; (2) Fire Safety; (3) Environmental Safety; (4) Public Health; (5) Addressing Homelessness; (6) Combating Antisemitism; (7) Supporting Animal Shelters and Abuse Prevention; and (8) Supporting Small Business. I’ve read through her issues, and there’s a lot of emphasis on accountability and transparency. With respect to the homeless, she believes in mental health treatment first. She wants to protect Jewish institutions and educate about antisemitism. However, the sense I get reading her issues is that she’s got a very suburban view of the issues (which isn’t a surprise, as she’s from Calabasas and sells property in Agoura). She doesn’t get the broader urban issues that impact the county.

Her broader agenda is revealed through her endorsements. She’s endorsed by the California Republican Assembly and the LA County Republican Party. She’s endorsed by a lot of retired law enforcement and Israeli groups. She’s endorsed by the former Sheriff, who was kicked out for doing a bad job. For all of her push on antisemitism, however, she’s not endorsed by Jewish groups (likely, because Republican values clash with Jewish values, and Horvath has actually supported the Jewish community). She also has no major group endorsements, and no labor or current elected official endorsements.

⚫ Lindsey Horvath (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

Lindsey P. Horvath was sworn into the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on December 5, 2022. One year later, she became the youngest-ever Chair. She is the first millennial, and currently the only renter to serve on the all-women Board. Before being elected to the Board, she was a City Councilmember and the longest consecutively serving Mayor for the City of West Hollywood. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management & Fundraising from UCLA Extension.
(Source: LA County Supervisor Page)

According to her campaign website, she has a number of accomplishments: “She declared homelessness a local emergency and led major reforms, including moving funding away from the failed Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and into a new department to deliver real accountability and results. Following the 2025 wildfires, she championed the fastest cleanup in U.S. history, and ensured more than $55 million in relief reached residents, small businesses, and workers. With constant attacks from the federal government, she stood up for Angelenos, creating ICE-free zones and a $30 million rent relief program. To bring the County into the 21st century, she led once-in-a-generation governance and ethics reforms to ensure the government is truly accountable to taxpayers.”

She has a large list of issues and priorities, which is far too long to summarize without the use of AI (and I won’t do that). I’ve read through them. It does appear that she is fighting the Trump agenda, and is working to implement Proposition G — the measure that is restructuring county governance. I think she’s bringing a strong progressive energy to the Supes, and is working to protect the interests of all the residents of the district, of all income levels, ethnicities, and orientations.

I asked the Google AI for a summary of her negatives. They indicated the primary negative viewpoints and controversies associated with her are: (1) Opposition to the Armory Project: Critics, including local homeowners, residents, and veterans, have accused Horvath of “callously” pushing forward with a homeless housing project at the Westside LA Armory. This project is opposed by local neighborhood associations and some veteran advocates, who argue it would create “dangerous” conditions for those living on the nearby VA campus; (2) Strained Relations with City Leadership: Texts revealed tension between Horvath and LA Mayor Karen Bass during the 2025 Palisades Fire recovery. Horvath expressed frustration over a lack of communication from the Mayor’s office and questioned the coordination of the response, indicating a rocky relationship between the county and city leadership; (3) Accusations of “Old School” Politics: Despite branding herself as a “fresh voice,” some critics in editorials have labeled her a “conniving, arrogant and dishonest” politician who focuses on pet projects, particularly regarding her handling of homeless initiatives; (4) Allegations of Mismanaging West Hollywood: Some critics argue that her time in West Hollywood leadership was ineffective, claiming she “ruined” the city, according to a 2022 review of a statement regarding her, though this is a subjective viewpoint; (5) Intense Political Ambition: Some political observers noted her intense focus on ascending to higher office, such as her weighing a 2026 run for LA Mayor shortly after being elected as a supervisor, suggesting a potential misalignment with her commitment to the Supervisor seat; and (6) LAHSA Management Challenges: While she has taken steps to reform the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) due to financial mismanagement, the ongoing crisis and failure of the agency to properly pay service providers, which occurred during her oversight, have been points of criticism, although she is actively taking steps to fix them. None of these appear to be dealbreakers for me.

She has a wide set of endorsements, including (surprisingly) the Daily News, which doesn’t usually support Democratic candidates. She has the backing of labor, Democratic organizations, and loads and loads of elected leaders.

◯ Carmenlina Minasova (NP/Leans ❓)

Minasova rans for AD 43 in 2024 and LA CD 6 in 2023. She did not win or place in the top two in those elections. Her X Page states that she is a “Medical Doctor, Journalist, Respiratory Care Practitioner, Animal Rescue and Reforms advocate.” It also shows she supports Spencer Pratt for mayor. Otherwise, her X page is a bit incoherent and all over the place.

Her campaign website is a single large image, and the text in that image is all over the place. It gives the impression of a bunch of random ideas and complaints, with a few buried advertisements. She also has some extremely odd statements on the site, such as “Democracy is not I want, but is what majority needs.” She seems to conflate city responsibilities with county responsibilities, and implies she is also running for LA City Mayor (she isn’t).

Unsurprisingly, she has no endorsements.

◯ Tomás Sidenfaden (NP/Leans ❓)

According to his LinkedIn page, Sidenfaden is technical founder and full-stack engineer focused on building and operating production systems at the intersection of applied AI, backend infrastructure, and user-facing products. He is the Founder & CEO of Nuprizm, where I designed and shipped an AI-powered platform that analyzes media bias using LLM-based pipelines and large-scale data ingestion. He has served as a senior engineer on high-traffic consumer platforms, building distributed backend services, trust and safety systems, and compliance-critical features in regulated environments. Earlier in his career, he was responsible for full life-cycle product management, leading cross-functional teams and a global supply chain to consistently bring hardware products to market, shaping his strong bias toward execution, correctness, and ownership. He has a BA in Creative Writing from USC.

Sidenfaden has an extensive policy page. I read through it to get a sense of what this candidate was standing for. The sense comes off as a Conservative one. This is based on complaints about excessive fees and regulations, a push for transparency and accountability, complaints that crime goes unpunished, and a desire to enforce nudity laws. He also has a detailed interview on Citywatch. It appears that his primary focus is dealing with the homeless (at least that’s the impression that comes from reading his X posts).

He does not have any endorsements.

📋 Conclusion

Reading through the candidates, two can be dismissed relatively quickly. Minasova is disjointed, doesn’t seem to understand politics, and is all over the place. Sidenfaden is a bit more serious and coherent, but doesn’t really have the background for government and his positions seem a bit off. That leaves Arey and Horvath. Arey has that suburban mom vibe, and her disputes against Horvath fall flat. Horvath does have her problems (no politician is perfect), but her alignment on issues is much closer to my alignment than is Arey’s alignment. Horvath is not perfect, but she’s good enough and the best of the set of candidates we have.

Conclusion: ⚫ Lindsey Horvath (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

◊

County Assessor

The Los Angeles County Assessor is responsible for locating, identifying ownership of, and establishing the taxable value of all real estate and business property within the county. As the largest assessment office in the U.S., they create the annual assessment roll—over 2.6 million assessments—used to fund public services like schools and infrastructure.

I tend not to hold a strong opinion on this office, as it is hard to hold the office executive responsible for specific assessments. However, there are a couple of things of relevance. First, Prop 13. Some folks, especially Conservatives, hold it up as this magical things because it was a significant lowering of taxes. As someone who was around in that era, however, that’s a rosy incorrect view. Prop 13 is the underlying cause of most of California’s problems, having started our schools and our infrastructure. More importantly, it has made the housing problem WORSE in many ways. At this point, Prop 13 really only helps seniors who have been in their houses since they first purchased them in the 1980s or 1990s, those with generational wealth that have passed down a house without a step-up in assessed values due to various exemptions, and those owning business property that has stayed with the same owner for years. For those that have purchased in the last 25 years, they’ve faced full assessed values and significant property tax bills that make it harder to own property. Prop 13 especially impacts newer and younger folks looking to buy homes, as they face very expensive property taxes, every year. Preserving Prop 13 is not the answer, but that’s unacceptable as Prop 13 is the third-rail of California politics. Reforming it is necessary, especially with respect to commercial properties, but that would be fought tooth and nail by powerful groups such as the realtors.  Lastly, increasing the Homeowners Exemption is intriguing, but it comes with a number of prices: Lower tax revenue for the county, and disproportionate impact for those with lower valuations.

Useful resources:

• LA Times: “Your guide to the L.A. County assessor race: Incumbent Jeff Prang faces four challengers“
• LAist “Voter Guide: LA County Assessor“

◯ Stephen Adamus (NP)

Adamus is a property assessment specialist and a 14-year veteran of the L.A. county assessor’s office. During that time, he worked on changes to Proposition 13’s ownership provisions and conducted assessment appeal hearings.

Adamus claims the role of assessor should be apolitical and claimed the current administration gives favorable treatment to taxpayers with wealth or influence. His campaign is built around removing “waste and mismanagement of public funds.” He wants to protect Proposition 13 and advocate to increase the homeowner exemption and for a new ballot initiative to revive Proposition 58, the tax law that allowed parents to pass properties on to their children with no reassessment.

Adamus has a specific beef with the Prang administration of the office. He writes that one of the reasons he is running for office is “the unscrupulousness and deceitfulness of the current administration needs to stop. The waste and mismanagement of public money needs to stop. I’ve seen how the sausage is made and its as revolting as you’d expect. I tried to fix things, got punished, and ended up suing this Administration for whistleblower retaliation (Labor Code 1102.5). I won. The jury concluded this Administration retaliated against me for raising concerns about violations of Proposition 13, violations of the Revenue and Taxation Code, and misappropriations public funds, costing the County millions of dollars year over year. There is a different set of rules for the connected and influential. Decisions are made by this Administration based on how helpful or harmful they could be to their careers.”

His issue page has “Puppies, kittens, and capybara”. Why?

He does not list any endorsements.

⚫ Rob Newland (NP)

Rob Newland is an appraiser who has been valuing real estate property since 1998.

According to his website, his top priorities are (1) Transparency in property valuations; (2) Modernizing the assessor’s office; and (3) Fairness and consistency. With respect to Prop 13, he believes the assessor’s job is not to rewrite Proposition 13, but to administer it fairly and accurately according to the law and ensure taxpayers understand their rights under it.

According to the LA Times, Newland envisions a new responsibility for the assessor’s office: data analysis. He said the office holds one of the largest property datasets in the country, and the information can reveal patterns about land use, vacancy and redevelopment opportunities. His main priority is making private aggregated data public. One example would be using vacancy maps to identify areas to redevelop. Another would be using homeowner exemption records to reveal who is using their home as a primary residence and who isn’t, which could crack down on illegal short-term rentals and bring them back to the market. These sound like reasonable approaches. Given the data-driven nature of the Assessor’s office, use of AI and Machine Learning could be useful tools; however, they must not be the sole tools and human judgement must be the overriding factor.

He does not list any endorsements.

◯ Steven Palty (NP)

According to the LA Times, Steven B. Palty has 45 years of experience as a tax consultant and regularly speaks to homeowners, renters and small business owners about inflation, rising property values and the effects they have on property taxes. He does not have a website.

Again, according to the LA Times, Palty says his campaign is built around reducing the tax burden for residents and eliminating waste and fraud in the assessor’s office. There are no more specifics.

⚫ Jeffrey Prang (NP) ⭐INC

Prang is the incument Assessor. He has served as L.A. County assessor since 2014. He modernized the office during that time, digitizing millions of paper records and creating a portal to help residents search for assessment records. He replaced county assessor John Noguez, who in 2012 was charged with accepting bribes in return for lower property assessments, leading to a court battle that’s still ongoing.

Prang’s website summarizes his achievements to date: (1) early and aggressive support for the victims of the recent wildfires; (2) updating the technology in the assessors office; (3) aggressive promotion of property tax savings programs for disabled veterans, homeowners, seniors, nonprofit and religious institutions; and (4) a workforce development program.  It also provides a more detailed summary of what has been done to improve the office.

According to the LA Times, Prang plans to continue his efforts, replacing outdated systems, improving efficiency and simplifying the assessment process for property owners. Prang said fairness is a top priority: closing loopholes to make every property owner pay their fair share while also expanding access to tax relief programs to help seniors, veterans and nonprofits.

Prang has a large number of endorsements, from elected officials to unions to significant organizations.

◯ Sandy Sun (NP)

Sun is a certified appraiser and a 26-year veteran of the L.A. county assessor’s office, and is cross-trained as an assessor for both real property (houses, land, etc.) and personal property (vehicles, jewelry, etc.). She has a bachelor of science degree in business administration from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; associate in science degree in business administration, from Cypress College. She ran for assessor in 2022, receiving 22.5% of the vote. She does not appear to have a campaign website.

