Comments
LA WATCHDOG - My recommendations are influenced by the need for truly balanced budgets, fiscal responsibility, long term plans, transparency, and accountability. I hate budget deficits, deferred maintenance, unfunded pension liabilities, and the Structural Deficit. I support the efficient delivery of services, public safety (including limited unarmed response), and the maintenance and repair of our infrastructure. I support reforms, including open and transparent labor negotiations and a prohibition on the City entering into new labor agreements that create deficits. I do not trust our elected officials, especially when it comes to budgets and financial issues. They place their self-serving interests and those of the campaign funding public sector unions ahead of what is in the best interests of Angelenos.
City Ballot Measures
Measure CB. Yes. Applies cannabis business taxes to unlicensed pot shops. Expected revenue: $30-35 million. This tax levels the playing the field with licensed operations. [Note: the City needs to collect over $400 million that is owed by licensed operators. Failure to pay taxes should be a felony, not a misdemeanor.]
Measure TC. No. Requires online travel companies to pay the Transient Occupancy (Hotel) Tax of 14% on their commission, the difference what they charge hotel guests and what they remit to the hotel operators. Expected revenue: $5 million. The City does not deserve our Yes vote because it has refused to reform its dysfunctional budgetary practices that have resulted in perennial deficits.
Measure TT. No. Increase the Transient Occupancy (Hotel) Tax to 16% from 14% through 2028, and 15% thereafter. Expected revenue: $44 million through 2028 and $22 million thereafter. No reform deserves a No vote.
County Ballot Measure
Measure ER. No. Will increase our sales tax by a half-cent, from 9¾% to 10¼%, for five years. Expected revenue: $1 billion. Exceeding 10% is jarring. A regressive tax. This is more good money down the drain because the County makes the City look like a well-run organization. This is in addition to the half-cent, $1 billion increase approved in 2024 to fund the poorly managed homeless efforts. While the stated reason is to fund healthcare services, it is a general tax and can be used for any purpose. The County has not endorsed needed budgetary reform.
City Offices
Mayor: Adam Miller, even though he is behind in the polls, has the necessary management and administrative experience and has a solid understanding of the City’s finances. Also, by process of elimination. Karen Bass does not deserve another term. Think of the Palisades fire, a doctored report on the Fire Department response to the fire, mismanagement of LAHSA, cronyism, our failing infrastructure, and Structural Deficit. Nithya Ramen is a Democratic Socialist of America who has supported defunding the police, protecting encampments near schools, and increased density in single family neighborhoods. Spencer Pratt has pointed out many of the City’s failure but may not have the necessary management or administrative experience. Great ads that have received a national following. Pratt is my second choice.
City Attorney: Hydee Feldstein Soto. An experienced lawyer who inherited a dysfunctional organization from Mike Feuer. She has ruffled feathers when she made needed changes and made calls that were not well received by selected members of the City Council. She is a voice of reason and a valued confidante to elected officials and general managers. Marissa Roy lacks experience and is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. She will be owned by the unions who have endorsed her candidacy. John McKinney is a seasoned prosecutor but lacks the necessary administrative and institutional experience.
Controller: Zach Sokoloff. I have known Zach since he came home from the hospital. He is honest and direct, understands the budget and the City’s financial situation, and the need for transparency, accountability, fiscal sustainability, and balanced budgets. He also can work with others to implement policies. He will also be an advocate for the efficient use of the City’s homeless dollars and at the same time work with other elected officials. Importantly, former Controller Laura Chick has endorsed Zach. His opponent, Kenneth Mejia, the incumbent, has raised interesting issues, but has not been able to collaborate with the Council and the Mayor to implement new policies.
Council District 1. Maria Lou Calanche. She understands constituent services and the need for public safety (she was a former Police Commissioner), fiscal discipline and balanced budgets, clean streets and parks, affordable housing (served on the City’s Housing Authority), and collaboration with others. The incumbent, Eunisses Hernandez, is a “DSA endorsed idealogue” who wants to defund the police.
Council District 3. Tim Gaspar. First time candidate. Private sector experience. Understands the need for balanced budgets, public safety, and transparency and accountability, especially as it relates to the homeless budget.
Council District 5: Katy Yaroslavsky. Incumbent. Essentially unopposed. As Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, she needs to endorse and implement meaningful budget and financial reform.
Council District 7. Monica Rodriguez. Unopposed.
