The Brief

If former state Senate leader Toni Atkins is elected governor next year, she would oversee a state contract that puts money in her own pocket.

Following a directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom to develop state-owned properties for affordable housing, the California Department of General Services in 2020 hired a consulting firm to help prioritize sites, conduct market research and evaluate applications from contractors.

That firm, LeSar Development Consultants, is owned by Atkins’ spouse, Jennifer LeSar. And because of California’s community property law that gives couples equal ownership of assets in their marriage, the $1 million contract — which was reupped in February through 2028 — has been worth tens of thousands of dollars to Atkins, according to financial disclosures.

It’s just one of the potential conflicts of interest with her spouse’s business dealings that Atkins faces as she seeks the most powerful office in California. Nearly half of the major clients last year at LeSar’s companies employed lobbyists to influence government policy.

Disclosure forms filed by Atkins and LeSar list 51 different entities, including the Department of General Services, from which they received more than $10,000 in income last year through LeSar Development Consultants, LeSar Support Services, LeSar Holdings, Inc. or Global Policy Leadership Academy — all firms for which LeSar serves as president or CEO.

A CalMatters analysis found that 24 of those clients are registered lobbyist employers. They include the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange, the cities of San Jose, Oakland, and Palm Springs, the insurance provider Elevance Health, the Bay Area homelessness advocacy group All Home and the homebuilder Brookfield Residential.

That means Atkins earns hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from entities that could soon be asking for her signature or veto on priority legislation, requesting funding in her state budget proposals or applying for contracts with her administration.

“People who have business before the state could be using the potential governor’s spouse as an advocate, essentially,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and former president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

No plan for Atkins on managing conflict

Atkins declined an interview request to discuss how she would handle conflicts of interest as governor. She did not say she would take any specific steps to insulate herself from LeSar’s business dealings or make any changes to their current arrangement.

“Toni is proud of her spouse Jen’s decades of work to expand access to affordable housing in California,” spokesperson Danni Wang said in a statement. “Throughout her leadership in both the Assembly and the Senate, Toni has maintained high ethical standards, prioritizing transparency and avoiding any conflicts of interest. If elected governor, she will continue to uphold those same principles and ensure that every decision is made in the best interest of Californians.”

California’s conflict of interest rules disqualify public officials from participating in governmental decisions that would foreseeably have an impact on their personal finances, though there is an exception if the potential effect does not benefit the official any more than it would the general public.

Atkins is not the first politician with a family member whose work creates a potential conflict of interest with their elected office. Nor is she the only 2026 gubernatorial candidate whose income could complicate their tenure.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis told CalMatters in April that she would place her extensive property investments — which include downtown Sacramento office buildings that rent to at least three state agencies and dozens of organizations with business before state government — in a blind trust if she won next November. She dropped out of the race on Friday.

But the direct financial benefit Atkins receives from LeSar’s income and the expansive portfolio of a governor, encompassing the entirety of California government, make this a particularly thorny case, Levinson said.

Organizations could theoretically hire LeSar to get closer to Atkins, while Atkins, as governor, could direct more state business to LeSar’s companies — though Levinson stressed that the potential for a conflict of interest does not necessarily indicate Atkins has done anything illegal or unethical.

“None of this means that she’s corrupt or she would make corrupt decisions,” Levinson said.

The relationship has long raised eyebrows

Questions about potential conflicts of interest with her spouse’s work have dogged Atkins throughout her rise in California politics. She married LeSar in 2008, when Atkins was a member of the San Diego City Council, and subsequently served 14 years in the Legislature, where she became the first person in more than a century to lead both the Senate and the Assembly.

As a lawmaker, Atkins received some criticism for introducing bills that would have raised taxes and fees to fund affordable housing development, her spouse’s line of work, so she sought permission from an attorney for the Legislature. After she became the Senate president pro tem in 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that the clientele at LeSar’s firms had nearly quadrupled in five years. Last year, a campaign watchdog alleged that Atkins illegally used campaign funds for a $22,500 study trip to Austria organized by Global Policy Leadership Academy.

