Election 2022 race is on for Board of Supervisors, Third District
Four candidates are on the June 7 primary ballot seeking election to the seat of Supervisor of the Third District on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors*. They are: State Senators Bob Hertzberg and Henry Stern, West Hollywood City Councilmember Lindsey Horvath and small business owner Jeffi Girgenti. (* Two additional people were approved for the ballot in that contest after we went to press with this issue. They are Craig Brill and Roxanne Beckford Hoge. They join Jeffi Girgenti, Bob Hertzberg, Lindsey Horvath and Henry Stern as candidates.)
The Larchmont Chronicle editorial staff interviewed three of the candidates last month via Zoom. Here are reports on those candidates based on the interviews and other sources. (The fourth candidate, who entered the race late, is also profiled.)
Robert Hertzberg,
State Senator, 18th District, the central part of the
San Fernando Valley
BOB HERTZBERG
Robert “Bob” Hertzberg is California State Senator for District 18. He assumed that office on December 1, 2014. His current term ends on December 5, 2022. He served as Senate Majority Leader from 2019 to 2022, and he previously served in the California Assembly.
First elected to the Assembly in 1996, he quickly established himself and moved up the ranks, eventually serving as the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly after being unanimously elected by both parties in 2000 and 2001. Following his tenure as Speaker, lawyer Hertzberg joined the Downtown Los Angeles office of an international law firm, and he also became a clean energy entrepreneur.
The “Los Angeles Times” once described him as “a high velocity wonk; he loves big ideas and will flesh out every one of them if you give him a chance.” That was a description he even endorsed in the Chronicle’s interview.
In that Zoom meeting, a question right out of the gate concerned housing. When asked whether the Legislature — that recently has been passing myriad laws dictating what cities should do to allow more housing development — would allocate state money to help those cities build needed affordable housing, Hertzberg’s answer was direct: “No.”
Hertzberg said he agrees that money for affordable housing is critical. He said that the only way that Californians throughout the state can help with funding housing is by passing a housing bond. He is sponsoring such a measure.
When the discussion turned to the related issue of homelessness, Hertzberg pointed out that California’s 58 counties are a creation of, and subdivision of, the state. State laws govern what counties can do. It is the County of Los Angeles that has primary responsibility for providing homelessness services, including mental health services. But, says Hertzberg, that’s obviously not going very well right now.
Hertzberg argues that, with his skills and knowledge from a long and successful career in state government, he is the candidate best positioned to succeed on the Board of Supervisors when it comes to dealing with homelessness.
He said he understands well how such tools as joint powers authorities and partnerships with nonprofits can be successful. He says a key is for voters to hold officials accountable.
A question arose about protecting single family homes and neighborhoods, and Hertzberg reminded the editors that he was outspoken in his opposition to State Senator Scott Wiener’s proposal to dictate statewide rules to benefit real estate developers and Wall Street investors while doing nothing to address the need for affordable housing in the state.
Hertzberg not only opposed the recently enacted (in 2021) SB 9, he also claims credit for stopping its predecessor, Sen. Wiener’s SB 50, the year before.
In the discussion with our editors, Hertzberg emphasized that there are many complicated issues, including water supply and economic development, that are critical to the residents of Los Angeles County. He points to his long experience as a lawyer and legislator who has addressed these matters and who knows the often-tangled histories and issues involved.
Hertzberg also made an interesting point that all of us need to look toward the future, “training the next generation,” as he described it. He says he has been involved in multiple initiatives to do just that. He summed up by saying that election to the Board of Supervisors will put him in his “last job.” He wants to use what he knows and has learned — to do an exemplary job for the people of Los Angeles County. See: hertzbergforsupervisor.com
Lindsey Horvath,
City Councilwoman,
West Hollywood
LINDSEY HORVATH
Lindsey Horvath comes ready to meet the challenges the county faces, she says, because she has already tackled the major issues — homelessness and crime — on her home turf, West Hollywood.
The route to the solutions would follow a path similar to the one she has blazed since being elected to the WEHO City Council in 2015.
“I’ve had an 80-percent success rate getting people off the street,” she told us.
Horvath attributes her success to working with leaders and staff at the local and county levels. These are the same people she would be working with if elected supervisor. (The City of West Hollywood’s law enforcement is provided by the County Sheriff, and fire protection is from the County Fire Dept.)
Horvath works to make direct contact with the unhoused and “meet them where they are,” the 30-something-year-old candidate said in an oft-heard refrain.
She cited the West Hollywood LGBT Center, which provides health and social services, as a model that could be applied and adapted to serve the homeless in other neighborhoods.
She also told us that she is “working on creating a homeless navigation center, at least in this time of emergency.” Afterwards, the site could be transformed into a public park. “That’s a winning strategy.”
To the “NIMBY naysayers,” she blames misinformation, and she points to the permanent housing and transit-adjacent housing that she has helped create, that is “architecturally award-winning, appropriately scaled…
“Everyone believes there needs to be more housing,” she added. As to where to build that housing, she pointed to “commercial corridors … existing retail buildings” that are going underused. The money is there — from Measure H and Prop HHH — and also from untapped state resources, she told us.
As to rising crime, “We need to invest in solutions that make sense,” such as allowing police officers and social service workers to do the jobs for which they are uniquely trained.
“We need to set up our law enforcement to succeed” and prioritize early intervention and systems of care, she added.