According to the LA Times, Sun is prioritizing tax savings for homeowners and wants to stop the efforts to reform Proposition 13; she wants to preserve the law in order to protect homeowners and seniors from being excessively taxed and forced out of their homes. She also wants to push legislators to increase the amount of the homeowner exemption. Lastly, she wants to reduce the backload of assessment appeals by fully staffing the assessor’s office and providing proper training to employees.

📋 Conclusion

First, I think we can dismiss those candidates who haven’t had the wherewithall to set up a campaign website to present their case as to why voters should support them. Given it could be done for little to no cost on WordPress, there really is no excuse. That eliminates Palty and Sun. I’m also eliminating Adamus for his attitude on Prop 13.

That leaves us with two: the incumbent Prang, and the challenger Newland. Prang has all the endorsements and has been doing a relatively good job. Newland has some good ideas. The question is: Is now the right time for a change, or should Prang get one more term. Newland’s ideas intrigue me, and periodic change in this office is good. However, we won’t be in a bad place if Prang is retained.

Conclusion: Toss Up: (1^st: New Blood) ⚫ Rob Newland (NP) | (2^nd: Keep Experience) ⚫ Jeffrey Prang (NP) ⭐INC.

◊

County Sheriff

The LA County Sheriff is the top law enforcement officer in the County and the executive head of the Sheriff’s Department. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) serves as the primary law enforcement agency for unincorporated areas and 42 contracted cities, overseeing the nation’s largest jail system, providing courthouse security for the Superior Court, and patrolling county facilities, parks, and transit systems. Key duties include crime prevention, investigations, and emergency response. After years and years of having the same sheriff (Peter Pitchess, who served from 1958 to 1981), the County has had a series of poor Sheriffs.

My take: Remember that perfection is the enemy of good enough. We’ve had a series of bad and corrupt sheriffs—and in this election, one is even trying to get his office back. The best way to improve the department is steady, sound, leadership, with continual improvements over time. Unless there is evidence of corruption, malfeasance, aggressive misbehavior, or a pattern of civil rights violations, as there was with Villanueva, continually changing leads because “I have a better idea” just introduces churn and creates work for business card printers and door sign painters.

Useful resources:

• LA Times, “Your guide to the L.A. County sheriff’s race: Robert Luna faces seven challengers“

◯ Mike Bornman (NP/Leans ❓)

Bornman retired from the Sheriff’s Department after 36 years and worked on a wide range of assignments including custody, patrol, operations, criminal and administrative investigations, federal task forces, and created bureaus in the department. Bornman’s career with the Sheriff’s Department began in January of 1980. After graduating from the sheriff’s Training Academy as a Deputy Sheriff (Class #199), he was assigned to Men’s Central Jail, Santa Clarita Valley Station and Firestone Station. Upon his promotion to Sergeant in 1988, Captain Bornman was assigned to Lennox Station, Detective Division, Internal Affairs Bureau, and in the Executive Offices as an aide to an Assistant Sheriff. After being promoted to Lieutenent in 1995, Captain Bornman was assigned to Inmate Reception Center, Pitchess Detention Center, South Facility, Santa Clarita Valley Station, Cresenta Valley Station, Pitchess Detention Center, North Facility, Custody Support Services, Altadena Station, and Men’s Central Jail. Captain Bornman holds a Master’s Degree in Orgainizational Leadership from Woodbury University, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English (writing) from California State University Northridge, and an Associates of Arts Degree in Police Science from College of the Canyons. He also completed an Executive Development course at Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York.
(Source: Department Bio)

Bornman believes that the sheriff’s department is facing significant challenges, including deteriorating infrastructure, declining morale, and decreasing public support. If elected sheriff, one of his first tasks would be to initiate a complete forensic audit of every dollar spent by the department and determine not only how much is being spent, but where money is going and why. He believes there are things in that budget that made sense two, three, five years ago that make no sense today, and that there are things that do make sense that aren’t funded or are underfunded. His second priority focuses on deputy morale, recruitment and retention. He said many deputies are overworked, with some working triple double shifts. He believes that leads to officer suicides. (ref)

He thinks that the three public safety challenges facing the LASD are (1) Regaining of trust of the community and within our own department. (2) Doing a better job of keeping people safe in LA County. (3) Homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health issues. He thinks the LASD has become the largest de-facto emergency response unit in the county, and is not necessarily the best option for this responsibility. He believes that the use of force policies currently in place with the LASD are appropriate for today’s realities, but must always be reevaluated and improved as circumstances dictate. (ref)

With respect to the Mens Central Jail, he believes it is antiquated and to be demolished, as it has outlived its usefulness. However, that can happen only after a new location is obtained. He also proposes the creation of a new, state of the art women’s housing and treatment center, specifically built to the needs of our female inmate population. Once the women occupy that facility, they would transfer the male inmates out of MCJ and into the Century Regional Detention Facility, as it was originally built to house medium- and high-security male inmates. He would consider increasing the number of custody assistants into the division, replacing the deputy sheriffs who are there now. He wants to ensure that body cameras are worn by all staff, and would expand the Custody Canine program, which incorporates trained dogs to search out illicit drugs and jail made alcohol. (ref)

He prefers not to focus on “deputy gangs, cliques or other formal or informal groups”, but on specific officer behavior. He wants to ensure they act and perform professionally at all times, but will not, however, attempt to paint everyone associated with them with the same broad brush. (ref)

He said that if elected, he would conduct a “top to bottom” review of operations to focus on what he said are the three core responsibilities: patrol, court operations and custody. He also would look to work with trade schools to help inmates acquire skills to prevent recidivism. He doesn’t appear to be a fan of oversight: he will approach oversight bodies “with an open mind” but believes it is the sheriff who should be making the decisions on policy and bringing accountability to the department. He believes people want to work for the Sheriff’s Department, they just don’t want to work under Luna (LA Times)

He has a detailed priorities list on his website. With respect to immigration, he says “While the federal government is responsible for immigration enforcement, we will focus on individuals illegally in the country who are charged with violent felonies or serious misdemeanors.”

He has a fair number of endorsements. They all look to be retired LASD or LAPD personnel, with a few other random folk thrown in. There is perhaps one elected official, a city commissioner. There are no union or group endorsements.

⚫ Karla Carranza (NP/Leans 🐴)

Carranza attended and graduated from East Los Angeles Community College with an Associate’s Degree and later transferred to California State University, Long Beach where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree. She began her career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2005. She attended the LASD Academy and graduated, becoming a Deputy Sheriff. She was first assigned to work in the LA County jails. She later worked at the Century Station where she patrolled various areas to include the city of Lynwood, and unincorporated areas of Florence / Firestone / Walnut Park and the Willowbrook areas. She was later promoted to Sargent. She has a Basic, Intermediate, Advance and Supervisory Peace Officer Standard in Training (POST) Certificate, with approximately twenty-one years of Law Enforcement Experience.

She feels the three public safety challenges are: (1) Restoring public confidence in public safety by being a strong and decisive leader who will bring real accountability and a clear commitment to protecting our residents through community policing; (2) Rebuilding the ranks with the right people to fill the massive personnel gaps left by the prior administrations. (3) Modernization in almost everything. Men’s Central Jail needs to be replaced with a modern jail. Technology requires modification across the department: upgrading vehicles, equipment, and computer systems, and implementing automation in jails, staff scheduling, and emergency response. Deputies have require access to appropriate less-lethal tools to protect both themselves and the public. (Patch)

She believes in be zero tolerance for excessive force or abuse of authority. Use of force must be objectively reasonable, necessary and proportionate to the circumstances. All use-of-force incidents will be reviewed to ensure compliance with department policies and procedures, and the law. Deputies will prioritize de-escalation whenever it is safe and feasible, with force employed only as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted or are unsafe. Supervisory oversight will be immediate in such incidents and investigated. She believes in the use of Mental Health Teams (MET) that comprise of a deputy and licensed clinical social worker. She will uphold a zero-tolerance stance on deputy gangs. Existing laws and policies are clear. Unlawful or unethical group conduct incompatible with our mission, their values, and the public trust they are sworn to protect, will not be  acceptable. (Patch)

She has an issues page that highlights some key issues for her. According to the LA Times, she supports transparency but sees the oversight bodies as having more of an advisory role.

She does not appear to have any endorsements.

◯ Brendan Corbett (NP/Leans ❓)

He graduated from Whittier High School. While studying at Rio Hondo Community College, he worked delivering auto parts for Whittier Auto Supply. In my early twenties, he was employed as a Teamster, working as a warehouseman and delivery driver. He pursued a path in law enforcement, and in 1985, joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as a member of Academy Class 228. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and numerous specialized law enforcement training certifications. He served as assistant sheriff during Villanueva’s tenure.

The BradyList site has a citizen report that Corbett, acting as LASD division chief, provided false statements to the press and public.  He lied about aggressive actions by a victim in the LA county jail. He claimed the victim pulled his arm away from his deputy and attempt to strike back to assault the deputy.  He also claimed the victim pulled the deputy to the floor, injuring him. The victim was handcuffed in front, and at no time does he reach to pull the deputy.  Furthermore, Corbett claimed the video evidence is wrong and the officers statements are accurate even if they contradict the obvious facts and evidence.   The deputy did NOT show up to court for fear the video evidence would perjure his statement, All charges were dropped.

Corbett plans to help reduce crime and provide better services to homeless people who go through jails and struggle with mental health. He states “My platform for running for sheriff is 99 percent based on community safety. Nobody feels safe in the community nowadays.” During his brief retirement, Corbett was in disbelief at how the current department handled things; employees were being overworked, and staffing had decreased, along with a lack of experience from those in positions of leadership. “I was retired and watching this man from the Long Beach police, whose leadership is suspected to begin with, and then his experience is nonexistent with a department the size of ours,” Corbett explained. “He doesn’t know the jails, the courts, or anything. He is a police officer with very limited experience.” (LMU)

His campaign website identifies five priorities: (1) community safety; (2) building confidence with the community; (3) utilizing technology; (4) reducing homelessness; and (5) accountability.

He does not appear to have any endorsements.

⚫ Robert Luna (NP/Leans 🐴, but 🐘 until 2022) ⭐INC

Robert G. Luna was elected as the 34p Los Angeles County Sheriff on November 8, 2022.  In 2021, Sheriff Luna completed his service as Long Beach Chief of Police, capping a 36-year career at the Long Beach Police Department, Los Angeles County’s second largest police department. Sheriff Luna started as a Long Beach Police Department reserve officer in 1985 and was promoted within every rank of the Police Department. He was appointed Chief of Police in 2014. During his time as Chief of Police, he served on the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) executive board and Homeland Security Committee, and on the Police Executive Leadership Institute (PELI) mentorship program. He also received various awards from organizations in Long Beach for his civic leadership and community engagement. Sheriff Luna is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Executive Institute and National Academy, Harvard University’s program for senior executives in state and local government, and the University of Southern California’s (USC) Delinquency Control Institute. In addition, Sheriff Luna holds a Master’s in Public Administration from California State University Long Beach.
(Source: Sheriff Staff Bios)

The LA Times notes that there has been a reduction in crime for the county during Luna’s term. In 2025, deputy-patrolled areas of the county experienced a 12.5% drop in serious crimes from the previous year, including a drop of 12% in murders and 20% in auto thefts.

Luna’s campaign webpage indicates the following five priorities: (1) Reduce Violent Crime; (2) Increase Public Trust; (3) Modernize the Department; (4) Address Homelessness; and (5) Improve Deputy and Employee Wellness. These are reasonable priorities.

According to the LA Times article, Luna has been working to improve county jail conditions. More than 1,200 body cameras are being used, use-of-force incidents are down, and he created a unit within custody operations to review such incidents faster. A new mental health assessment area has been added to the inmate reception center downtown, and he’s proposing the county build a correctional health center modeled after the state hospital system to secure inmates but also provide better medical service. Luna has also rebuilt relationships with other county agencies and oversight bodies. He believes in oversight, and has worked to share information unless advised by the county counsel not to share because of confidentiality and labor laws. He has refreshed marketing to bring in new deputies, and has seen incremental improvements.

