Attention Los Angeles County voters:<\/p>\n
These races are for countywide offices and also there\u2019s a measure restricted to LA County. Here is a brief overview of county races appearing on the June 2 primary ballot:<\/p>\n
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors<\/p>\n
\u2013First District:\u00a0<\/strong> This is an open seat. Supervisor Hilda Solis has served for nearly 12 years and is termed out. So, that means a new supervisor will be elected from the following five candidates<\/a> vying to represent about 2 million residents in a district that includes Skid Row and and Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, spreading into the central San Gabriel Valley cities of Alhambra, Monterey Park, Montebello, El Monte, Baldwin Park, La Puente, West Covina, Azusa, Walnut and Pomona, including unincorporated communities of Avocado Heights, Hacienda Heights, Valinda and Rowland Heights.<\/p>\n The county has a total of 10 million residents and the supervisors manage about a $50 billion budget and 117,000 budgeted employees across 38 departments, including public health, homeless services, public safety, social services, animal care and public works.<\/p>\n Elaine Alaniz<\/strong>, 44, a disaster recovery specialist, said the board is acting \u201cbelow expectations,\u201c adding: \u201cWe continue to see rising costs in areas like homelessness and public safety without the level of progress residents expect and deserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Despite massive cuts from the federal HR1 bill to county healthcare services, Alaniz does not support Measure ER, which would temporarily raise the sales tax a half-cent to bring in a billion dollars a year of stop-gap funding. She said the county can\u2019t just close Men\u2019s Central Jail without first building\u00a0 \u201ca facility to better separate individuals with serious mental health needs from those in custody for criminal offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n Noel Almario<\/strong>, 40, a birth doula, said the board has made incremental progress in fighting poverty, homelessness and providing adequate healthcare to those in need but is moving too slowly.<\/p>\n She recognized that federal cuts to Medi-Cal will put the most vulnerable county residents\u2019 lives at risk and supports Measure ER.<\/p>\n She agrees with the county\u2019s new approach to homeless services, the new LA County Office of Homeless Services & Housing. Almario favors adding multilingual alerts for those facing an impending disaster, such as a spreading fire or a toxic gas leak.<\/p>\n David E. Argudo,<\/strong> 55, a councilmember for the city of La Puente,\u00a0said the board has been in a reactive mode and wants to see more bold actions. \u201cWe need a board that actively champions healthier communities, environmental justice and the creation of more productive green spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n As a member of the La Puente City Council, he emphasizes better cooperation with the county\u2019s 88 cities, saying \u201cone-size-fits-all mandates\u201d are troublesome. He is concerned the county\u2019s HSH department may just add another layer of bureaucracy.<\/p>\n He is opposed to Measure ER, saying he\u2019s not sure the money will go toward helping clinics and hospitals. Also, he doesn\u2019t agree that the half-cent sales tax is the right solution.<\/p>\n State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo<\/strong> said she has spent her career fighting for workers and their civil rights. In 2004 she was executive vice president of UNITE-HERE international union. And from 2006 to 2014 she was secretary-treasurer of the\u00a0L.A. County Federation of Labor,\u00a0AFL-CIO.<\/p>\n Her three top priorities are: Addressing housing affordability and homelessness; expanding access to healthcare and mental health services and attracting good-paying jobs to the county.<\/p>\n In response to problems with nonprofits providing services for the homeless and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) being audited for not always keeping track of dollars spend and for late payments, Durazo wants to use the California Attorney General\u2019s Office to provide oversight of tax dollars on homeless shelters and housing.<\/p>\n On responses to wildfires, Durazo wants to see greater investment in early warning systems, pre-position resources, and ensure that recovery is equitable.<\/p>\n Annabella Figueroa Mazariegos<\/strong> could not be reached for this report; she did not return an SCNG news questionnaire nor submit a photo and a campaign website could not be located.<\/p>\n \u2013Third District:\u00a0 <\/strong>This zone is 446 square miles large, home to 2 million people. It includes portions of 10 cities, 26 unincorporated communities, and 49 neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. The district stretches from Santa Monica to Hollywood, Sylmar to San Fernando, and takes in most of the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Fernando Valley.<\/p>\n The incumbent, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, is running for re-election<\/a> for a four-year term against three challengers.<\/p>\n Tonia Arey<\/strong>, 55, a Realtor from Calabasas,\u00a0said the board is not \u201cgetting the job done,\u201d in areas of homelessness, public safety and emergency preparedness. \u201cRight now, it feels like the focus is on bureaucracy and politics instead of solving real problems.\u201d<\/p>\n She agreed with the county breaking from LAHSA\u00a0 but has concerns about the county\u2019s new homeless services department. As to Measure G, a voter-approved reform measure that increases the five-member board to nine members,<\/a> she\u2019s worried it will cost county taxpayers. \u201cExpanding from five to nine supervisors raises a basic question: Where is the money coming from?\u201d<\/p>\n Arey wants the board to get the 10 million county residents much more prepared for a wildfire or other disaster by performing readiness audits annually.