Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia faces a lone challenger for reelection in Tuesday\u2019s primary \u2014 but that challenger has raised $1 million in contributions, and is also being helped by $7.5 million in so-called independent expenditures bankrolled by his mother. <\/p>\n
Zach Sokoloff is a senior vice president for asset management at Hackman Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm. He contributed $1 million of his own cash to his campaign, in addition to $500,000 raised in contributions, campaign finance data show. <\/p>\n
His mother, Sheryl Sokoloff, contributed $7.5 million in independent expenditures to the race, campaign finance reports show. That money has largely been spent on TV ads and mailers attacking Mejia. <\/p>\n
Sheryl Sokoloff is the spouse of Jonathan Sokoloff, managing partner of private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners. <\/p>\n
Mejia has reported raising $143,000 for his reelection campaign, according to his latest campaign finance statement, which has been supplemented by nearly $500,000 from the city\u2019s matching funds program. <\/p>\n
Mejia asserted that the Sokoloff family was trying to buy the elected position for their son.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a prime example of why people are so fed up with politics,\u201d Mejia said. \u201cSo much money gets dropped in and they\u2019re just trying to buy a seat and I think that\u2019s absolutely wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sokoloff pushed back, saying that familial support in elections isn\u2019t a new phenomenon.<\/p>\n
A woman who identified herself as Sheryl Sokoloff hung up the phone when The Times called for comment on the campaign expenditures. <\/p>\n
In his campaign, Sokoloff has criticized Mejia for conducting fewer audits than his predecessor, Ron Galperin. Galperin conducted more than 100 audits in nearly 10 years, compared with 11 audits conducted by Mejia since he was elected in 2022.<\/p>\n
Mejia said that Sokoloff was misrepresenting how many audits his predecessor had done by counting the number of reports \u2014 not actual audits \u2014 released over that time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt really goes to show that he doesn\u2019t know what an audit is,\u201d Mejia said. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised. He\u2019s not an auditor, he\u2019s not a CPA. He doesn\u2019t know the professional standard and what consists of an audit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city controller acts as the city\u2019s chief accountant and provides oversight on the city\u2019s spending. <\/p>\n
Mejia, who worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young before he was elected controller, won a runoff against former Councilmember Paul Koretz in 2022<\/a> and became the first Asian American to hold citywide elected office in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n The city controller has no power over local policy, legislation or the city\u2019s budget, but can often shed light on wasteful spending or fraud and pressure politicians by releasing audits and reports on city departments. The position is paid a yearly salary of $269,199.<\/p>\n Mejia, a 35-year-old certified public accountant associated with the Green Party, won the most votes of any controller candidate in city history in 2022 despite running against a then-sitting council member. He sits down and runs accounting data himself alongside his team, he said.<\/p>\n In the last 3\u00bd years, Mejia said, he has worked to increase transparency and accountability in the city\u2019s budget through audits and dashboards. He often highlights his work on social media and campaign billboards with pictures of his pet corgis, Killa and Kirby. <\/p>\n