His campaign website describes the improvements he has made to the department. (1) violent crime has fallen every year in the areas patrolled by LASD, and homicides are down 25% since 2023; (2) creation of a new Crime Strategy Unit, leveraging data and community involvement to reduce crime; (3) working with Metro to adopt new policies and surge law enforcement staffing, enforcing fare evasion and targeting narcotics, which led to fewer incidents of violent crime; (4) increasing the Department’s clearance rates, or the percentage of reported crimes that are solved, each year for both violent and property crimes; (5) decreasing use of fouce issues each year during his tenure, with the overall count down 25% since 2023; (6) creating the Office of Constitutional Policing and instituting a policy banning law enforcement gangs; (7) increased transparency at LASD, including outfitting deputies in LA County jails with body-worn cameras for the first time, timely releases of body-camera video, creating a new public dashboard with crime stats, and posting data on uses of force, taser usage, stops, and personnel complaints, all on the Department’s website.

According to Google AI, internal department criticisms of Luna include the (1) the Staffing and Morale Crisis, with department vacancies causing severe understaffing forcing deputies into relentless mandatory overtime, leading to plummeting morale; (2) a Perceived Lack of Support, with some deputies argue that Luna prioritizes public image and political standing over supporting his rank-and-file officers during high-scrutiny incidents; and (3) Alleged Cronyism, where insiders and critical reports have alleged favoritism in top-level promotions and ignoring standard nepotism policies. There are also concerns about Deputy Gangs and Transparency, which was a concern during Villanueva’s administration Specifically, while Luna campaigned on eradicating the department’s notorious “deputy gangs,” some oversight groups and critics argue his actions have been too slow or represent “smoke and mirrors”.

He has a large number of endorsements. These include labor unions, elected officials, and community organizations. Notable in the organizations is the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs Association.

◯ Oscar Martinez (NP/Leans 🐘)

Oscar Martinez is a Lt. in the LASD. He started with LASD in October 2008, and retired in March 2025 to run for Sheriff. Before the LASD, he was a Staff Sergeant in the USMC for 8 years. He has a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Woodbury University, and a Masters in Criminal Justice from the American Military University. A registered Republican, he is running on a conservative, “no politics, just public safety” platform as a 17-year department veteran from the Palmdale Station.

He does not have a high opinion of Luna, telling Fox 11: “He’s not doing anything, so anyone can do a better job than him. He’s been there for three years. There’s no solid policy changes in the department. We have not had any innovation in the last three years. The last technology advancement that we had was five years ago, the body-worn cameras. Our deputies in the age of artificial intelligence are still handwriting reports. Our deputies are working multiple shifts, back-to-back doubles, as we call them. That’s 16 hours, eight hours off, 16 hours. Something needs to be changed and I don’t see Robert Luna making any changes. He hasn’t done so in three years” (Fox11)   He has criticized Luna for fostering relationships with the county board of supervisors and oversight bodies, saying his focus should be on law enforcement, not politics. (LATimes)

His priorities as sheriff are defending and supporting law enforcement officers, modernizing the sheriff’s department, and balancing the department’s budget. He said on day one on the job he would establish a commander’s intent, give a new mission to the sheriff’s department, and communicate and work with the County Board of Supervisors. (Fox11)

He decided to run for office after other deputies and community members encouraged him to, particularly in the wake of a controversial incident that ended with the federal conviction this year of a Lancaster sheriff’s deputy who was found guilty of using excessive force. Key issues he wants to tackle include defending the 2^nd Amendment, finding more resources to support veterans in the department and preventing the release of violent criminals. He is pushing the state to change its immigration enforcement approach, saying he would lobby for tweaks to a law that prevents local law enforcement agencies from holding people in jail for extra time solely for immigration agents to pick them up. (LAT)

Much of what the papers uncovered are on his issues page.

He does not list any endorsements.

◯ Eric Strong (NP/Leans 🐴)

Strong appears to be the progressive candidate in this race. He was Chief of Campus Safety and Security Operations (Asst) at the LA County Probations Office between June 2023 and March 2025. Before that, he was with the Sheriff’s department for 12 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. He has a Masters from National University in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Administration. (LinkedIn)

According to Strong, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is shaped by a culture of division—both between deputies and the communities they serve, and within the department itself. He described an environment marked by silos, internal fragmentation, and longstanding issues like deputy cliques and gangs. (LAP)

According to The Current Report, Strong was once positioned as a reform-minded alternative within LASD. However, his record has become mired in allegations of civil rights violations, toxic leadership, and credibility concerns that raise serious questions about his fitness to hold the county’s top law enforcement post. Multiple sources inside both LASD and LA County Probation confirm that Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell allegedly hand-picked Lt. Eric Strong to enter the race for Sheriff, not to win, but to sabotage. According to sources, the move was a calculated political ploy: Mitchell’s objective was to water down votes and derail incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva, during his re-election bid. However, “The Current Report”‘s author has a connection to The Epoch Times, which is a very right wing biased source, so the direction of the sabotage is unclear. However, WitnessLA also investigated and confirmed some of the complaints.

His priorities confirm the progressive agenda: (1) Ending Corruption, Building Trust; (2) Care, Not Cuffs; (3) Immigration Is Not Our Job; (4) Breaking the Jail Cycle; and (5) No Secrets, Just Service.

He lists no endorsements.

◯ Alex Villanueva (NP/Leans 🐘, but previously 🐴)

Villanueva was the previous sheriff. He defeated incumbent Sheriff Jim McDonnell in the 2018 L.A. County sheriff’s race, making him the first to unseat an incumbent in over 100 years. Before becoming sheriff, he was a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The first member of the Democratic Party to be elected sheriff in 138 years, Villanueva campaigned as a reformer and appealed to some progressive values, but has received notoriety for more conservative policies during his tenure, as well as high levels of corruption. Villanueva lost his bid for reelection in 2022 by a wide margin of 61.3% to 38.7% against former Long Beach Police Department chief Robert Luna. He became a Republican in 2025.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Google AI reports that Alex Villanueva’s tenure as Los Angeles County Sheriff (2018–2022) was marked by intense controversy, characterized by battles with oversight bodies, defiance of subpoenas, and allegations of deputy misconduct. Key issues included his alleged protection of deputy “gangs,” retaliation against critics, controversial reinstatements of fired deputies, and high-profile fights with the Board of Supervisors.

According to the LA Times, with respect to Jail conditions, Villanueva said the department would continue to abide by Senate Bill 54, the state law that restricts local law enforcement from working with immigration officers and prevents them from holding inmates past release dates so they can be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also prevents local officials from sharing inmate information with ICE. In his discussion with the times, he did not indicate he would encourage or cooperate with oversight; he famously did not during his first term. With respect to recruitment, he believes a recent spate of deputy suicides was tied to burnout from long hours, but said the department should be encouraging employees to recruit their friends and family. He also believes his leadership might help bring more deputies on board. Specifically, he said “My presence on the ballot itself is a huge lift on morale”, which seems to be quite the cult of personality.

At least on FB, Villanueva has been doing some very nasty smear campaigning against Robert Luna, using claims that appear to be exaggerated or sensationalized, or drawing inferences that appear false. For example, this morning (Tue 5/5), I was served a Villanueva ad implying there was something sinister because Luna supports Mayor Bass. Perhaps that’s a strange Republican delusion, but supporting the Mayor in a city within your jurisdiction doesn’t seem to be a problem. Rather, it seems to be the sign of a good working relationship between LA City and LA County. This advertising is problematic.

He is endorsed by a large number of elected leaders, generally Republican, as well as a number of Police Officers Associations and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association. He is endorsed by the LA County Republican Party. He has no labor endorsements.

◯ André White (NP/Leans ❓)

White has been with the LA County Sheriff’s Department for 11 years. His first assignment was working at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. He spent seven years at the Carson Sheriff Station as both a patrol deputy and training officer, and one year as a Detective with Operation Safe Streets. Prior to becoming a detective, he was an EMT for five years, serving alongside the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He also worked in the ER at Torrance Memorial. He believes it is time for generational change in the department.

He has four main focii in his platform: (1) Accountability Now; (2) Community-Centered; (3) Hiring from Within; and (4) Technological Advancement. He wants to replace the Men’s Jail with a new facility. He welcomes oversight.  He believes that in addition to better pay, the department needs to look at other strategies to recruit people, such as softening the department’s policies on uniforms and grooming.

He has no endorsements.

📋 Conclusion

This is a difficult race to assess. The first question is: Does Luna need to be replaced, or has this merry-go-round of Sheriff’s gone on long enough? Luna still has the support of county leadership. His support from his rank-and-file is less clear, but the rank-and-file would not like any leader that is making changes that are in any sense progressive. Villanueva claims they want him back, but those who remember the 2022 election will recall the rank-and-file didn’t like him either. My gut is saying that we’ve been on the merry-go-round long enough, and that Luna is doing a good enough job to give him one more term to solidify his changes.

For those that believe Luna needs to be replaced, the question becomes “but who?” Certainly not Villanueva. Villanueva’s behavior while he was Sheriff was unacceptable, and his behavior now is unacceptable. One can’t go on endorsements, because most of the candidates don’t have any. Start by eliminating those candidates with known problems, from either side. That cuts out Strong and Corbett. I don’t like Bornman’s views regarding gangs and cliques: they would appear to encourage them. I don’t like Martinez’ positions regarding immigrants. White just doesn’t seem to have the background. The one I liked best, if one has to replace Luna, is Karla Carranza. She seems to be moderately progressive and would be leading with both compassion and strength.

Conclusion: (1^st: Keep Luna) ⚫ Robert Luna (NP/Leans 🐴, but 🐘 until 2022) ⭐INC | (2^nd Replace Luna) ⚫ Karla Carranza (NP/Leans 🐴)

City of Los Angeles

Mayor of Los Angeles

The Mayor of Los Angeles is the city’s chief executive officer, elected to a four-year term to oversee city departments, enforce ordinances, and manage a multibillion-dollar budget. Key duties include appointing general managers and commissioners, proposing the annual budget, vetoing council legislation, and directing emergency operations.

Given the large number of candidates, I’m going to break this into tiers, just as I did with the Governor’s race

Useful Reference:

• LAist, “Voter Guide: Los Angeles mayor“
• LA Times, “Your guide to the race for L.A. mayor: Four major challengers look to unseat Karen Bass“

Tier 1: Leading Contenders

⚫ Karen Bass (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

Karen Bass has been the 43^rd mayor of Los Angeles since 2022. Bass previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022 and in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, serving as speaker during her final term. After attending San Diego State University and California State University, Dominguez Hills, Bass worked as a physician assistant and community organizer, before being elected to represent California’s 47^th State Assembly district in 2004. In 2008, she was elected to serve as the 67^th speaker of the California State Assembly, becoming the first African-American woman in United States history to serve as a speaker of a state legislative body. Bass was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. She represented California’s 33^rd congressional district during her first term; redistribution of districts moved her to 37^th district in 2012. She chaired the Congressional Black Caucus during the 116th Congress.

For all of the major Mayoral candidates, I’m asking Google AI to summarize the negatives about the candidate. The AI notes that Bass has faced intense criticism, primarily surrounding her handling of the 2025 Pacific Palisades fires, alleged mismanagement of fire department resources, and overseas travel during crises. Critics, including political opponents, have accused her of overseeing budget cuts to the fire department and attempting to alter, or “water down,” critical after-action reports concerning the fatal fire response. The specific key negatives and criticisms surrounding Mayor Karen Bass include:

• • • Fire Response & Travel: Bass received severe backlash for traveling to Ghana for an inauguration during major wildfires in early 2025. Critics termed her absence “disgraceful,” particularly as she reportedly ignored initial questions upon her return.
    • “Firegate” Allegations: Reports emerged in 2026 alleging that Bass or her office pushed to edit a key after-action report on the Palisades fire to reduce criticism of the city’s inadequate, understaffed response. Critics claimed she tried to avoid legal liability, though she denied these allegations.
    • Budget Cuts: Bass has been criticized for cutting the LA Fire Department budget by millions of dollars prior to the wildfires, which some allege resulted in water shortages and equipment issues.
    • Resignation Demands & Low Approval: A petition calling for her resignation gained over 140,000 signatures following the fire crisis, with polling showing that a significant portion of residents viewed her response as poor.
    • Political Criticism: She has been labeled “inefficient” by critics like Elon Musk and faced criticism from opponent Rick Caruso over the fire safety response.
    • Policy Positions: Some progressives criticized her approach to law enforcement, noting her rejection of the “defund the police” movement and her plans to increase LAPD staffing.