<\/p>\n Lindsey Horvath<\/strong>, 43, incumbent supervisor, said her leadership in moving to a central, homeless services system within the county will bring the structural reforms and accountability lacking under LAHSA. \u201cAs we enter this transition, we are ensuring providers are paid and financial best practices are in place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Second, she described Measure G that she championed as \u201cthe most significant reform of L.A. County government in over a century.\u201d She said expansion of the board from five to nine members helps by \u201cbroadening representation and reducing concentrated power.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to the Palisades and Eaton fires, Horvath said the county is modernizing the communication system used by first responders. Also, she said the county Public Works is upgrading water and other infrastructure. The county has hosted emergency preparedness fairs teaching people to build go-bags and create evacuation plans, she said.<\/p>\n Horvath did not take a position on Measure ER, saying she\u2019s leaving it up to the voters to make the decision.<\/p>\n Carmenlina Minasova Minasyan<\/strong>, 54, a reform activist from Los Angeles, rated the board as \u201cnot good\u201d due to \u201call the fires, empty reservoir, crime, high taxes, homeless and drug addictions.\u201d She later added: \u201cOur government system is broken and too often works only for billionaires rather than local residents.\u201d<\/p>\n She wants the county to follow \u201cthe values God teaches us.\u201d She also favors \u201ccentralized homelessness and mental health services, including free detox and recovery programs for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n For better emergency preparedness, she wants to reduce 9-1-1 response times and offer free EMT-to-paramedic training.<\/p>\n Tom\u00e1s Sidenfaden<\/strong>, 45, a software engineer from Los Angeles,\u00a0said the board has a big budget but is not delivering tantamount results, especially on homelessness, housing and public safety. \u201cWe\u2019re still building $750,000-per-unit permanent housing that takes a decade to deliver while 45,000 unsheltered homeless citizens suffer on our streets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He calls for more emergency shelters on government land.\u00a0 The new county homeless services and housing department \u201cis just rearranging deck chairs.\u201d<\/p>\n Alerts are too disorganized and the county needs a \u201cunified, real-time communication platform across Fire, Sheriff and\u00a0OEM (Office of\u00a0 Emergency Management) \u2013\u2013 a clear, codified authority so alerts don\u2019t require a game of telephone between departments.\u201d<\/p>\n On Measure ER, he said he understands the urgency felt for asking voters for a tax increase to fill gaps in health care, but doesn\u2019t accept the tax hike on what he called \u201can already overtaxed county.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles County Sheriff<\/p>\n Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna is seeking reelection and faces the man he unseated, former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, and three challengers from his own department.\u00a0In all, the June 2 primary has eight candidates who want to oversee the agency\u2019s 10,000-plus deputies.<\/p>\n Alex Villanueva, <\/strong>who served as sheriff from 2018 to 2022, wants his job back. He said he wants to re-establish a culture in which deputies are supported, by focusing on deputy health, reducing overtime and increasing the staffing of the department by making it a place where deputies want to work.<\/p>\n Deputy gangs, he says, are not an issue in the department \u2014 instead, the topic is but \u201cpolitical talk,\u201d adding he didn\u2019t, and wouldn\u2019t, tolerate deputy misconduct.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you fire as many people as I did, the people that are claiming that I tolerate misconduct were just lying because they created the narrative \u2018deputy gangs,\u2019 they created the narrative that I didn\u2019t hold people accountable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said people in jail who are in the country illegally should get deported. \u201cLet\u2019s stop playing games here, and let\u2019s not get involved in obstructing federal immigration,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d much rather have them (federal agents and officers) figure that out there in the jail than chasing people through car washes or strawberry fields, because that was just ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Andre White,\u00a0<\/strong>34, joined the department in 2014 and is a gang detective, according to his campaign website. He wants to modernize the department\u2019s technology, increase hiring from the communities the department serves, work on community building and increase accountability in policies, hiring and investigations.<\/p>\n Attempts to interview him were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n Oscar Martinez<\/strong>, 45, has been with the Sheriff\u2019s Department since 2008 and worked in custody, patrol, professional standards and public information and served as a chief\u2019s executive aide.<\/p>\n He aims to make the department more responsive to people, rather than just a county bureaucracy.<\/p>\n Martinez said deputies need to feel supported. \u201cThey should not be looking behind themselves all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, I do believe that those who commit wrong, that violate policy or especially if they break the law, that they need to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinez said fostering a supportive environment will increase recruitment.