Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Page 1
Michael Feuer Declares He Will Run for City Attorney
By MARC B. HAEFELE, Staff Writer
Democratic Assemblyman Mike Feuer, who lost a bid for the office in 2001, has announced he will run for Los Angeles City Attorney again in 2013.
“To be the ‘attorney general’ of the second-largest city in the country is an enormous responsibility,” Feuer said yesterday. “You can have an effect on everyone in Los Angeles.”
This year, Feuer will be termed out of the 42nd District Assembly seat he’s held since 2006. He’s served three terms in the district, which includes West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and parts of West LA. From 1995 to 2001, he held the Fifth District Westside seat on the Los Angeles City Council.
As councilman, he chaired the crucial Budget and Finance Committee and served on committees dealing with public safety issues, and succeeded in passing ordinances to combat gun violence, protect seniors from abuse and improve public safety while on the council.
As a freshman legislator, Feuer introduced over 20 bills and sat on a wide range of committees including Judicial and Prison Construction and Operation.. He was perhaps best known for his DUI legislation and AB 1471, which required all semi-automatic firearms cartridges sold after 2010 to be microstamped in two places.
Noting that his predecessors in the City Attorney’s Office had strongly stressed the crime-fighting aspects of the job, Feuer said:
“Public Safety is central. But it is not the only aspect of the job. The City Attorney has the opportunity to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods and commercial zones,. to make both more viable. The city attorney can abate graffiti, prostitution and other forms of blight. Make it safer for children to walk to school, to improve the business climate and bring more prosperity to impacted areas.”
He said that, if elected, he’d like to continue an abandoned experiment with community prosecutors. And for the sake of homeowners, to make mortgage rules more transparent.
He said that what he learned from his failed 2001 campaign was “to get to the other half of the voters.” In that campaign, Feuer, who had the lion’s share of endorsements, came in ahead in the primary, but narrowly lost the runoff to Rocky Delgadillo—an unusual occurrence in city elections. “I failed to reach them back then,” Feuer said.
The San Bernardino-born Feuer went to college and law school at Harvard. Prior to his political career he served as executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a legal advocacy non-profit.
So far, Feuer has raised well over $300,000 and his campaign co chairs include Sheriff Lee Baca, former city controller Laura Chick, former California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno and UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.
The other major contender for city attorney in the 2013 race so far is West Side trial attorney Greg Smith, who could not be reached for comment. Smith has raised more than $100,000 for his campaign.
Copyright 2012, Metropolitan News Company