Get the Facts

My opponent is focusing on my past to distract from the present and avoid talking about her refusal to prosecute City Hall corruption, as well as her anti-worker, anti-renter policies. She doesn’t want to talk about the urgent issues facing our city or what our plans are to solve those issues, because she knows that Angelenos share my vision for the City Attorney’s office. And, she knows that she doesn’t have a vision for the office beyond defending the big corporations and City Hall insiders that are backing her campaign.

100 Days Policy

Upon my election, I will institute a 100-day pause in the prosecutions of new misdemeanor charges – unless they are serious threats to public safety or time-sensitive – while I review the office’s policies related to misdemeanors to determine how we can implement and improve diversion programs that connect individuals with the help they need. This approach will keep our community safer.

This pause will not affect public safety.

My office will continue to file charges and prosecute serious, violent or time-sensitive crimes – for example, domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as other crimes that pose a clear threat to public safety or the safety of the victim.
This pause will not affect whether or not the crimes that take place during this period are prosecuted after the 100 days is up.
- The statute of limitations for filing charges for misdemeanors is at a minimum a year, and often longer. After 100 days, my office can still file charges for any misdemeanor that took place if we choose to.
- I am not granting anyone a free pass. I am a firm believer in the importance of accountability.

The purpose of implementing a 100 day pause is to thoroughly review and assess the office’s current policies, as anyone taking over an office as complex as the City Attorney’s office should do.

I want to analyze the office’s prosecutorial policies, as well as its existing diversion programs, to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t based on data and facts.
Then, I can make a decision – guided by the data and input from community and legal leaders – about whether there are charges that my office will decline to prosecute going forward, or not.

Importantly, this 100 day period will allow me to convene a group of stakeholders – including the police, deputy city attorneys, public defenders and victims advocates – so that we can work together to craft my office’s policies. I will give everyone a voice in the process.

Read more about prosecutorial discretion and my policy in this LA Times editorial.

MORE INFORMATION

City Hall Corruption

I jumped in the race to hold City Hall, and city government, accountable.

My opponent unequivocally said that she will refuse to prosecute local corruption. She won’t hold City Hall accountable.

Los Angeles needs a City Attorney who won’t stand idly by while corrupt politicians take advantage of taxpayers and carve up the City to benefit their own selfish interests.

Housing & Homelessness

The homelessness crisis is a housing crisis. It’s also a mental health crisis, and an economic crisis, but housing – or, the lack of housing, and in particular, affordable housing – is a driving force behind the current crisis.

As City Attorney, I will make it easier to build affordable housing by removing legal impediments to constructing both temporary and long-term housing (like eliminating lengthy permitting processes, for example).

I’ll also work with city agencies to connect unhoused communities with services—rather than the broken cycle of criminalization which doesn’t work and creates a vicious cycle that traps people in homelessness because of their criminal record.

On the other hand, my opponent has a long history of opposing laws and other measures that would increase the amount of available housing in Los Angeles, in particular by loosening zoning laws.

She donated tens of thousands of dollars to a ballot initiative to overturn SB 9 and SB 10.
She has written numerous op-eds and other public commentary opposing any measure that would allow for more density. This makes sense, because she’s a landlord who doesn’t want anything to decrease her own property values, regardless of what this means for working class Angelenos.
She’s received countless donations from landlords, building owners and managers, and others who advocate against the construction of more affordable housing.

Abortion Rights

Let me be clear: I am 100% pro-choice and I am 100% committed to using every tool available to the LA City Attorney to expand access to abortion within Los Angeles, protect people who seek care from out-of-state, and strengthen Los Angeles as a safe haven for abortion.

The recent SCOTUS decision overturning Roe v. Wade was a tragic, backwards decision that will put the lives and well-being of countless women at risk. A woman’s right to exercise control over their body and their reproductive choices is a fundamental human right. Forcing a person to endure pregnancy and bring a life into the world against their will is an affront to the very idea of liberty. That choice is intimate, personal and medical, and no one should ever be able to deny a woman that choice.

Without the votes in Congress to enshrine this right in law, we cannot rely on the federal government to protect this right. That places this fight in the hands of state and local governments, activists, advocacy groups and dedicated citizens.

As City Attorney, I will meet the urgency of the momemt by working hand-in-hand with reproductive rights leaders to protect abortion access and expand reproductive services. I am proud that California has volunteered itself as a sanctuary state for anyone seeking abortions. My office will actively protect and support out-of-state women who come to Los Angeles to access their right to choose. In addition, I will advocate for increased funds in the city budget for reproductive health infrastructure, staff and service costs, and I will defend the actions of our city in court. Read more about my plan to protect Los Angeles as an abortion safe haven here.