Mike Feuer

Michael Feuer
City Attorney of Los Angeles
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2013
Mayor	Eric Garcetti
Preceded by	Carmen Trutanich
Member of the California State Assembly from the 42nd district
In office December 4, 2006 – November 30, 2012
Preceded by	Paul Koretz
Succeeded by	Brian Nestande
Member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 5th district
In office July 1, 1994 – July 1, 2001
Preceded by	Zev Yaroslavsky
Succeeded by	Jack Weiss
Personal details
Born	(1958-05-14) May 14, 1958 San Bernardino, California
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Gail Ruderman Feuer[1]
Children	2
Education	Harvard University (A.B., J.D.)
Profession	Politician Lawyer
Religion	Judaism

Michael Nelson "Mike" Feuer (born May 14, 1958)^[2] is an American politician and lawyer who has been serving as Los Angeles City Attorney since July, 2013, after defeating incumbent City Attorney Carmen Trutanich by a wide margin on May 21, 2013.

Feuer was previously elected to three two-year terms in the California State Assembly, representing the 42nd Assembly District. He was elected in 2006 on the Democratic ticket, and reelected in 2008 and 2010.

Feuer served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1995 to 2001, representing the 5th Council District. In 2001 he was a candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney. He placed first of four candidates in the primary for the nonpartisan office, but narrowly lost the runoff to Rocky Delgadillo. Prior to seeking office, Feuer served as executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services - The House of Justice and was a lawyer in private practice.

Before Politics

Feuer was born and raised to a Jewish family^[3] in San Bernardino, California. Feuer's first electoral victory came in fourth grade when he was elected class president at Parkside Elementary School, a racially mixed public school.^[4] In another early election, Feuer ran for class president at Golden Valley Junior High School. The initial election resulted in a tie. A few days later, the staff of the school decided to have another election, which Feuer won. He graduated in 1976 from San Bernardino High School, where he was class valedictorian. In high school, he played basketball and was a fan of the California Angels.

Feuer received both a bachelor's degree (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a law degree (cum laude) from Harvard University.^[5] He later served on the Harvard Law School Visiting Committee, which reports to the Harvard Board of Overseers. He practiced law at two of California’s leading firms and served as a judicial clerk to the California Supreme Court.^[5]

Feuer served as executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services - The House of Justice.^[5][6] The Los Angeles Daily Journal declared that Feuer transformed Bet Tzedek into a “national success story” by establishing programs to help Alzheimer’s patients, victims of the Northridge earthquake and L.A. civil unrest, and Holocaust survivors striving to obtain restitution.^[5] At Bet Tzedek, Feuer oversaw free legal representation for more than 50,000 elderly, poor, and disabled clients on issues including health care, nursing home abuse, consumer fraud, and slum housing.^[5]

City Council

From 1995 to 2001, Feuer served as the 5th District member of the Los Angeles City Council. He was elected to fill a vacancy caused by the election of Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Feuer was elected over Barbara Yaroslavsky, the outgoing councilmember's wife.^[4] While on the Council, Feuer led committees on business tax reform, children’s and seniors’ issues, and ethics in government.^[5] He wrote ordinances and created new programs to combat gun violence, expand decent, affordable housing, protect seniors from elder abuse, advance the rights of women and girls, enhance environmental quality, improve emergency services and public safety, promote better race relations, and reform City government. Feuer chaired the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, delivering balanced multibillion-dollar budgets and intervening to ensure meals and transportation for seniors in need, jobs for disadvantaged youth, basic services for Los Angeles’ neighborhoods and funding to promote literacy.^[5] Feuer reached the two-term limit for his city council seat in 2001, and ran for city attorney.^[5][7][8]

First run for City Attorney and after

In 2001, Feuer ran for City Attorney. He placed first in the nonpartisan primary for the office, taking 39% to opponent Rocky Delgadillo's 38%, but was narrowly defeated in the runoff, with Delgadillo taking 52% to Feuer's 48%.^[9] Feuer collected numerous endorsements in the race, including the LA Times.^[10] Afterward, Feuer worked in private practice and taught at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. He also wrote articles on children, seniors, government reform, violence prevention, consumer rights, the justice system and the environment in California’s leading newspapers. He served as a commentator on National Public Radio member KPCC.^[11]