As a former transportation commissioner, her priorities include building out our transportation infrastructure, in time for the 2028 Olympics. “How wonderful it was to welcome people to Inglewood during the Super Bowl,” she exclaimed. She also said we have to focus on providing everyday trips to get people to their jobs and medical services.
The economy is another priority. “It’s good to see businesses back up and running,” she said, and she proudly stated that West Hollywood was named the most business- friendly city in the county when she served as mayor.
If elected, she’d work to create more pockets that are neighborhood-serving and pedestrian-friendly. Judging from a recent visit with Randy Paskal, one of the owners of the recently reopened Center for Yoga, she cited Larchmont, where the energy is also more upbeat, she told us.
Rather than have state overlords direct us at the local level, she aims to work up close, with neighborhoods.
“I am the only local running. I will be the champion for your neighborhood.” She said that is not just a campaign slogan; it’s how she’s managed West Hollywood. “I bring people to the table. I will rely on local leaders …”
Building better neighbor-hoods “is not a one-size-fits-all that disregards what makes our communities unique and special.”
While she values responsible development and growth, no one “wants to hear that their neighborhoods will be demolished.”
Lindsey Horvath is endorsed by Los Angeles County Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Janice Hahn and Mayor Eric Garcetti. For a complete list, visit lindseyhorvath.com
Henry Stern,
State Senator,
27th District, Malibu
and the western part of the San Fernando Valley
HENRY STERN
Senator Henry Stern is a sixth-generation Californian who grew up in the greater Los Angeles area and currently represents nearly one million residents of the 27th Senate District — ever since being elected a state legislator in November 2016. Now he is ready to take on the challenges being faced by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, he told us.
“We have over-promised, and under-delivered,” Stern says of the current response by the County to address the issue of homelessness. “I’m reticent to give some magic plan to voters,” says Stern. “We have to be a lot more humble during campaign season.
“I want to talk a lot less, and do a lot more,” he told us.
A former educator and environmental attorney, Stern received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and earned his law degree at UC Berkeley. Stern’s first job as a lawyer was as a junior staff counsel to Rep. Henry Waxman during Waxman’s chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. From that experience, Stern says that he learned how Waxman’s approach to public service — focused not on power politics, but on smart policy, pursued with determination — can bridge longstanding divides and help people.
In the California Senate, Stern has chaired the Natural Resources and Water Committee since 2018, where he has been working to bolster the state’s wildfire preparedness, and where he pushes to have the state address the climate change emergency.
There are three big issues that Stern is ready to tackle if elected Supervisor: homelessness, housing and public safety. “These are the top issues facing residents right now,” he said.
On homelessness, Stern explains: “We’ve asked taxpayers to step up, but I don’t think that they’re getting results. People are starting to feel burned and distrustful.
“The County has been avoiding accountability,” he added.
Stern believes that everyone in Los Angeles has the right to live safely in the community: “But our streets are not safe,” he said. Citing a state auditor report on California’s mental-health system, Stern said that the system has nearly one billion dollars in taxpayer funds bottlenecked and that the problem is compounded by a vicious cycle of hospitalization and incarceration for un-housed Angelenos facing mental illness and addiction.
“I don’t think it’s a wise strategy to make the [homelessness] services side wait for permanent supportive housing to be built. We need to deal with mental illness and drug issues on the street,” said Stern. The county also needs to do a better job of coordinating services, he said: “When there’s an issue, there’s no one to call. When you call LAHSA [the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority], for example, there’s nobody there to pick up the phone.”
On affordable housing, Stern said that he wants to work towards a “more collective approach” to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) quota, a state mandate that directs all California local authorities to plan for the housing needs of residents, regardless of income. “There is space to be building, and cheaper land to build on,” said Stern, who noted that “there is a false sense that if Malibu doesn’t find a way out of the housing crisis, then the solution is too hard.”
On public safety, Stern believes that Los Angeles has been offered a false choice between safer streets and an anti-racist, restorative justice system. “We have to completely change the conversation in Los Angeles about public safety,” he told us.
“There’s no reason that we should be trying to defund the police and the sheriff’s department,” said Stern. He believes that investing in alternatives to incarceration through drug courts, social work and street medicine should not mean that violent crime is without consequence.
“There needs to be work done with the District Attorney’s Office,” said Stern, who admits that the current system “is not working.” “I think it’s progressive to not dismiss suspects of criminal misdemeanors, but to take that case up and then get them into treatment, if needed. Actually, compel them into that treatment.” See:
Jeffi Girgenti, business owner and equestrian
JEFFI GIRGENTI
Also in the race is Jeffi Girgenti, owner of a small business and who has lived for several decades in what has become the Third District. Her father was a police officer in the City of San Fernando.
Girgenti supports expanding “proven” homeless programs, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s HOST (Homeless Outreach Services Team), as well as re-opening and utilizing existing facilities for the mentally ill. The homeless issue should be declared a local state of emergency, and we should end abuse of taxpayer dollars on homeless housing, she states.
In addition, criminals should be held accountable, she adds on her website.
She advocates working with first responders under current laws, and she supports businesses in opposing campers and tents on private and public property.
An equestrian and horse owner, she supports property rights, individuals’ rights to maintain their lifestyles, low taxes and preventing overdevelopment.
She is also a dog owner and is a proponent for the humane treatment of animals.
Girgenti is endorsed by David Hernandez, chairman of the Los Angeles Hispanic Republican Club, Bishop Juan Carlos Mendez and Roy Burns, past president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. See:
By Suzan Filipek, Billy Taylor and John Welborne
Category: News