<\/p>\n Robert Luna,\u00a0<\/strong>60, the current sheriff, pointed out that crime went down during his first term, along with use-of-force episodes in the jails. A second term under him would bring continuity in leadership, he said, especially important as the county prepares to host the Olympics, the Paralympics, the Super Bowl and the World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to continue on the trajectory I\u2019m on to gain full compliance with all of the federal settlement agreements and court orders that I inherited when I walked into the Sheriff\u2019s Department,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to continue to evolve with discipline, risk management and gang-like behavior that has been, again, very well documented in the Sheriff\u2019s Department. I want to continue to modernize our department.\u201d<\/p>\n Luna said he is in negotiations for raises within the Sheriff\u2019s Department, and he is putting in place strategies to continue boosting the hiring and retention of deputies. He had body-worn cameras added to deputies working in the jails, he said.<\/p>\n Luna has asked the supervisors for money to upgrade custody facilities, and he said he oversaw the addition of mental-health intake screening for the county jail system and a pilot program for health-monitoring bracelets for inmates.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve made significant progress and I need more time to continue on the path that I\u2019m on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mike Bornman,\u00a0<\/strong>a retired captain,\u00a0spent 36 years with the department, which he says is struggling with historically low morale and has an immediate need to address retention.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re getting them in and they\u2019re training them,\u201d said Bornman, 71. \u201cBut as soon as they get off training and they\u2019re able, they are hightailing out and going to other agencies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As Los Angeles prepares to host a number of high-profile sporting events in the coming years, Bornman says upping the number of personnel is critical.<\/p>\n Also, Bornman would call for a forensic audit of the department to address mismanagement and an overreliance on overtime.<\/p>\n To address custody deaths in Los Angeles County jails, Bornman wants to increase staffing and drug searches and look at contracting with outside hospitals and treatment centers for ill and addicted people in jail.<\/p>\n Karla Carranza<\/strong>, 46, a 21-year veteran in the department and now a sergeant, said deputies would benefit from fresh leadership that can prioritize the agency\u2019s future.\u00a0She wants to focus on community policing and fostering a relationship between deputies and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n Closing the Men\u2019s Central Jail, which she said is an unsafe facility, would be prioritized. Looking at what the department could offer officers for competitive salaries and retirement is critical to retention, Carranza said.<\/p>\n Addressing homelessness in the county should come from addressing any crimes first, increasing staffing for resources for homeless people and having the Sheriff\u2019s Department work in close partnership with the county, she said.<\/p>\n Brendan Corbett<\/strong>,\u00a066, began working in the Sheriff\u2019s Department in 1985. During his 37 years there, he worked K-9 and SWAT and served as an assistant sheriff before retiring.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I see happening in my beloved department right now is why I\u2019m coming back to try to right the ship, for lack of a better term \u2014 breaks my heart, I\u2019m seeing our community suffer,\u201d he said. \u201cCommunities aren\u2019t safe. Our department is suffering. We\u2019re not addressing crime like we should.\u201d<\/p>\n He has a familiarity with how immigration enforcement intersects with the county jails and that informs his plans, Corbett said.<\/p>\n \u201cICE agents serve no purpose in the jail,\u201d he said. \u201cAn ICE agent being in there, their presence in there, does nothing but gives anxiety to an undocumented person in our custody of care\u201d and scare off friends and family members who would otherwise visit.\u201d<\/p>\n He also advocates bolstering the department\u2019s reserves, connecting with communities through advisory councils, increasing deputy engagement with the community.<\/p>\n Corbett says that deputy gangs do not exist in the department, that in the past cliques and subgroups have existed, and that focus on the issue has eroded public trust and deputies\u2019 morale.<\/p>\n Eric Strong,\u00a0<\/strong>worked for the Compton and Pasadena police departments before joining the Sheriff\u2019s Department in 2000.\u00a0He also served as chief of the Los Angeles County Probation Department.<\/p>\n He wants to implement a pilot program to effectively respond to mental-health and substance-abuse problems. The Sheriff\u2019s Department could take the lead in addressing homelessness.<\/p>\n Strong also says he could change department culture.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are not leaving because the work is too difficult,\u201d he said of outgoing department employees. \u201cPeople are leaving because they don\u2019t want to be in this, in a system that\u2019s built on cronyism, that\u2019s vindictive, that\u2019s not supportive, and the employees are not valued \u2014 they\u2019re going elsewhere. That\u2019s a cultural change that we make.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles County Assessor<\/p>\n Jeffrey Prang, the incumbent, is being challenged by four challengers for the Office of the Assessor.<\/p>\n Stephen Adamus<\/strong>, 47, a property assessment specialist from Whittier, is a 14-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Assessor\u2019s Office. He is also a licensed California attorney.<\/p>\n \u201cI know the law. I know the job. I know the office. I know the problems, and I know how to fix them,\u201d Adamus said. For starters, he would like to reduce the time it takes to hire employees into the office.