Race for Assembly

In 2006, Feuer defeated West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land and three others in the Democratic primary for the 42nd Assembly District seat. Feuer ran with the endorsement of the Los Angeles Times, outgoing assemblymember Paul Koretz, and the Sierra Club.^[12][13][14] The Los Angeles Times highlighted Feuer's experience and policy skill as evidence that he would be an effective legislator. Land was endorsed by the California Labor Federation AFL-CIO.^[15] Feuer won the Democratic nomination with over 50% of the vote.^[16] With more than 50% of 42nd Assembly District voters registered as Democrats, Feuer was assured an easy victory in the general election,^[17] and indeed, Feuer won the general election against Republican Steven Mark Sion with more than 72% of the vote.^[18] In 2008 he was reelected, defeating Sion again with more than 76% of the vote. He was elected to a third and final term in the Assembly in 2010, defeating Republican Mary Toman-Miller with more than 73% of the vote.

Assembly Member

Feuer served as the Majority Policy Leader of the California Assembly and Chair of the Assembly's Judiciary Committee, writing many of California's most important public safety, children's health, transportation, consumer protection and environmental laws. He also served as chairman of Budget Subcommittee No. 5, dealing with information technology and transportation.^[19] He also served on the Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Select Committees on Rail Transportation and Prison Construction and Operation.^[5] As a freshman, Feuer introduced more than 20 bills, on topics including transit oriented development, improvements on the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, reducing DUI ticket masking, nursing home safety and information, and putting a 7% cap on UC fee increases. The most publicized of Feuer's bills was AB 1471, which required all semi-automatic gun cartridges sold in California after 2010 to be microstamped in two locations. Feuer delivered the June 1, 2007, Democratic weekly radio address concerning that bill. (Media:http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20070601RadioAddressEnglishGunsFeuer.mp3 Radio Address) Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approved Feuer's microstamping bill and his bill on DUI ticket masking on October 14, 2007, but vetoed several of Feuer's other bills, including those on nursing homes, consumer rebates, and court fees.^[20]

City Attorney

Feuer took office as the 8th Los Angeles City Attorney on July 1, 2013. Since taking Office Feuer has nearly tripled the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program,^[21] launched a broad neighborhood school safety initiative,^[22] formed a strike force to combat illegal dumping,^[23] taken on wage theft,^[24] tackled substandard housing,^[25] cracked down on patient dumping,^[26] closed more than half the City’s unlawful medical marijuana dispensaries,^[27] instituted a program to protect immigrants from fraud,^[28] and advanced environmental justice.^[28]

A leader in preventing gun violence, Feuer created a Gun Violence Prevention Unit in his office and has worked aggressively to keep guns out the hands of criminals and children.^[29] Feuer has brought charges against parents who did not properly store firearms which later fell into the hands of their children.^[30] Working with the LAPD, he created protocols to assure domestic violence perpetrators do not have weapons.^[31] In a groundbreaking national effort, Feuer joined with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. to co-found and chair Prosecutors Against Gun Violence—an independent, non-partisan coalition devoted to prosecutorial and policy solutions to the public health and safety crisis of gun violence.^[32]

To spearhead justice system reform that reduces recidivism and addresses the root causes of crime, Feuer created the Community Justice Initiative—an array of innovative, neighborhood-based programs addressing quality of life crimes, truancy, prostitution, the needs of homeless veterans and more.^[33]

Feuer also has played a leading role in solving key municipal problems, including the history-making settlement of L.A.’s decades-long dispute with the Owens Valley (saving the city millions of dollars and vast quantities of water),^[34] and a successful fight for transparency in how ratepayer dollars are spent by DWP trusts.^[35]

Personal life

Feuer holds both a bachelor's degree and a law degree from Harvard University, and is married to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gail Ruderman Feuer, with two children: Danielle, 20, who is in her junior year at Yale University, and Aaron, who is 22, who graduated from Yale in May 2013. Aaron currently is the founder and CEO of Panorama Education.

References