When Hydee Feldstein Soto was elected Los Angeles City Attorney in 2022, she took over a mess.
Candidates for re-election often say that, but there’s no other way to describe the City Attorney’s office under its previous occupant, Mike Feuer. Feuer’s office was raided by the FBI in 2019, part of a sweeping federal investigation into legal misconduct tied to his office’s effort to secretly control both sides of a class action lawsuit over a failed billing system at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Thomas Peters, who had been Feuer’s chief of civil litigation, entered a guilty plea in 2022 to aiding and abetting extortion in an attempt to cover up what the city attorney’s office had done.
Feuer was not charged after he told investigators he did not recall being at a 2017 meeting where paying off a blackmailer was discussed, even though the meeting was on his calendar. Peters was one of several individuals who were convicted or pleaded guilty in the sprawling scandal.
Feldstein Soto told the editorial board that it took a year to clean up the management of the office, establishing new protocols for access to information systems and enforcing conflict of interest rules. She also modernized the business office, which was still running on paper checks and ledgers.
The city attorney’s office has about 1,000 employees, roughly half of them lawyers. The job is literally “the city’s attorney,” responsible for acting as legal advisor to all city officials and departments. The city attorney reviews and approves contracts and ordinances for legal compliance, defends the city against lawsuits, and brings civil lawsuits on behalf of the city. The office also prosecutes misdemeanors; the responsibility for prosecuting felonies falls to the county district attorney.
Feldstein Soto has taken action against sex trafficking of minors on the dystopian Figueroa Corridor, using nuisance enforcement against motels and sponsoring successful state legislation to close loopholes in the law that protected predators instead of victims. Assembly Bill 535 cracks down on witness intimidation and Senate Bill 680 imposes mandatory sex offender registration on adults who engaged in unlawful sex with minors.
She has actively sought to bring the justice system to people who might otherwise not have access to it, expanding the schedule for restorative justice programs to enable more people to participate and holding “outdoor court” proceedings where homeless individuals can resolve misdemeanor charges.
The job of the city attorney goes far beyond the role of prosecutor. She is responsible for defending the city in civil litigation, and there is a lot of it. Feldstein Soto inherited the city’s settlement of the L.A. Alliance lawsuit over homelessness and has fiercely battled a federal court that has sought to place Los Angeles into receivership and seize control over spending the city’s budget.
Other potentially thorny negotiations are ahead, including the agreement with LA28 about reimbursement to the city for enhanced resources, such as the costs incurred for extra police, sanitation and other city services needed for the Olympics.
Knowing when to fight and when to settle is a complex business, and Feldstein Soto has a deep background on which to draw as she navigates this landscape. Some things are beyond the control of the city attorney, including court orders, injunctions and settlements that were on the books when she arrived.
Hydee Feldstein Soto has worked hard for the people of Los Angeles and deserves a second term. She has our endorsement for re-election.