The political criticism I can dismiss, as I do not have a high opinion of either Caruso or Musk. In fact, one of my negatives regarding Mahan for Governor is that Caruso supports him. But a number of the other complaints are valid, in particular the “Firegate” allegations. Bass also has only been somewhat effective regarding the homeless, she has a mixed record regarding public safety, and (as most LA politicians do), she has forgotten the San Fernando Valley.

But this is a nasty race. Bass has a specific page where she highlights the negatives of Raman, and notes what Bass would do different. It is convincing. She also notes that “Spencer Pratt has been able to solidify the MAGA vote bloc behind his candidacy and is a strong contender for the second spot.”

Bass’ campaign pages note the progress that has been made under her administration. She writes, “in just three years, we’ve created change and turned things around. Street homelessness is down for the first time in modern memory. Crime has fallen, with homicide levels lower than they’ve been since the 1960s. We’re accelerating nearly 40,000 units of housing after decades of under-building. And we’ve launched LA’s first-ever infrastructure plan to fix the sidewalks, streets, and streetlights that were neglected for far too long.”.  She indicates she wants to build on this, and has no further political plans after her second term as Mayor. That, of course, could change, as we’ve seen with Antonio Villaraigosa. She specifically notes the following accomplishments: (1) Street Homelessness Is Down 17.5 percent; (2) New housing policies are already accelerating nearly 40,000 units of housing; (3) Renter protections thanks to her signing into the law the first improvements to the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance in 40 years to limit rent increases and protect tenants; (4) Job growth through the start of construction on a new Convention Center for LA (leading to more investment) and the appointing of a Film Czar and the cutting city fees and an expanded film & TV tax credit (which is resulting in the return of productions to LA); (5) More Officers, Community Policing & Lower Crime, including the hiring of more police officers hired, the creation of the first-ever Office of Community Safety to increase civilian crisis response and community violence intervention, and the reduction of homicides to the lowest levels since the 1960s; (6) the creation of LA’s first-ever Comprehensive Infrastructure Plan, which will create a real roadmap to fix our infrastructure; and (7) Standing up to Trump, being in ICE’s face on the streets, and organizing Angelenos, dozens of local mayors and mayors nationally to stand against ICE and troop deployments and to stand up for our immigrants. She then links to more specifics.

What she doesn’t have on her website is a specific plan for her second term. Again, Google AI came to the rescue, noting that she is focusing on expanding her initial efforts to combat homelessness, increasing affordable housing, and enhancing public safety, including hiring more LAPD officers. Her proposed $14.9 billion 2026-27 budget aims for no layoffs while prioritizing infrastructure improvements and preparing for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics. It identified the following Key Second Term Priorities:

• • • Homelessness and Housing: Continue reducing street homelessness—which decreased 17.5% during her first term—by building on the accelerated production of thousands of affordable housing units and implementing new renter protections.
    • Public Safety and Policing: Focus on expanding the police force to bolster staffing levels following years of decline, while maintaining the Office of Community Safety to expand civilian crisis responses.
    • Infrastructure and Future Events: Implement the city’s first-ever Comprehensive Infrastructure Plan to repair sidewalks, streets, and streetlights. Focus on preparing city infrastructure for major upcoming events, including the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
    • Budget Management: The 2026-27 proposed spending plan reflects increased revenue from taxes, allowing for a balanced budget that avoids layoffs, aiming to stabilize the city’s financial standing after facing a potential $1 billion deficit.

In an interview with LAist, Bass talks about what she would have done differently with respect to the wildfires. In fact, her first response was “Oh my goodness. I would have to say, what would I have done the same?” She basically said the city needs to be better prepared for these events  and to take warnings more seriously: “It looks as though we are going to have a problem, whether it’s the rain, mudslides, whatever, and all of the departments and everybody is lined up to pre-deployment to get everything ready in advance. And that didn’t happen in the city. It also didn’t happen in the county. And so what has happened since then, I think is indicative of what I would’ve done differently, which is we go overboard now in terms of planning pre-deployment, making sure that there are fire engines all around vulnerable areas. Even if we don’t necessarily expect that it’s going to be devastating, but being very aggressive with prevention and that did not take place.” She’s also emphasizing prevention and brush clearance, which wasn’t pushed as strongly before. She does talk about the recovery. She notes “we were able to get the clearing of the debris in record time, months and months before it would’ve been. And then we took a lot of the lessons that we learned in addressing homelessness and expediting the permitting process, and applied that to the Palisades.” and “we’ve issued over 2,000 permits for over a thousand properties. Homes are being rebuilt at record speed. We have over 400 homes that are actively under construction now. People will begin moving in this summer.” But she noted that “The biggest problem in the Palisades now is the insurance industry and the banking industry. So you have hundreds of people that have been issued permits and plans have been approved, but they’re still not ready to rebuild because they wanna make sure that they’re gonna be insured and they’re gonna make sure that they have the financing to rebuild.”

With respect to homelessness, Larry Mantle held her feet to the fire regarding the efficacy of Inside SAFE. She admitted it wasn’t a perfect program, but it was getting people off the streets. She noted “along with Inside Safe, I also did an executive directive in my first couple of weeks to expedite the building of housing. We need more housing, there’s no question about that. So I’m fast tracking 42,000 units of affordable housing and 6,000 of those units are under construction right now.”

There’s a lot more in the interview, and it is well worth reading.

Bass has a broad set of endorsements, much more than any other candidate. Democratic Clubs. Issue-Focused Organizations. Unions. A modest list of election officials, but ones with clout, such as Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman, and most of the LA City Council.

◯ Spencer Pratt (NP/Leans 🐘)

Pratt is an American reality television personality and political candidate. I don’t care about his reality TV antics, as they provide no relevant experience for being Mayor. He has a Bachelors degree in political science from the University of Southern California. He entered the race after he lost his home in the Palisades Fire and he felt Bass’ response was ineffective.

I asked Google AI to summarize the negatives of Spencer Pratt. The AI noted that Pratt’s public persona is defined by his, and often others’, view of him as a “villain,” a reputation built on manipulative behavior on MTV’s The Hills and, more recently, contentious political rhetoric. Key negatives associated with him include serious allegations from his sister, claims of volatile, financially reckless behavior, and a reputation as an unqualified, publicity-seeking figure. The key allegations are: (•) Serious Familial Allegations: His sister, Stephanie Pratt, publicly urged voters to oppose his 2026 Los Angeles mayoral bid, alleging he “beat” her to the point of hospitalization as a teen, coerced her into drug use, is “unqualified,” and involved in a cult. (•) “Villain” Persona and Behavior: Known as the antagonist on The Hills, Pratt has admitted to manipulating situations and relationships for fame and money, embracing a “villain” role that many find authentic to his character. (•)  Political Criticism: Running for Mayor of LA in 2026, he has been described by critics as a “clown” and his campaign as relying on divisive, Trump-like, fear-mongering tactics. (•) Financial Recklessness: Pratt has openly admitted to wasting millions of dollars, largely due to poor, impulsive decision-making, such as spending heavily on crystal ventures. (•) Contentious Public Feuds: He has a history of dramatic public feuds, including intense criticism of local government, accusing officials of being “corrupt” and “negligent” following the loss of his home. (•) Alleged Exploitation: He has been accused of potentially using his political run to stay relevant and famous, rather than for legitimate public service, according to critics and his sister.

The Google AI also noted there is a controversy over his authenticity. Namely, Pratt has claimed that his on-screen villainy was fabricated for entertainment, though others have criticized this as a way to avoid accountability for his actual behavior. Lastly, there are mixed opinions on his political approach. While some in the Reddit community and Fox News reports suggest his supporters appreciate his blunt, anti-establishment approach, a significant number of others view him as a disruptive, unserious, and dangerous candidate, as shown on Reddit.

His campaign website actually highlights a lot of these negatives, with posters that are sensationalized or that make fun of Karen Bass. This plays up the disruptive or unserious nature of his run. His campaign has been angry and name-calling. In Pratt’s world, Mayor Karen Bass is Karen “Basura,” City Councilmember Nithya Raman is “crazy” and a “serious threat to your kids,” and critical reporters are “media sickos.” According to a CalMatters commentator, his memoir doesn’t help: “The Pratt of these pages — in his own words — is selfish, undisciplined and unprincipled. He deflects blame, squanders fortunes and complains. A lot. It’s hard to imagine him holding any office, much less one of such consequence.” The opinion piece also notes “In sum, then, the memoir details a candidate for public office who steals, squanders his income, compromises his principles and blames his setbacks on others, especially — in the cases of COVID and the fires — the government. And who makes his living, at least for a time, by selling crystals.” [and my mind is going, after reading this, “How Trumpian”]

His website highlights the following issues: (1) Crisis Leadership & Emergency Readiness; (2) Fiscal Integrity & Government Reform; (3) Public Safety & the Rule of Law; (4) Treatment-First Approach to Homelessness; (5) Infrastructure & Quality of Life; (6) Economic Opportunity & Small Business Empowerment; and (7) Utility Accountability & Ratepayer Protection. I read through his approaches and complaints here. Some highlights. First, they give the impression that he really doesn’t understand how the city works. They also seem to emphasize a common Republican manta of fiscal mismanagement and the need to conduct audits to find the massive fraud, waste, and abuse they believe to be there, simply because they think government should work the same as a general business. His view on public safety is one that probably would make the folks on NextDoor happy: ” prosecuting retail theft and organized criminal activity and enforce existing laws that protect neighborhood safety and quality of life. Officers will receive clear rules, clear backing, and clear expectations.” His plan for addressing homelessness takes a similar Republican bent: “Under a Treatment and Recovery First framework, resources will be redirected to mental health care, drug treatment, and stabilization services. Participation in treatment is a must for city- funded assistance, and long-term housing will be reserved for those demonstrating a stability and sobriety.” Pratt seems to blame homelessness on mental illness and addiction, failing to recognize that family economics are so precarious that the loss of a job or an increase in rent can send someone to the streets.

Overall, Pratt’s ideas seem broad and not well thought out. There are no notions in his ideas about how to work with the City Council, or covering the entire city. They also show Pratt’s background from the Palisades: He doesn’t have a great consideration of the problems of the urban core of the city. He also ignores the San Fernando Valley, but that’s common in the Palisades (I know, I grew up there). The lack of depth of his platform really demonstrates his lack of experience in politics. One gets the sense that he is only doing as well as he is in the polls because of his Republican affiliation (none of the other candidates appear to lean that way).

There have been arguments that he is ineligible to run for Mayor of Los Angeles, as he has been living at his father’s rental home in Carpinteria, about 12 miles south of Santa Barbara. His burned-out lot in the Palisades is still his legal residence. According to the L.A. Times report, Pratt and his wife, reality star and singer Heidi Pratt, both listed a Carpinteria address linked to Pratt’s parents on their voter registrations. Pratt listed it as his mailing address, while Heidi listed it as her mailing address and residence.

I attempted to find endorsements for Pratt. According to the Google AI, key endorsements and supporters for Pratt include: Media Personalities: Joe Rogan (podcast host), Adam Carolla (comedian/podcaster); Celebrity/Co-stars: Audrina Patridge (The Hills); Political Figures: Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Richard Grenell (former acting Director of National Intelligence); Donors/Supporters: Notable donors include producer Jeff Jenkins and Rick Salomon. I’ll also note that his campaign is being run from San Diego (Pratt For Mayor lists an address in Imperial Beach).

◯ Nithya Raman (NP/Leans 🐴)

According to Wikipedia, Raman is an Councilmember for CD4 since 202, a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political theory from Harvard University then a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. After living in the United States for many years, Raman returned to her home country of India and founded the research firm Transparent Chennai. The firm’s goal was to improve sanitation in the city of Chennai. In 2013, Raman moved to Los Angeles and worked for the city administrative officer of Los Angeles. In 2017, Raman founded and headed SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a homelessness outreach nonprofit in Los Angeles; she also served as the executive director of Time’s Up Entertainment. Raman became a naturalized American citizen at the age of 22.

