Lee Seems Headed For Victory In City Council District 12 Duel

LOS ANGELES, CA — With only two candidates on the ballot for the District 12 seat on the City Council, John Lee appeared headed for an outright victory Tuesday evening in his bid for a second term, overcoming allegations of ethics violations that he vehemently denies.

In early returns Tuesday, Lee was leading challenger Serena Oberstein 63.38% to 36.62% in what was tantamount to a general election as well as a primary.

With just the two candidates on the ballot, there was no need for a November runoff between the top two vote-getters.

District 12 covers the areas of Chatsworth, Granada Hills, North Hills, Northridge, Porter Ranch, Sherwood Forest and West Hills.

Oberstein is a nonprofit leader and former L.A. City Ethics Commission president Oberstein.

The early-voting results comprise of vote-by-mail ballots that arrived before election day, as well as ballots cast at vote centers before Tuesday.

After Tuesday night, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will release daily updates for the next two weeks. The election results are set to be certified at the end of the month, March 29.

Lee, a onetime Republican who now is registered as "no party preference," was first elected in 2019. He chairs the council's Public Works Committee and sits on the Public Safety and Homelessness committees.

During campaigning, Lee touted that he secured 202 more shelter beds in the district with goals of obtaining more than 480 interim and supportive housing beds for unsheltered Angelenos by the end of his first term.

On the council, he spearheaded expansion of the city's anti-camping laws to include areas such as schools and daycare, and has supported funding for the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments to fill out their ranks.

Oberstein, meanwhile, has made reforming City Hall one of her priorities, including empowering the Ethics Department to ensure transparency.

Throughout her campaign, she highlighted the ongoing ethics probe into 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 that he took with former Councilman Mitch Englander. The latter 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 reelection campaign.

Lee has called the commission's accusation against him "misguided and based on conjecture instead of actual evidence."

On the other hand, Lee and his supporters sent out mailers that highlighted Oberstein was barred from running for office in 2019 after a judge removed her from the ballot.

During her tenure on the Ethics Commission, from 2014-2018, she voted to impose fines on two people who ran unsuccessfully in past election races for the 12th District. According to city law, she had to wait at least two years before running to represent the area.

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."

Oberstein ran on a platform that focused on reforming the City Charter and ethics. She also supported Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe initiative -- but wanted to do more to bring online permanent housing.

She also backed a "Safe Parking Los Angeles Program" to find sites 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 its 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 raised $432,308 in campaign contributions, and outside, non- campaign-affiliated groups have poured $1,114,516 in independent expenditures into supporting his campaign.

Independent expenditures are payments in connection with a communication such as a flyer, 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.

Oberstein raised $150,091 in campaign contributions, but has attracted $45,410 in outside spending against her campaign, mainly from the LAPPL.

City News Service