Incumbent John Lee is vying for re-election to serve as the representative for the 12th L.A. City Council District and faces one challenger, Serena Oberstein, a non-profit leader and former member of the Ethics Commission.
The 12th District covers the north, northwest neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley including Chatsworth, Granada Hills, North Hills, Northridge, Porter Ranch, Sherwood Forest and West Hills.
Lee was first elected in 2019. He chairs the council’s Public Works Committee, and sits on the public safety and homelessness committees.
On his website, he touted that he secured 202 more shelter beds, and has a goal of obtaining more than 480 interim and supportive housing beds open for unsheltered Angelenos in his district by the end of his first term.
He spearheaded the expansion of the city’s anti-camping laws to include areas such as schools and daycare. Lee has supported funding the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments and filling their ranks.
Lee has described himself as a “steadfast advocate” for small business owners, and championing mom-and-pop landlords and property owners.
Oberstein has made reforming City Hall one of her priorities, which includes empowering the Ethics Department to ensure transparency of the city action’s.
In that regard, throughout the campaign she has highlighted the ongoing ethics probe against Lee, who is accused of violating governmental ethics laws for allegedly accepting and failing to report excessive gifts, including some received during a trip to Las Vegas in 2017 he took along with former Councilman Mitch Englander, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to lying to federal investigators looking into his alleged receipt of excessive cash and gifts.
Lee was Englander’s chief of staff prior to being elected to the City Council.
The incumbent has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and even sued the City Ethics Commission for what he had said were attempts to impact his re-election campaign.
On the other hand, Lee and his supporters have sent out mailers to voters, highlighting that Oberstein was barred from running for office in 2019 after a judge removed her from the ballot.
She was the president of the Ethics Commission from 2014-2018.
A city law prohibits commissioners for at least two years from running for any city office in which their commission has made a decision during their term. During her time on the Ethics Commission, she voted to impose fines on two people who ran unsuccessfully in past election races for the 12th District.
Lindsay Bubar, Oberstein’s campaign consultant, told the Los Angeles Times that “Lee’s campaign tactics are an attempt to distract voters from the serious allegations he’s facing.”
On top of City Charter and ethics reforms, Oberstein has plans to address the housing and homelessness crisis. She supports Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe initiative, but wants to do more to bring online permanent housing, as well as job training and placement.
She also wants to implement a “Safe Parking Los Angeles Program” to find sites in the region to provide those who are newly unhoused with a safe place to sleep at night while the city helps find them temporary or permanent housing.
In regard to public safety, she agrees that the LAPD needs to increase their rank-and-file, according to her website. She wants to establish a community safety partnership bureau and expand the number of unarmed crisis responders for calls related to mental and behavioral health crises.
Lee has raised $432,308 in campaign contributions, and special interest groups have poured $1,114,516 into supporting his campaign.
Independent expenditures are payments in connection with a communication such as a flier, advertisement or text message that advocates for or against the nomination, election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. These cannot be conducted in coordination with the affected candidate, committee or agent.
According to the Ethics Commission website, Airbnb has spent $50,000 in support of Lee’s campaign. Other groups such as BizFed PAC, a project of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, and the California Apartment Association has spent $75,000; the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce PAC spent $200,000; and the LA Jobs PAC and L.A. Police Protective League, the union representing the rank-and-file of LAPD officers, spent $215,000 to support Lee’s re-election efforts.
Oberstein has raised $150,091 in campaign contributions. She has attracted $45,410 in outside spending mainly from the LAPPL.
A candidate requires 50% to win the election, otherwise the top two candidates will head to a runoff in the November election.
Vote Centers will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on March 5 to vote in-person or return a ballot.
The nearest official drop-box or vote center can be found at locator.lavote.gov.