I asked Google AI to provide a summary of Raman’s negatives as a prelude to reviewing her plans and promises. The Google AI indicated that concerns regarding Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman often focus on her approach to homelessness, public safety, and her perceived political alignment. As she campaigns for Mayor in the June 2026 primary, these criticisms have intensified from both constituents and political opponents. They fall into the following areas:

1. 1. 1. 1. Homelessness and Public Safety. Critics frequently target Raman’s opposition to stricter enforcement of encampment bans. There are three primary areas: (•) Encampment Ordinances: Raman has consistently voted against or questioned the effectiveness of ordinances like 41.18, which bans encampments within 500 feet of schools and parks. Opponents argue this creates unsafe environments for families and students. (•) “Inside Safe” Criticism: She has proposed scaling back Mayor Karen Bass’s signature Inside Safe program, calling it too expensive and advocating for more cost-effective shelter options. Critics, including the Bass campaign, have called her alternative plans “unrealistic”. (•) Police Funding: Her votes against certain LAPD funding allocations have led critics to label her “anti-police”.
         2. Political and Constituency Criticism. Raman’s late entry into the 2026 mayoral race has also sparked internal political backlash. Again, there are three areas of concern. (•) “Political Opportunism”: Some colleagues and labor leaders, such as Yvonne Wheeler of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, have characterized her run as “selfish ambition” and a “distraction,” noting she had supported Mayor Bass’s re-election only weeks prior. (•)  Constituent Services: Some neighborhood activists argue her focus on broad structural reforms comes at the expense of “quality-of-life” concerns like basic street repairs and immediate constituent needs. (•) Ideological Friction: While she is often associated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), she has also faced criticism from the left for being too independent, such as her support for easing the “mansion tax” to encourage apartment construction.
         3. Noteworthy Incidents. There are also two incidents that keep being brought up. (•) School Buffer Zone Viral Clip: A video of Raman appearing to dismiss concerns about a homeless encampment near a school—and reportedly rolling her eyes at a resident—went viral, fueling accusations that she is out of touch with safety concerns. (•) Bureaucracy Concerns: Critics of her proposed “Bureau of Homelessness Oversight” argue it would add unnecessary red tape to a system that already has oversight via the City Controller.

So lets turn and look at what she is saying. Her campaign website lists four commitments she is making: (1) Fix the city: fill the potholes, pave the roads, plant trees, turn on streetlights, and put a park near where you live; (2) Protect Angelenos: from ICE, from harassing landlords, from unsafe streets, from fires and natural disasters. I’ll make sure when you call 911, someone actually shows up; (3) End the pay-to-play politics that have dominated the city for decades. I will not make political decisions. Only the best decisions for Angelenos; (4) Bring the jobs back. I’ll make it easier to start and run a business. We’ll revive small businesses, support restaurants and bars, and bring the Hollywood jobs back home.

She has five distinct issues pages that describe how she will do this: Homelessness | Housing | Protect renters | Transportation | Hollywood Jobs | Parks & Shade. I read through the pages. Her plans are detailed and well thought out. Certain plans are sure to draw the ire of groups. For example her plan to Protect renters is sure to draw the ire of the powerful realtor and apartment owners organizations. Now that I’m aware of this, I’m going to see how many of the attack ads against her are being funded by this group. But her goal to protect renters isn’t a surprise: it comes from the constituency she was elected to represent, as CD4 has loads of renters. Those that represent the more suburban single-family-home areas might have different views. But reading through the rental protection plans, they make sense. This includes cracking down on vacation rentals and supporting small landlords. Her particular ire seems focused on the corporate landlords, and those who are pulling rental stock from the markets, evicting tenants, and then getting the stock back at higher rents.

I looked particularly at her Transportation plan. Her plan to expedite projects and construction is good, but doesn’t recognize some of the major problems, such as utilities that balk on moving lines or services. This adds delays to the projects, which increase costs. Edison is well known for this, as are other private concerns such as the railroads. Her bus plan is similarly incomplete: It fails to address the fact that while bus service in the urban core is strong, it is piss poor in the northern valley (there are no lines running N of Devonshire, for example). Busing and transit needs to serve ALL of the city. Her other transportation ideas are good.

After reading through all her plans, they seem well thought out. However, she is inconsistent in her coverage, and I’m not sure she “gets” the concerns of all of the city. Her plans are great in the urban core, in Hollywood, and perhaps even on the West Side. Do they work equally in NoHo? In Porter Ranch? In Sylmar? Do they work down in San Pedro or the Shoestring Annex or in Westchester? Do they protect the homeowners as well as the renters, the people driving as well as the people taking transit? There I am less sure, but I’m also not sure the other candidates are better (Bass certainly isn’t).

When I searched to find out who was endorsing Raman, an attack site came up. Mostly, it just highlighted the negatives that Google AI pointed out: (1) Voted over 75 times to allow homeless encampments near schools, day cares and other sensitive locations; (2) Voted to eliminate thousands of local police officers; (3) Supports raising taxes on seniors and homeowners; (4) Supports taxpayer-funded government-owned public housing in any neighborhood with no special city permission. What I was more curious about was: Who was funding the attack? And the answer came at the bottom: “Major Funders: Los Angeles Police Protective League in the amount of $577,350, Douglas Emmett Properties, LP in the amount of $225,000, Jerry Greenberg”. It is clear that the LAPD officers don’t like Raman, likely because she wants to cut back on LAPD, and Douglas Emmett is no surprise because of her support of tenants. I’m not sure who Jerry Greenberg is. Doing further search to find Raman’s position on public safety uncovers loads and loads of attack articles from the LAPPL against Raman. According to Raman on Instagram, the LAPPL is spending hundreds of thousand of dollars against her. Well, looking at the website I found, it is over a half-million against her. Why? Because she voted against the police contract that spent more money on the police than the city could afford.

The attack website highlights an interesting point: For all of her policies related to the homeless and the downtrodden, and for all of her policies about bringing business back to Los Angeles, she has no policy related to public safety. What is her plan to reform and correct the deficiencies at the LAPD? What is her plan to reduce crime in the city, and to make the streets safer? How would she be fighting back against ICE, and preventing the excesses we have seen from the LAPD officers supporting ICE? How would she restore the image of the LAPD to what it was in the “Adam 12” era?

So I did some searching. Although at one time she was in the “Defund the Police” camp, she is now saying “We need to maintain the size of our police force and grapple with the fact that even the size of our existing police force is not enough to respond to 911 calls in a timely fashion”. In her first council campaign, she advocated for the LAPD to be transformed into a “much smaller, specialized armed force,” with responsibility for traffic enforcement, car crashes and nonviolent mental health crises shifted to other agencies. That’s actually a reasonable notion. Her council website notes that she has invested in the CIRCLE program. CIRCLE stands for Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement, and it serves as an alternative response to nonviolent incidents, including those involving people experiencing homelessness. If someone needs a wellbeing check or is causing a nonviolent disturbance, the CIRCLE Team can arrive quickly and help manage the situation. In the year since in January 2022, the CIRCLE program responded to 4,479 diverted calls from 911 or the LAPD non-emergency line, along with thousands more incidents encountered in the field.

Additionally, in her first year in office, Councilmember Raman introduced a motion to improve the City’s framework for hate incident and hate crime reporting and data collection. Also, in October 2022, Council adopted a motion introduced by Councilmember Raman to develop a multi-year plan to fully shift responsibility for nonviolent calls to unarmed civilians rather than armed officers, and to implement alternative models and methods for traffic safety enforcement that do not rely on armed law enforcement.

Similarly, she does not have plans related to LA Fire. She does not talk on her website about the Palisades and how Fire Recovery would be addressed. She does not address how she would harden the city against future fires or other climate disasters?

I read through her interview with Larry Mantle. She does talk about law enforcement in that interview, but mostly in their relationship to ICE and whether she would retain the Chief of Police. Nothing about reducing crime.

She does not list endorsers on her website. Google AI indicates that key endorsements and support for Nithya Raman’s 2026 mayoral campaign include organizations such as Streets for All, Urban Environmentalists, and the Housing Action Coalition (HAC); writers, producers, and other professionals in the Los Angeles entertainment industry; the pro-housing “YIMBY” (Yes in My Backyard) movement. As there are two DSA candidates in the race (Raman and Huang), DSA has not made an endorsement. I’m guessing that she doesn’t have union or elected official endorsements, as she isn’t listing them.

Tier 2: Distant Possibilities

◯ Rae Chen Huang (NP/Leans 🐴)

Huang is other Democratic Socialist candidate in the race (not Socialist, which is a different thing), whose campaign draws a lot of similarities to Mamdami’s campaign in New York. She has a Masters in Theology from Duke Divinity School in 2013 (Sociology of Religion), a Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology in 2007, and a Bachelors in Human Development and Theology from Boston College in 2004. Huang is a senior organizer at Housing Now! CA, a statewide housing justice coalition in California. She is an ordained Presbyterian (PCUSA) pastor and community organizer in Los Angeles, and serves on the board of Creating Justice, an organization advancing economic justice through creative expression in Skid Row. Her work on housing has likely made her the enemy of groups like The California Apartment Association, California Association of Realtors, Apartment Association of Orange County, Building Owners and Managers Association of California and Institute of Real Estate Management.

Unsurprisingly, one of her key focii is housing. She believes in “social housing” — which can range from publicly-owned developments to tenants taking ownership cooperatively. She sees a need for publicly- or community-owned housing when it comes to answers around funding, development and acquisition. (ref)

There are articles out there calling Huang a socialist. Reading through them, however, shows that the claim is sensationalized journalism. She’s a Democratic Socialist. Democratic Socialism is a philosophy that advocates for a democratic political system alongside a socially owned or regulated economy, aiming to meet public needs over private profit. It seeks to achieve social justice, economic equality, and worker empowerment through democratic, electoral means rather than revolution, differentiating it from authoritarian socialism. Socialism, on the other hand, is an economic and political system based on public or collective ownership of the means of production, rather than private ownership. It focuses on reducing inequality through social control of resources, with production geared toward human use rather than profit. It often involves state regulation or planning of the economy. That is not what Huang is advocating.

Huang has a detailed website. Her approach is based on the following vision pillars: (1) Housing for All; (2) Clean and Green Infrastructure; (3) An Economy for the People; (4) Real Safety; and (5) Transparency & Accountability.  I’ve read through her platform. For example, I looked at her ideas to address housing and homelessness. Many are similar to other ideas or common DSA thrusts. One particularly stood out:

Reparative Spatial Justice Initiative: Housing Reparations & Indigenous Land Back for Los Angeles

Los Angeles’ housing disparities are the result of deliberate public policies including redlining, racially restrictive covenants, freeway construction, urban renewal, and discriminatory land use decisions that displaced Black communities and dispossessed Indigenous peoples. Los Angeles’ Reparations Advisory Commission has documented this harm. Without structural repair, displacement and segregation will continue to compound generational inequity.

As Mayor, Rae will establish a Housing Reparations Fund providing direct housing assistance to eligible Black Angelenos harmed by historic discrimination, implement a legally enforceable Right to Return policy for displaced families, create a Racially Motivated Takings Review body, and adopt a Tribal First Right of Refusal policy to facilitate structured Indigenous land return. Repairing these historical and ongoing injustices heals generations of harm, and makes our LA a better home for us all.

This policy goes beyond anything I’ve seen from any other candidate, and I’m not sure it would go over well. She has similar … novel … ideas in other areas. For example, in her section on the Economy for the People, she talks about creating “LA’s first Office of Nightlife, a 24-hour city presence dedicated to making sure our bars, restaurants, music venues, queer spaces, and the workers and neighbors who sustain them have the resources and representation they deserve. Cities around the world, including New York, Boston, Amsterdam, and London, have appointed dedicated nightlife offices and seen measurable results: more jobs, fewer venue closures, reduced violence, and stronger neighborhood economies. It’s long past time LA joined them. The Office will run late-night bus service until after last call, so people can get home safely without putting themselves or anyone else at risk. It will launch a mediation program between residents and venues so that disputes get resolved without defaulting to LAPD. It will put naloxone in the hands of venue staff, strengthen protections for those who call for help during a medical emergency, and connect night workers to public health resources after their shifts end.”

Reading through her policies, one gets a strong sense of a passionate, social activist. One also gets the sense of someone that doesn’t understand how City government works. There’s no mention of working WITH the City Council. There’s no mention of working with constituencies. There’s no mention of providing equal benefit across the city, including the Valley and the Ports. There’s no indication of where the funding for all these interesting ideas will come from, especially given the cities budget problems. It is a DSA pipe dream, and it is unclear how she would govern when reality hits.

Huang also did an interview with Larry Mantle of LAist. In this interview, she does talk about working with the council and building coalitions: “And so together as I pull together the various departments, the county officials, our city council members, and even together with the state, we can work out and create the plan we need. For our capital infrastructure plan and then begin to work together towards that vision. And I’ll be doing that with directed departments that I’ll be, or with a particular office, that I will be able to set up to ensure that we’ll be able to maintain those healthy relationships.”

