The job of Los Angeles City Attorney is a complicated balancing act that requires good judgment, and, necessarily, the kind of experience that teaches good judgment.<\/p>\n
It is not the best place to try out trendy activist ideas that will deliver negative consequences for jobs and public safety in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
We endorsed incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto for reelection, but the voters disagreed, and two other candidates will face each other in the November run-off.<\/p>\n
Marissa Roy<\/a>, a member<\/a> of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, finished first in the primary with 43.1% of the vote. She told us her priorities would be suing businesses over what she says is $2.5 billion in wage theft, and suing landlords, presumably to stop them from evicting tenants who don\u2019t pay the rent or violate their leases in other ways.<\/p>\n But Roy\u2019s website gives away the game. She calls her issues page \u201cThe People\u2019s Platform.\u201d In the first section, \u201cProtecting Workers\u2019 Rights,\u201d she declares, \u201cCompanies are using increased automation to evade regulations and eliminate jobs.\u201d That\u2019s not illegal, and it\u2019s a troubling sign that a city attorney candidate can\u2019t get past paragraph one in her platform before she\u2019s hinting at using the considerable powers of the office to put a thumb on the scale for what should be a collective bargaining issue, not a law enforcement matter.<\/p>\n When it comes to public safety, Roy states confidently that \u201ctoo often, our approach to public safety doesn\u2019t actually keep us safe,\u201d then defaults to the dated talking point that the \u201croot causes of crime\u201d must be addressed instead of giving in to a \u201ccycle of criminalization.\u201d That\u2019s code for more social program spending and fewer arrests, and since there has never been enough money for enough social programs to solve the \u201croot causes of crime,\u201d the residents of the city are left with the crimes. Businesses with jobs might offer a better life to young people, but don\u2019t expect businesses to locate or grow in Los Angeles if they\u2019re only going to be demonized and sued in the name of \u201cThe People\u2019s Platform.\u201d<\/p>\n