<\/p>\n He said Proposition 13 protects the revenues from volatility. However, he says many residents don\u2019t understand the ground-breaking property tax limiting measure.<\/p>\n \u201cI plan on holding many town halls were I educate property owners (and non-property owners) on Proposition 13: its history, why it exists, what it is, how it works and why we need to protect it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said the best ways to improve the system is to remove politics from the equation because politics clogs the system. Second, follow the law that the legislature gave on how to do the job. And third, focus on the job. \u201cIf we focused on simply completing our mandate, the system would improve.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Newland<\/strong>, 50, a real estate appraiser from Lake Balboa, said he has the smarts and the experience to do the job.<\/p>\n \u201cAt its core, the assessor\u2019s job is valuation. That\u2019s what I do. I\u2019ve spent years working with property data, market trends and the factors that drive assessed value,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve also worked directly with property owners trying to understand their assessments, and I\u2019ve seen how confusing the system can be.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the office should be more transparent and he aims to make it easier to navigate for the average property owner. He said a lot of people don\u2019t fully understand the rules for assessing property values.<\/p>\n \u201cThe process itself isn\u2019t explained in plain terms, and most people don\u2019t really know how their value was calculated or what factors went into it.\u00a0That\u2019s something that should be fixed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cUsing more modern tools, including automation and AI, could automate routine work and free up staff to actually help people.\u201d<\/p>\n Steven Palty<\/strong>, 68, of Los Angeles, has 45 years of experience as a tax consultant.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to function not as an employee of LA County, but as a representative of the voters of LA County who elect me to office,\u201d he said. \u201cThe current assessor has already served three terms in office. The last thing we need is more bureaucracy. We need someone who works for the residents of LA County.\u201d<\/p>\n To improve the system, Palty said he would initiate a \u201cthorough audit\u201d of the system. Second, he\u2019d increase the staff to help speed up processing of any appeals. \u201cFirst, I must determine that the budget is free of waste and fraud and that funds are allocated correctly and efficiently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Prang<\/strong>, 63, incumbent, lives in Baldwin Hills and is a California-licensed appraiser. He has 30 years of government policy and administrative experience, including 18 years as a West Hollywood councilmember and mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cI have managed what is arguably one of the most successful assessment offices in California,\u201d he said. \u201cI took over following a scandal involving my predecessor and successfully restored public confidence in the agency. I enacted sweeping reforms to ensure security and integrity of the office and have invested in technology and operational improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked how people could better understand how assessments are made on their property, he said his office has made public education a priority, because the property tax system can be confusing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe use a wide range of communication platforms, including a robust website, active social media and direct email communication, reaching more than 1 million property owners,\u201d Prang said.<\/p>\n He said he supports \u201cthe careful use of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics\u201d to help improve accuracy and flag any inconsistencies while streamlining administrative processes, such as assessment appeals.<\/p>\n \u201cOur new technology platform has allowed us to launch an e-Service program, in which property owners can create their own online profile to handle many transactions online, as well as the free anti-title fraud \u201cHomeowner Alert\u201d service,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n Sandy Sun<\/strong>, 57 of Los Angeles, is deputy assessor. She has 26 years of experience in the office. She is crossed-trained and certified, and has worked in both real property and personal property divisions. \u201cI bring actual hands-on work experience and insight to lead this department effectively,\u201d Sun said.<\/p>\n To help people better understand what the assessor does, Sun offered several options:<\/p>\n \u201cI will focus on providing user-friendly assessment process information on the assessor website. Additionally, believe it or not, many taxpayers still prefer, if not solely depend on, hardcopy literature. Use of pamphlets in a Q&A format would go a long way in explaining and helping the public navigate the complex assessment process, she said.<\/p>\n She said a modernization project that was supposed to take 3-5 years has been in the works for 12 years and is incomplete and not fully functional. \u201cEven though this AMP project has many deficiencies, I believe it can be salvaged with recent breakthroughs in technology,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hiring is too slow and that needs to be rectified, she said. \u201cNot hiring and filling these vacant positions has been a pattern over the last 12 years. This has led to a significant backlog of work and low employee morale,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Measure ER<\/p>\n The measure, put on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors<\/a>, asks voters to support a half-cent sales tax increase to help stave off the effects of federal cuts affecting county healthcare facilities, including the risk of some clinics and even hospitals closing.<\/p>\n