She has also talked about reducing the size of the LAPD and putting the funds into social program. She “would like to fire Chief McDonnell. He has not been shown to be able to follow the law, the state law, for example, which has a mandate to ensure that federal agents do not wear masks while they are around the city around our state. But Chief McDonnell has continually said that he refuses to follow that law. We’ve seen collusion between ICE agents and also LAPD. So we need to end those relationships and we also need to ensure that our that our police are continually not attacking our protestors, which we’ve seen assault, including of our teenagers up in the valley recently.” (ref)

She supports taxing the top earners to pay for her plans, and to move money from the LAPD to pay for services: “And I do believe very much that the police is taking up half of our budget right now in the city, and we can reallocate that budget to other things that we need in the city.” (ref)

She has endorsements from the Democratic Socialists, the Future Urbanists, and the “Feel the Bern” organization.

◯ Adam Miller (NP/Leans 🐴)

Adam Miller is a tech entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, and Democratic candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles in the 2026 election. He is co-founder of Instil, co-founder of Groundswell, a managing partner at AllerFund, chairman/director at Team Rubicon, director of Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE). He is also Managing Partner at 1P Ventures, Exec CHairman at Profi. He was Founder/CEO/Chairman at Cornerstone on Demand. He’s also a philanthropist at Better Angels, 1P.org, and LA-Tech.org. By age 25, he had earned degrees in law, business, and economics, while also passing the CPA and Series 7 exams. He has a BA in History from U-Penn, and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School. He has a JD from the UCLA School of Law, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He founded Cornerstone OnDemand, a cloud-based learning company, and later co-founded Better Angels, which focuses on building affordable housing. Cornerstone grew in Los Angeles into the world’s largest education technology company, scaling to more than 3,000 employees across 25 countries and empowering over 75 million people worldwide. The platform has delivered more than two billion courses to learners in 192 countries. In 2021, Cornerstone was taken private in a $5.2 billion transaction — but the mission never changed: opportunity should be accessible, not exclusive.  (LinkedIn)

Reading through his campaign page bio, he comes across as someone that is trying to do a lot of good (and doing it outside the normal political system). He seems like a good person, but I’m getting strong “Tom Steyer” vibes. Although admittedly the notion of good rich tech philanthropist wealthy dude goes into politics to do progressive things (Miller, Steyer) is much better than evil rich capitalist wealthy dude goes into politics to do regressive things (Trump, Musk), I still have a big problem with the rich wealthy dude goes into politics trope—in either direction.

His website indicates that Adam is running because he believes Los Angeles is still one of the greatest cities in the world, but also knows it is falling short of what families deserve. Housing is too expensive. Homelessness remains unresolved. Too many people feel less safe, less supported, and less confident that city government can deliver results. Adam believes LA does not need more excuses. It needs leadership that can solve hard problems and execute with urgency.

Miller’s campaign is focusing on homelessness, public safety, and economic mobility.

His campaign website indicates that his plan is something called The THRIVES Vision: Transparency, Homelessness, Rent, Innovation, Vibrancy, Economic Mobility, and Safety. His website goes into detail for each point about why that point matters, and the plan to implement/support/address that point. I’ve read through his plans, and the ideas sound good. But they are also incomplete and lack a wholistic vision. For example, he wants to dramatically expand housing and dramatically expand business. That’s all fine and good, but how will he address scaling up of the supporting infrastructure. If we are doing this growing, where will the water and the power come from? How will the people move around the city? Does his vision cover the entire city, or is it focused on the urban core and the westside (loads of leaders love to forget the San Fernando Valley and the ports).

He also has something he calls the 7×7 plan. These are seven clear goals: (1) Reduce Street Homelessness by 60%; (2) Lower Average Rents by 10%; (3) Double Law Enforcement Patrols; (4) Reduce Permitting Time by 80%; (5) Rebuild 1,500 Miles of Roadway; (6) Create 100,000 New Jobs; and (7) Bring LA into the 21st Century. WIthin each goal, he has seven specific steps. I’m a Highway Guy, so I looked at his road related goal. His steps related to rebuilding roads are:

(5.1) Clean the streets: Deploy dedicated street cleaning enforcement and sanitation surge teams across all 15 council districts / Clearing illegal dumping within 48 hours of report, doubling street sweeper frequency on the dirtiest corridors, and holding property owners accountable for sidewalk maintenance so no neighborhood in LA looks or feels abandoned.; (5.2) Deploy 10 dedicated rapid-response pothole crews operating 7 days a week with real-time GPS dispatch / Publishing fill time from report to completion for every ticket, by district, on the public dashboard.; (5.3) Require LADWP and all utility companies to restore pavement to full City standard within 48 hours of completing any underground work / Eliminating the single largest source of new pothole creation, which currently produces tens of thousands of pavement failures per year.; (5.4) Increase funding for Bureau of Street Services operational budget through reallocation from underperforming general fund programs / Bringing LA’s per-lane-mile street maintenance spending up to the national benchmark for comparable cities. (5.5) Prioritize the 500-mile road rebuilding program using a neighborhood equity index / Prioritizing busiest thoroughfares, then ranking streets by pavement condition score and weighting toward the 50 zip codes with the worst infrastructure.; (5.6) Launch the FixLA 311 accountability system on Day 1 / Every pothole report assigned to a crew within 24 hours and tracked to resident-confirmed resolution before the ticket closes, backed by a live Road Conditions Map showing pavement scores for every street in the city and fed by annual automated road-scanning that identifies deteriorating pavement before it breaks, enabling preventive maintenance at 20% the cost of full reconstruction. Implement an audit team to confirm proper completion and keep systems accountable. (5.7) Use the 2028 Olympics as a contractual forcing function / Lock in the full 500-mile corridor list by January 2027 and tie Olympic venue access route completions to binding contractor deadlines with LADOT.

Looking at this with the understanding I have of road maintenance from my years doing the California Highways page, it is overly simplistic and shows a lack of engineering knowledge. Potholes are temporary patches causes by larger road deterioration. Fixing the roads requires a deeper effort, often taking the road back to dirt and completely rebuilding it. Finding the money for that from underperforming general fund programs is the wrong answer—simply because we might need those general fund programs, and the answer is to make those programs perform, not to take their funds away. Focusing on the Olympic Venues also does something I fear: It focuses on the urban core and the Westside, and neglects the San Fernando Valley. The mayor needs to represent the entire city. Hmmm, it looks like looking specifically at the roads gives great insight into this candidate’s thinking.

His LAist interview shows some problems with his approach. For example, when asked how he would fix the Housing problems, Miller said, “Well, the good news is I’ve been a leader for 35 years. I’ve been running corporations, startups, nonprofits, and that experience has taught me how to lead teams big and small. And the reality is that leadership can be applied across multiple types of organizations. At the end of the day, an effective executive is good at setting a vision, aligning a team to that vision, operating with excellence, holding people accountable by measuring results and iterating when you need to make changes. That’s what I’ve done across every organization I’ve had, and that’s how I’ve been able to deliver results, and that’s exactly what I would do as mayor.” But the problem is that the City is not a business, it is not a foundation, it is not a philanthropy. There are regulations and rules that constrain what an individual or agency can do. There are unions and turf wars and budgets, and having to obtain approval from the city council. There are processes and paperwork. Executive experience in business doesn’t always work in a political office. Some can figure out how to work the system (Riordan). Some can’t (Trump).

The LAist/Larry Mantle interview is interesting reading. What comes across is that Miller is a man that wants to do good. However, he also has no understanding of how to do it in a municipal/political way; he views things as an executive and more specifically as a tech executive. There is no mention, for example, in his visions about working with the City Council, about getting buy in from the neighborhoods impacted by the ideas. Even with the best ideas, the lack of ability to work within the political structure will doom them.

He does not appear to have any endorsements.

Tier 3: The Great Unwashed “Rest of the Pack”

These candidates basically have little funding and little exposure. Given the nature of the “jungle” primary, the odds of them making the top-two slots is extremely low. They are included here more for exposure, but they really don’t have a chance.

Useful reference:

• LA Times, “These candidates for mayor are long shots. But they hope to lead the city of L.A.“

◯ Bryant Acosta (NP/Leans 🐴)

Acosta is a Freeland Creative Director in the LA area. He is also Chief Creative Officer at The Nightbreed. He was also Group Creative Director for Ayzenberg. He has a BA in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of California, Los Angeles.

He has a detained blueprint on his website with 6 Pillars and 43 Solutions: (1) Transparency and accountability; (2) Restoring affordability; (3) Uplift and protect; (4) Prosperity Plan; (5) Empowering local commerce; and (6) Green Energy Update.

He does not list any endorsements.

◯ Asaad Alnajjar (NP/Leans 🐴)

Alnajjar is a Senior Engineering Manager for the City of Los Angeles, having been with the city for 36 years. He is the founder of Intelepeer, a/k/a VoEx Inc, a VoIP MSP providing global peering infrastructure. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from USC. He is currently a member of the team leading the designing, construction and helping to build 35 citywide light rail and rapid bus systems including LAWA’s People Mover project opening June 2025 and others to be completed by 2027 at LAX in preparation for LA 2028 Olympics. He also is an active engineer leading the team for sidewalk repairs through 311 and MYLA311 which serves all the 15 council districts of the city with a 24Hr turn around.

According to his website, his platform includes: (1) Ending homelessness through housing-first strategies, outreach, and mental health care; (2) Rebuilding aging infrastructure using smart city technology and efficient budgeting; (3) Enhancing public safety by working alongside first responders and investing in prevention; and (4) Improving transparency, accountability, and resident access at every level of city government. His platform focuses on practical, engineering-led solutions to prioritize technical efficiency and fiscal accountability. He has detailed specifics on his website.

He does not list any endorsements.

◯ Tish Hyman (NP/Leans ❓)

Latisha Tawana “Tish” Hyman is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts.

She says she is running to restore common sense to City Hall. To protect taxpayers, prioritize public safety, and create real opportunity for families, workers, and small businesses. Los Angeles can do better, and together, we will.

Her campaign website has a digital twin to answer any questions. It indicates she will fight for the following policies: (1) Reduce encampments, Reduce emergency response burden, Reduce hospital cycling; (2) Economic Revival — Bring Hope Back to Hollywood; (3) Fiscal Discipline; (4) Safe Streets & Safe Spaces; (5) Make LA the Nightlife Capital of America (Safely); and (6) Housing Supply + Accountability. Her website has more details, and I’m sure you could ask her digital twin. But some of her plans are a bit naive. For example, in the Nightlife topic, her ideas are: 4AM pilot zones / Alcohol cutoff at 3AM / Free water after midnight / Mandatory food vendors / Permit-funded safety patrols / Rideshare partnerships. Some of this is out of the purview of the mayor, and some are really not well thought out.

She does not list any endorsements.

◯ Andrew Kim (NP/Leans ❓)

It is interesting to note that his 2026 website is essentially a clone of his 2022 website.

Kim has a Bachelor in Political Science from Claremont McKenna College. He has a JD from Pepperdine Law School. While working as a lawyer, he was “born again”, and enrolled in Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, obtaining a Masters in Theology. He is presently on leave while pursuing a PhD in Religion at Claremont Graduate School. For a number of years, he has run a one-man law firm, Low Offices of Andrew Kim. He ran for AD 46 in 1996 and LA City Council CD 10 in 2011. He has served as a LA County COmmissioner for Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and a pro tem judge of the Superior Court.

His focus areas would be (1) Jobs and Opportunity, (2) Homelessness; (3) Public safety and crime; and Corruption in City Hall. He says that in the first few days after being elected, he would declare a state of emergency, create an Economic Promotion Planning department, and appoint a Homelessness Czar. He also has a number of specific things he would do in the first year to address homelessness, audit city hall, and clean the city.

He does not list any endorsements.

◯ Suzy Kim (NP/Leans 🐴)

Kim is the Economic Development & Opportunity Deputy for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. Her policy portfolio includes the Department of Public Social Services, Department of Economic Opportunity, Aging & Disabilities Department, and Equity policies. She began her career in children, youth and family policy, in the areas of child welfare, urban education and youth leadership development. After a career in non-profits, she worked in two Los Angeles mayoral administrations, serving as policy advisor for affordable housing, CDBG, economic development and homelessness. Susan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University (interdisciplinary major of Economics, Government, History & Philosophy) and a Master in Public Policy from University of California, Berkeley.

Her policy pillars are: (1) Heal & Unite; (2) Safe & Livable City; (3) Care for People; and (4) Serving with Integrity. Her website has more details on those pillars, although they are essentially single sentences.

