Leaked files, 'nuclear verdicts,' bruising attacks: Inside the L.A. city attorney race
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The Los Angeles city attorney is often described as the most powerful elected official almost no one’s ever heard of.The office prosecutes most misdemeanor crimes, defends the city against costly lawsuits and serves as the public’s chief lawyer at a time when L.A.
faces frequent attacks from a hostile White House.Races for the office tend to be sleepy affairs, but this year’s contest has featured last-minute entrants, a whopping influx of cash and defections among the incumbent’s key supporters.
City Atty.Hydee Feldstein Soto’s first term was marked by an explosion in costly litigation against the city and allegations of misconduct and mistreatment of employees.
She has denied wrongdoing and defended her record, but now two well-funded opponents are flanking her from different sides of the political spectrum.The race began to heat up last month after a data breach that saw a massive trove of LAPD records leaked onto the internet.That spurred the city’s police union to withdraw its endorsement of Feldstein Soto and tell its members to vote instead for John McKinney, a Los Angeles County prosecutor who has received a massive influx of corporate cash to support his campaign in recent weeks.
California Elected officials are demanding answers from the L.A.city attorney’s office about how a massive cache of confidential LAPD files got dumped online.
The Times has found the compromised material includes crime scene photos, medical records and other sensitive police records.The progressive challenger is Marissa Roy, a deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice.Roy, 34, has said she would run the office as a sprawling “public interest law firm” that sues to fight wage theft and renter harassment, champions a care-first approach to homelessness and stands as a legal bulwark against the Trump administration.Roy Behr, a veteran political consultan...