Council District 9. Jose Ugarte. Knows the district because he worked as Chief of Staff for termed out Curren Price.
Council District 11. Traci Park. Incumbent. Superb constituent service for burned out for residents of Pacific Palisades. Supports balanced budgets, the police and fire departments, and enforcement of homeless regulations and laws. The Democratic Socialists of America have endorsed her opponent.
Council District 13. Dylan Kendall. She has private sector experience. Hugo Soto-Martinez, the incumbent who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, does not deserve to be reelected.
Council District 15. Tim McOskar. Incumbent. Essentially unopposed. Knows the City and its inner workings because he served as Mayor Hahn’s chief of staff and as a lawyer working on governmental affairs.
Los Angeles Unified School District
District 2. No recommendation.
District 4. Nick Melvoin. Incumbent. Essentially unopposed.
District 6. Kelly Gonez. Incumbent. Unopposed.
LAUSD has significant financial issues that will require significant downsizing and the closure of schools as the student body has decreased from over 700,000 students to less than 400,000. The District also has significant unfunded pension and other retirement liabilities as well as billions in debt. At the same time, the District has a structural deficit while its unions want unsustainable increases in wages and benefits.
State Senate
District 24. No recommendation.
District 26. Juan Camacho.
District 30. No recommendation.
State Assembly
District 41. No recommendation.
District 42. No recommendation.
District 43. No recommendation.
District 46. No recommendation.
District 51. Rick Chavez Zbur. He needs to focus on Sacramento’s out of control spending and the fraud and inefficiency associated with the State’s unemployment insurance program and its health care and social welfare operations.
District 52. No recommendation.
District 54. No recommendation.
District 65. No recommendation.
District 66. No recommendation.
County Sheriff
Robert Luna. Incumbent. Deserves a second term. He inherited a dysfunctional department that is slowly on the mend. Has stayed out of the headlines. All five Supervisors have endorsed him.
Assessor
Jeffrey Prang. Incumbent. He has done an excellent job in transforming a scandal ridden operation into a well-oiled machine. Transition from a paper-based system to a digital system was on time and on budget, a rare feat in California. Timely constituent service.
Superior Court
I have relied on the opinion of others whose judgment I respect.
Office No. 2. No recommendation.
Office No. 14. Irene Lee
Office No. 39. No recommendation.
Office No. 60. No recommendation.
Office No. 64. Maria Gohabadi
Office No. 65. Samul Wolloch Krause
Office No. 66. Ben Forer
Office No. 81. David Walgren
Office No. 87. David DeJute
Office No. 116. No recommendation.
Office No. 131. Donna Tryfman
Office No. 141. No recommendation.
Office No. 176. Gloria Marin
Office No. 181. Ryan Dibble
Office No. 196. Candice J. Henry. Unopposed.
Governor
Steve Hilton. Being a Republican in a deep blue state, he has no chance in November. But he is raising many interesting issues, ranging from High Speed Rail, out of control spending, deficits, tax increases, corruption, a cumbersome bureaucracy, the high cost of gasoline in California, the dependence on imported oil when we billions of barrels in the State, the shutdown of needed refining capacity, and a failing infrastructure, all after 16 years of rule by the Democratic Party.
Second choice. Matt Mahan, while down in the polls, is a moderate Democrat and has done a commendable job as mayor of San Jose.
Third choice. Xavier Becerra. Better than Tom Steyer and Katie Porter.
Lieutenant Governor. No recommendation.
Secretary of State. No recommendation.
Controller. No recommendation.
Treasurer. Eleni Kounalakis.
Attorney General. No recommendation. Rob Bonta does not deserve to be reelected.
Insurance Commissioner. Patrick Wolff. Has a deep understanding of the insurance industry. He understands risks. Wants to establish a competitive market for insurers. Will not accept corporate or union contributions. No desire for higher office. And unlike other candidates, not a career politician looking for a job to extend his/her time in office and receive a higher pension. “Wicked” smart. Chess Grandmaster.
Board of Equalization. No recommendation.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Josh Newman. He has demonstrated the ability to collaborate with both parties. He has legislative experience, but not a career politician.
(Jack Humphreville writes the LA Watchdog column for CityWatch, where he covers city finances, utilities, and accountability at City Hall. He is President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, serves as the Budget and DWP representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and is a longtime Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. With a sharp focus on fiscal responsibility and transparency, Jack brings an informed and independent voice to Los Angeles civic affairs. He can be reached at [email protected].)