Her explanation for running has some interesting beats. She felt that she “couldn’t ignore what I was seeing—people struggling to get the help they need, whether it’s because support isn’t there, or because reaching for it isn’t always easy.” and that “Through my faith and my relationship with Jesus, I believe there’s real hope, real healing, and a different path forward.” She also writes “My faith is a big reason I’m stepping forward. I believe we’re called to care for each other, to show up with compassion, and to serve—especially when things are hard. That’s how I try to show up, and that’s how I would lead.”. There’s an interesting distinction here. Your faith driving you to lead to show compassion is fine. You’re putting your faith into action. However, trying to impose tenants of your faith on others (such as is being done with abortion restrictions, or posting the 10 Commandments in schools) is a problem.

She doesn’t list any endorsements.

◯ John Logsdon (NP/Leans ❓)

Logsdon is a director and producer at Blind Vision Films. He has also worked at Atlantic Records doing music video production, and was program director at KGLT-FM. He has a BA in Film, Radio, and TV from Montana State University in Bozeman. He has served as a Community Police Advisory Board for the LAPD Pacific Division.

His key issues are: (1) Public Safety; (2) Homelessness; (3) Housing, Density & Affordability; (4) Protecting Our Environment; (5) Mobility; (6) Olympics; (7) The Entertainment Industry (Film, TV & Music); and (8) Your City Government. The details of his plans are on his website.

He does not appear to have any endorsements.

◯ Juanita Lopez (NP/Leans ❓)

Lopez does not have a campaign website.

According to her Patch interview, she is a political scientist graduate from University of California, Irvine, with another degree in social and behavioral sciences. She  was a manger in operations at First Intersate Bank in Los Angeles, balancing end-of-day branch totals in Southern California, and also responsible for international currency exchange. She also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank, where she managed multi-million dollar accounts, emphasizing accountability. She prioritized transparency and ethical standards for other financial institutions in Southern California.

She feels that key issues facing cities like Los Angeles include high taxes, environmental concerns, and deteriorating infrastructure. She’s relatively strict on the homeless, saying “Homeless individuals will be fingerprinted to check for warrants. Those refusing help to become self-sufficient may be detained, and a judge could order them to detox. If they can’t care for themselves, a judge may assign them to permanent supportive housing. Encampments will be cleared. Homeless individuals will be treated with dignity and will no longer sleep on the streets. Hire social workers to assist them until they secure a job and housing. To reduce costs, those receiving social security benefits will use that money to support their stay in permanent supportive housing.”

She doesn’t appear to have any endorsements.

◯ Andrej A. Selivra (NP/Leans ❓)

Andrej put himself through community college and transferred to UCLA where he graduated near the top of his class with a degree in political science, while working full time to pay for his education. He’s since gone on to become a systems engineer, dedicated to helping teams and organizations improve their tools, resources and processes to get things done.

He has a detailed plan. His main three areas are (1) Create Housing; (2) Improve Transportation; and (3) Empower Community. The specifics for each plan are on the website. One thing that stood out to me, especially for his transportation plan, was the lack of attention on the San Fernando Valley. These candidates need to remember that the Valley is part of Los Angeles. I do like his ideas on supporting live entertainment and volunteerism.

When asked why he is better than his challengers, he said, “The establishment, led by Mayor Bass and defended by insiders like Nithya Raman, has normalized incompetence. They funnel billions to unaccountable contractors while our street crisis worsens. When the mayor’s inner circle faces scandals — like a deputy mayor faking a bomb threat to skip a meeting — it proves this administration is fundamentally unserious. Meanwhile, challengers like Adam Miller offer empty rhetoric without a single concrete blueprint. I offer a completely different paradigm. I didn’t learn about LA’s broken safety nets from a policy paper — I lived them. I survived the foster care system and teenage homelessness right here in this city. I know what it means to fall through the cracks. I fought my way from sleeping in my car, through community college to UCLA, and built a career fixing complex, failing systems for massive organizations.” (Patch)

He designed his website himself (most of these folks are using contractors). It has some weaknesses in terms of large graphics and a poorer layout.

He has no endorsements.

◯ Griselda Diaz (NP/Leans ❓) Write-In

Diaz has an AA in Business Administration and Communications from West LA College, and a BS in Business Administration from Mount St. Mary’s University. She expects an MS in Law in 2026. She has worked in software development for city governments, advertising and marketing operations, people operations management at a lobbying firm focused on building and safety, and administrative management in private manufacturing in Santa Fe Springs.

Her website has positions on Housing, Policing, Transit, Community, Safety, Food, Transparency, and Getty House. However, the links for those positions are not there. She does have a post on reddit with some positions: She basically believes in (1) Transparent Government, such as a daily public office hour and livestreamed public-facing work sessions; (2) Housing First — but structured — such as use city-owned parking lots for solar-canopy “safe sites” with sanitation + case management, or adaptive reuse of underused buildings for non-congregate interim housing; (3) Community After-School & Wellness Centers, providing after-school spaces (3–7 PM) offering various services; (4) Parkway / Median Conversions, gradually replacing ornamental turf grass in city-owned parkways with drought-resistant edible plants (e.g., prickly pear), native pollinator plants, drip irrigation systems, and expanded community gardens; and (5) Expanded Audit Capacity, providing funding to expand the City Controller’s office capacity via a Public Finance Fellows program.

She has no endorsements. She was a write-in candidate because she had insufficient signatures submitted for their petition to qualify for the Mayoral race.

◯ Misael Ortega (NP/Leans ❓) Write-In

Ortega is a painting contractor who was spurred to run by the Palisades Fire.

His website is scant on specifics. He wants to end ICE raids in Los Angeles and push for real immigration reform. He wants to make sure no one in Los Angeles goes hungry. He wants to raise the minimum wage so working people can actually live — not just survive. He wants to defend women’s health, LGBTQ+ rights, and mental health, because healing this city starts with its people. He gives no more specifics.

He has no endorsements. He is a write-in candidate because he had insufficient signatures submitted for their petition to qualify for the Mayoral race.

📋 Conclusion

Whew! That was a lot of investigation. As I’ve noted elsewhere, this is clearly an election cycle where “perfect is the enemy of good enough” is the motto. Give up your search for the perfect candidate. We need to pick the best of what we’ve got, and being “best” includes being able to get past the jungle primary. Being good is useless if you can’t get into the top two spots. So let’s start with the easy part. We can dismiss all the Tier 3 candidates, as they have no chance at this point of getting into the top 2. I think we can also dismission the Tier 2 candidates. Huang is likely too radical to make top two (especially given that the more conventional Raman is in the game), and Miller is just another Wealthy Guy trying to buy his way in not knowing what he is doing.

That leaves us with the three Tier 1 canddiates, and one of them can get tossed quickly: Spencer Pratt. He’s Republican-leaning, he echoes Republican ideas, and his personality makes Trump shine. He’ll likely make the top two of the primary, tho, thanks to the Republican leanings and the fact that the Republicans that don’t like Bass hate Raman even more.

We’re now down to two: Nithya Raman and Karen Bass. I wrote this summary working my way up the candidates. While researching Raman I was growing to like her, until I ran into her lack of positions on public safety and wildfire response. I then researched Bass, and found out that she had done a lot more than I had known. Yup, she screwed up on the wildfire response, but I’m also not sure that her presence would have done more, or that even a perfect Fire Department could have done more. She has a much better handle on public safety than Raman, and I think she’s taken the lessons from the wildfires to heart. She’s also making progress in other areas, such as housing, the homeless situation, infrastructure, and transportion. She’s not as transformational as Tom Bradley, but she is making progress. She does suffer from the common problem of LA Mayors: She ignores the San Fernando Valley. We get promises, but the focus remains on the S side of the Santa Monica Mountains.

In any case, investigating Raman vs Bass led me to the conclusion that Bass deserves a second term. She’s not perfect, but she’s good enough and is making progress. Raman has some good ideas, but is missing good concrete plans on public safety and wildfires. The attacks from the LAPPL don’t help.

Conclusion: ⚫ Karen Bass (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

◊

City Attorney

According to the city, as the City’s general counsel, the City Attorney provides advice and opinions on matters of municipal concern, examines contracts and ordinances as to form and legality, and is frequently called upon to interpret the City Charter, federal and state statutes, and other laws that govern Los Angeles. As the City’s chief prosecutor, the City Attorney prosecutes all misdemeanor criminal offenses and infractions occurring in the City of Los Angeles. The City Attorney works closely with local law enforcement agencies to prosecute crimes through the Criminal Branches of the City Attorney’s Office located throughout Los Angeles. The City Attorney’s Office is also a resource for victims and witnesses of crimes, and provides a network of referral services as well as crisis intervention and support. Additionally, the City Attorney administers a number of citywide crime prevention initiatives focused on preserving the quality of life throughout Los Angeles’ neighborhoods. The City Attorney litigates all civil actions on behalf of the City and represents the City, its boards and officers in all civil trials and legal proceedings, in both state and federal court. The City Attorney advocates for the benefit of the City before the United States Congress and the State Legislature and represents the City in proceedings before the State Public Utilities Commission, the Federal Maritime Board, and other federal and state administrative bodies and committees when the City is an interested party.

In order to assess whether to support the incumbent or not, I asked Google AI for a summary of the incumbent’s negatives. These were the Key Controversies and Criticisms that Gemini identified: (ref)

• Massive Data Breach & Loss of Police Endorsement: In April 2026, her office disclosed that it had inadvertently leaked 7.7 terabytes of data. This included thousands of confidential LAPD disciplinary records. The breach occurred because the files were placed on a non-password-protected file-sharing system. Critics and council members lambasted her for waiting weeks to disclose the breach. Consequently, the Los Angeles Police Protective League rescinded its endorsement of her 2026 re-election campaign.
• Skid Row Housing Trust Receivership: In 2023, Feldstein Soto recommended Mark Adams as the receiver to manage the Skid Row Housing Trust. Months later, she admitted it was a mistake after Adams failed to make progress on safety problems and wrongfully threatened hundreds of vulnerable tenants with eviction. It was later revealed by the Los Angeles Times that Adams had hosted a campaign fundraiser for her.
• Staff Whistleblower Claims & Workplace Environment: Multiple former employees filed retaliation claims against her. One high-ranking former prosecutor alleged that Feldstein Soto demanded a case dismissal because the defendant was represented by a maximum campaign donor. Other employees have accused her of reading staff emails without consent and creating a “climate of fear” in the office.
• Targeting Journalists and the Public Records Act: Feldstein Soto drew harsh criticism from press freedom advocates after her office sued a journalist and an advocacy group to force the return of LAPD officer photos that the city had originally legally provided under a public records request. She was also criticized for attempting to lobby state legislators to weaken the California Public Records Act in response to the error.
• Soaring Legal Payouts: Critics and political opponents have pointed to a massive surge in liability payments by the city. Her office took a highly combative stance against plaintiffs rather than settling. Opponents argue this forced cases to trial that ultimately yielded massive jury verdicts against the city.
• Pro-Palestinian Bias Allegations: In 2025, a judge found some evidence of “biased prosecution” by her office regarding its aggressive stance in charging pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked traffic, noting that such prosecutions are historically rare in Los Angeles.
• Opposition to Affordable Housing: She faced backlash and lawsuits from housing advocates for instructing city agencies not to interact with developers regarding a previously approved 140-unit affordable housing complex in Venice.

This is a fair set of negatives. The potential replacements need to address these concerns and indicate how they would prevent them. For me, the big one is the data breach, but they all are reasonable concerns.

Useful References:

• LA Public Press: “Who is running for LA City Attorney?“
• LA Times: “Your guide to the L.A. city attorney’s race: three against Hydee Feldstein Soto“

◯ Aida Ashouri (NP/Leans ☮🗽)

Her about page provides a detailed background. Aida Ashouri is a former staff attorney at Public Counsel and Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, representing tenants and low-income small business owners. Ashouri has also worked for the LA City Attorney and the San Diego City Attorney. LinkedIn shows the following experience: Self Employed Public Rights Attorney, March 2025 – Present; Staff Attorney at the Affirmative Litigation Division of the Homelessness Prevent Project, 9 mos; Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of LA, 1yr4mo; Attorney Advisor, US SBA, 2yr5mo; Associate at Foley & Mansfield PLLP, 1yr9mo. She received her JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law. She also attended George Washington University, Elliot School of International Affairs with a master’s in International Affairs; and the University of California, Irvine, with a bachelor’s in international studies. She was admitted to the bar in 2014, and has an active license: #300502. She was elected to the board of the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council from 2021-2025, and appointed to the Griffith Park Advisory Board in 2022-2024.

