Seema Mehta
Veteran Democratic legislator Bob Hertzberg plans to run for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, upending the race to symbolize the San Fernando Valley on the highly effective panel.
Hertzberg, who serves as the bulk chief within the state Senate and was beforehand the speaker of the state Meeting, instructed The Instances he was motivated to run by new district strains that place a lot of the Valley inside a single district.
“The San Fernando Valley in my judgment is just too massive to not have a voice on the Board of Supervisors,” Hertzberg mentioned, noting that if it have been a metropolis, it might be the seventh largest within the nation. “I’m the one elected chief who can be on this race as of now who has an 818 space code. We within the Valley know what meaning.”
Though the county board usually doesn’t obtain the identical consideration because the Los Angeles Metropolis Council or the mayor’s workplace, it’s among the many strongest native authorities our bodies within the nation, with an annual price range of greater than $39 billion. The 5 county supervisors symbolize 10 million folks, greater than all however 10 states.
Hertzberg, 67, is working to interchange retiring Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who represents the third District. Others who’ve entered the competition embody state Sen. Henry Stern, Assemblyman Richard Bloom and West Hollywood Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath.
Hertzberg mentioned he’s working as a result of he believes he has a monitor file of offering outcomes for the area’s residents, pointing to the funding he secured for the Orange Line, the performing arts middle at Cal State Northridge and different initiatives.
“I’ve delivered,” Hertzberg mentioned.
He additionally mentioned he’s proven he has a long-term imaginative and prescient and a collaborative nature that may assist the county sort out among the area’s most intractable issues, together with homelessness and housing. He hopes to place a $25-billion bond measure on the November poll that would offer down fee loans to folks buying brand-new houses.
He mentioned he would additionally concentrate on longer-term issues similar to groundwater replenishment and excessive warmth.
“Lots of people say the satan’s within the particulars. My view of the world is God is within the particulars,” he mentioned. “Persons are hopping mad, and the underside line is now we have to ship for people.”
The contours of the 3rd District dramatically changed in a last-minute proposal through the redrawing of district strains after final yr’s census. Underneath the brand new plan, the district misplaced many Los Angeles cultural landmarks however picked up conservative communities within the northern Valley, together with Chatsworth and Porter Ranch. These additions injected a brand new ingredient into the district, which nonetheless comprises liberal bastions similar to Santa Monica and West Hollywood.
Kuehl was angered by the modifications, saying in emails to constituents that they have been politically motivated and meant to make the district extra centrist and “a a lot simpler district for a person who’s been salivating to run for the workplace however discovered himself in want of an citizens extra intently tailor-made to his politics.”
Kuehl didn’t identify the politician.
Hertzberg, an legal professional and a average, is well-connected due to the relationships he has shaped over many years in political life.
He began in 1974 as a driver for Mervyn Dymally, then a state senator working for lieutenant governor. He cast relationships with Latino leaders on the town’s Eastside, together with Gloria Molina, Richard Alatorre and Antonio Villaraigosa. These relationships helped him win an Meeting seat in 1996. He served in that physique for six years and later seven years in the state Senate. He additionally performed behind-the-scenes roles when he was not in workplace, together with serving as an advisor to then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican.
In asserting his run, Hertzberg instructed The Instances he had collected the endorsement of greater than 100 folks, together with politicians, group leaders and labor unions. Amongst his backers are former Gov. Grey Davis, state Treasurer Fiona Ma, Rep. Tony Cardenas and former Meeting Audio system Fabian Núñez and John Perez. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a Republican, has additionally endorsed him.
Nonetheless, he has not all the time been profitable — he misplaced his 2005 bid for mayor.
And Hertzberg, whose nickname in Sacramento was “Huggy Bear” due to his propensity for giving embraces, was among the many state lawmakers who received caught up within the #MeToo scandals that rocked the statehouse in recent times.
A 2018 investigation discovered that though he made some folks uncomfortable together with his hugs, his conduct wasn’t sexually motivated. He was reprimanded and instructed to stop initiating hugs.
Instances workers author Jaclyn Cosgrove contributed to this report.