Her platform has the following thrusts: (1) Holding slumlords accountable; (2) Protecting our rights to protest and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; (3) Support for immigrants and workers; (4) Safeguarding our environment; (5) Supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence; (6) Prioritizing mediation and restorative justice in our communities; (7) Housing over handcuffs; and (8) Taking concrete action to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Reading through her Patch interview, one gets the sense of a very progressive agenda. It is unclear if she would be strong enough on crime for the city, or whether her progressive approach would sink her just like it sunk George Gascon. It would certainly be a breath of fresh air in terms of approach, but I’m not sure it would work.

I find it odd that her campaign committee is far out of Los Angeles, out in Rancho Mirage.

According to LA Public Press, Ashouri has endorsements from organizations and individuals that include the Peace & Freedom Party Los Angeles; civil rights organizer Eric Mann; Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, the founder of Biking While Black; and Tany Ling, founder of the Stop the Gondola coalition.

◯ John McKinney (NP/Leans 🐴🐘)

McKinney has worked as a prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office for nearly 30 years. McKinney said that he has tried nearly 40 murder cases, including the man who shot and killed Nipsey Hussle. He currently heads up the office’s bureau of specialized prosecutions, overseeing cases from gang homicide to sex crimes to the office’s entire juvenile division. According to his About page, he did his undergraduate at Rutgers and got his law degree at the UCLA School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1998; his license is #194455. He ran for District Attorney in 2024. After he failed to get past the primary, he endorsed Nathan Hochman.

His top three priorities as city attorney are public safety, fiscal responsibility, and  rooting out fraud, waste, corruption, and abuse in the government. His issues page highlights the following issues: (1) Public Safety and Neighborhood Protection; (2) Reducing Lawsuits and Protecting Taxpayer Dollars; (3) Fiscal Responsibility and Modernizing the City Attorney’s Office; (4) Compassionate Accountability on Homelessness; (5) Fighting Corruption and Protecting the Public Trust; (6) Protecting Workers and Combating Exploitation; (7) Protecting the Environment and Public Health; (8) Protecting Renters While Respecting Property Rights; and (9) Connecting the City Attorney’s Office to the Community. This seems a relatively progressive agenda.

According to LA Public Press, McKinney has endorsements from former LA County District Attorneys Steve Cooley and Jackie Lacey.

⚫ Marissa Roy (NP/Leans 🐴)

According to her LinkedIn profile, Roy is a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice, and a Lecturer in Law at USC. Previously, she was a staff attorney at the Public Rights Project for 2 years, and an Associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP for 2 years. Roy worked for the City Attorney’s Office from 2017 until 2018 She was also a clerk for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has a Masters in Public Diplomacy from USC, and a JD from Yale Law School. She was admitted to the bar in 2017; her active license is #318773. She did studies in Rwanda to learn how law is implemented after Genocide. From that, she learned how important it is to take culture and people’s experiences into account when administering the law. Though Americans are often taught that the law is objective, Roy said Rwanda showed her that law is in fact always subjective, based on people’s gender, socioeconomic status and other factors.

Roy believes Feldstein-Soto “has failed us in so many ways.” She said Feldstein-Soto has missed opportunities to stand up to the Trump Administration, worked to block the construction of affordable housing, and prosecuted journalists and pro-Palestinian protesters. If elected, Roy said she would file more lawsuits to protect families, workers, and tenants, including through stronger enforcement of the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment law, which has led to 13,000 complaints of tenant harassment. Roy said she would also do more to protect LA residents from Trump administration policies. Roy was part of a legal clinic that challenged Trump’s attacks on sanctuary cities, and when she later worked at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where she was outside counsel for LA County, she penned briefs on more than a dozen legal cases challenging the first Trump Administration. (LAPP)

Her online platform addresses the following areas: (1) Protecting workers’ rights; (2) Protecting tenants’ rights; (3) Protecting the environment; (4) Protecting consumers; (5) Fighting Trump; (6) Addressing housing and homelessness; (7) Building community safety; and (8) Saving taxpayer dollars.

LA Public Press noted that Roy said she would also expand the City Attorney’s office public rights division, devoting more lawyers to  issues like workers’ rights, tenants’ rights, climate justice and litigation against the Trump administration. She said she wants to limit the use of outside counsel and negotiate a government rate if the city has to contract with an outside firm. As for the city’s liability payments, Roy said she would welcome an audit from the city controller, to help identify recurring issues and what it costs when they’re not fixed.

She has raised over $638,567 in campaign contributions, second only to Feldstein Soto.

She has a large number of endorsements, including a large number of unions and Democratic organizations. She has endorsements from LA City Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado, as well as LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. She’s also endorsed by the California AG, and a number of significant elected officials.

◯ Hydee Feldstein Soto (NP/Leans 🐴) ⭐INC

Hydee Feldstein Soto is the 43^rd Los Angeles City Attorney, elected in November 2022 and sworn into office in December 2022. Prior to that, she was VP and Interim General Counsel at Kin Community, and a partner at Sullivan & Cormwell LLP. She was also an Equity Partner at Paul Hastings. She has BA in Political Science and Economics from Swarthmore, and a JD from Columbia University. She was admitted to the bar in 1982, license #106866.

According to her campaign website, her main areas of focus are (1) Keeping Los Angeles Safe; (2) Standing Up For Our Immigrant Communities and the U.S. Constitution; (3) Protecting Your Rights and Your Wallet​​; (4) Fighting for Workers; (5) Protecting Women and Girls; (6) Helping Renters Stay in Their Homes; (7) Helping Our Unhoused Get Back on their Feet; (8) Solving Neighborhood Problems; and (9) Keeping Government Honest.

According to the LA Times, Feldstein Soto has highlighted her work fighting sex trafficking on the city’s notorious Figueroa Corridor and, more recently, nearby Western Avenue. She said the city has shifted emphasis away from arresting sex workers and toward the prosecutions of the johns. The city attorney said she also has worked to expand “restorative justice” programs, including one that holds outdoor court proceedings on Skid Row. She defended her record on legal payouts, saying such costs have been climbing in cities across the country. She pointed to the huge payments being made by Los Angeles County, which signed off on a $4-billion settlement to resolve thousands of claims of sexual abuse. She also contends that her office experienced a backlog in payouts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a lengthy shutdown of the courts.

She’s raised more than $845,582 in campaign contributions.

She has a large number of endorsements: Some unions, Democratic clubs, womens groups, latino groups. She has the backing of Mayor Karen Bass and Senator Adam Schiff. She has a fair number of elected officials: city, county, and state elected.

📋 Conclusion

For me, this is a decision between Feldstein Soto and Roy. I think Ashouri is too progressive for the office and would run into problems. McKinney’s dearth of endorsements, plus the fact of who he does have endorsing him is problematic for me. Normally, I’d like Feldstein Soto’s progressive positions  and her pattern of what she’s done so far. She also has strong endorsements. But she’s also racked up a large track record of programs and poor judgement while in office. The city doesn’t need that. Roy has some good plans and proposals, and has strong endorsements behind her.

Conclusion: ⚫ Marissa Roy (NP/Leans 🐴)

◊

City Controller

The LA City Controller is the chief accounting officer, auditor and paymaster for the City of Los Angeles. One of the Controller’s main functions is to analyze the effectiveness of different city departments. The Controller oversees 3 divisions: Audit Services, Accounting Operations, and Financial Reporting along with 160 employees who conduct independent audits. These auditors are in charge of managing city payroll and spending, report on city finance, and provide City metrics and data.

According to the Google AI summary, key criticisms and negative points associated with Kenneth Mejia include:

• Office Management and Turnover: Shortly after taking office, Mejia faced allegations of a “terrible and toxic” work environment from former campaign staffers turned employees, leading to the dismissal of key staff, including his director of technology and director of community engagement.
• Blurring Campaign and City Work: He has faced scrutiny for using city resources, specifically his corgis and associated graphics, for both official office communications and campaign materials. A complaint was filed with the city’s Ethics Commission regarding this issue.
• Political Activism over Auditing: Critics argue his office acts more as an activist organization than a professional auditing entity. This includes focusing on public safety and homelessness spending, which has created tension within City Hall.
• Past Controversial Statements: Former City Controller Laura Chick called Mejia “unfit” due to his “erratic” behavior and past social media posts, such as those calling President Biden a “racist” and “rapist”.
• Unfulfilled Audit Promises: While promising to audit, Mejia has been criticized for not delivering on promised audits, such as a “focused audit” on the Inside Safe homelessness initiative, which was instead sent to a private firm.
• Aggressive Approach: His confrontational, often anti-establishment, approach has been described as divisive by some, with some staff expressing frustration over his management style.

Mejia has countered these criticisms by arguing that he is shaking up the status quo, fulfilling campaign promises of transparency, and focusing on the public’s money, stating that his work has made the Controller position more active and visible.

Useful reference:

• LA Times, “Your guide to the L.A. city controller race: Kenneth Mejia faces challenger Zach Sokoloff“

⚫ Kenneth Mejia (NP) ⭐INC

First and foremost: TIL that the LA City Controller’s website has a map to LA City and County bathrooms and water fountains on its website. That’s a great service.

Before I get to the background: Looking closer at the LA City Controller’s website: Boy, has Mejia put a lot of data out there. He is really being transparent about what his office is doing. For example, there’s an interactive city budget, a homelessness dashboard, a liability claims dashboard, a city departments metrics dashboard. There are financial datasets made public: payroll, the city checkbook, all city funds, and revenue data. There are all sorts of oversight and audit reports. There are all sorts of financial reports and budgets. There are data sites: speed camera maps, unspent homelessnetss funds, capital projects, parking tickets. This is what the State Controllers office should be doing — if this guy ran for State Controller, I’ve support him in a heartbeat.

Oh, and as for his background. Kenneth Mejia is the only CPA running for City Controller. He has 15 years of accounting & auditing experience. In 2022, he won the most votes of any controller candidate in city history, despite lacking name recognition and running against a sitting city council member, Paul Koretz. He graduated from Woodbury University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, and worked as an auditor at a “Big 4” accounting firm before becoming a CPA and community organizer.

According to the LA Times, with respect to the current LA City Budget shortfall, Mejia said he has tried to right the budget by warning about potential shortfalls as well as large increases for liability payouts. He also has discouraged the city from raising taxes and pushed for other ways to make money, including hitting owners of empty properties with a vacancy tax. With respect to homelessness, Mejia has been critical of the city’s spending, citing an instance in which half the money budgeted to address the issue went unspent. He believes the city controller’s office should review spending on homelessness programs to potentially catch fraud situations. However, he said that with just five investigators, it’s “next to impossible” to investigate all of the 700 waste, fraud and abuse claims his office receives each year. Mejia said his team built a map showing that multifamily housing projects have been concentrated in denser, low-income areas. The city, he said, could increase housing affordability by building in single-family areas that haven’t experienced racial redlining.

Mejia has a number of union endorsements, but has specifically not opted to seek or accept endorsements from political parties to maintain the independence of the Controller’s office.

◯ Zach Sokoloff (NP/Leans 🐴)

Sokoloff graduated from Yale University, received a master’s in education policy and administration from Loyola Marymount University and an MBA from Harvard University before teaching algebra at a middle school in Boyle Heights and a high school in Watts. He joined Hackman Partners in 2018, where he has worked on multibillion projects transforming legacy studio lots. He claims his experience managing large-scale projects is key to navigating the city’s budget and bureaucracy.

According to the LA Times, with respect to the current LA City Budget shortfall, Sokoloff said the previous budget crisis — the city recently faced a nearly $1-billion deficit — will be the pervading issue in the coming years. If elected, he would audit basic city services — roads, sidewalks, street lights — to see where the money is going. He would appoint a chief revenue officer to find new income streams. With respect to homelessness, Sokoloff said affordable housing units cost too much to build and he wants to work with the city to build cheaper housing more quickly. He supports bringing back a dashboard showing city-owned vacant land that potentially could be built on, and believes it’s important to maintain a working relationship with the county to avoid duplication and finger-pointing.

Sokoloff has raised significantly more money: $510,594 to Mejia’s $112,761. That raises the question of independence: How beholden will Sokoloff be to his contributors?

Sokoloff has all the of political endorsements that Mejia eschewed: Democratic clubs, Democratic elected officials. He also has a fair number of unions backing him.

📋 Conclusion

I was blown away by the City Controller’s website and its transparency. I’ve read through the negatives, but they don’t convince me that we need to change the leadership here. I also think it is important to have a skilled CPA in this office. I don’t believe that Sokoloff’s experience is relevant to the controller’s office.

Conclusion: ⚫ Kenneth Mejia (NP) ⭐INC