Atkins has always denied any wrongdoing.

Then-state Sen. President Pro Tem Toni Atkins speaks in the Senate chambers of the state Capitol on Dec. 5, 2022. Her spouse’s housing consulting companies do business with the state and employ lobbyists.

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LeSar’s business portfolio has grown to include four companies, which employ nearly three dozen people. The largest, LeSar Development Consultants, is a management consulting firm that provides strategic advising on affordable housing and homelessness projects. LeSar Support Services manages longer-term housing, public health and disaster recovery programs. Global Policy Leadership Academy offers training courses and study trips focused on urban development. All receive operational support from LeSar Holdings, Inc.

Though not among the most elite tier of affordable housing consultants in the state, LeSar carries considerable influence in the industry, particularly as she has carved out a unique lane with auxiliary services like her training academy, said Ben Metcalf, managing director of UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

“There are some obvious synergies and benefits from her involvement in both of those organizations,” said Metcalf, who has attended a Global Policy Leadership Academy study trip.

On a statement of economic interests that LeSar filed last year with San Diego County for her consulting work, she reported the fair market value of LeSar Development Consultants at more than $1 million and for each of her other three companies at between $100,001 and $1 million. State financial disclosures only require filers to provide broad ranges.

Atkins reported receiving more than $100,000 in gross income from each of the four companies last year. That means, under California’s community property law, that LeSar earned at least double that amount — more than $800,000 — across her businesses.

The total income Atkins received is unknown. But nearly 40 of LeSar’s clients paid her enough last year that it triggered disclosure requirements for Atkins as well, because she earned more than $10,000 from each of them. That included the Department of General Services and 18 lobbyist employers.

“There are potential conflicts of interest with respect to any state agency consulting contracts,” Thomas Hiltachk, a political and election lawyer whose firm helped set up a blind trust for Arnold Schwarzenegger when he became governor in 2003, said in an email. “Such conflicts could also appear with any private consulting clients if such clients have matters or legislation under the Governor’s authority.”

Few solutions for avoiding conflicts

The Department of General Services hired LeSar Development Consultants for its affordable housing project in November 2020, on a three-year contract worth nearly $1.1 million, according to a copy provided to CalMatters. LeSar was paid $301.41 per hour, including labor, fringe benefits, overhead and profit.

Shortly before it expired, the contract was extended for another year for an additional $364,000. Then in February, the department signed a new three-year contract, for just over $1 million, which will keep LeSar Development Consultants advising on proposals to build housing on state-owned properties through 2028. LeSar’s rate has increased to $350 per hour.

“DGS is using the consultant to help as needed, through project initiation, preparation for and evaluation of proposals submitted by developers, provision of advice for complex policy, technical and procedural matters concerning affordable housing development, and ground lease and financial closings,” Fallon Okwuosa, a department spokesperson, wrote in an email.

CalMatters obtained several other public contracts that LeSar Development Consultants signed with cities and counties listed in Atkins’ statement of economic interest last year. They include a $964,800, one-year contract to produce a housing strategy for San Diego County; a $161,230, one-year contract to update Ventura County’s homelessness strategy; a $120,000, one-year extension of a contract to provide loan underwriting services for San Jose; a $100,000, one-and-a-half-year contract to advise San Jose on financing affordable housing projects, with renewal options through 2030; and a one-year extension of an ongoing $259,600 contract with Monterey County to update its exclusionary housing ordinance.

These local governments all employ lobbyists to weigh in on state budget funding requests and legislation.

Levinson and Hiltachk agreed that there are no easy solutions for Atkins to address the potential conflicts of interest if she is elected governor. Unlike with assets, such as property or investments, Atkins cannot put her spouse’s work in a blind trust.

And it would be complicated, Levinson said, for Atkins to recuse herself from every policy decision that affects LeSar’s clients.

“There’s just too many things that the governor does and too many ripple effects from a governor’s decisions,” Levinson said.

Because even the appearance of conflict of interest could undermine the public’s confidence in Atkins as governor, she added, LeSar might ultimately be forced to narrow the scope of her work or step back from her firms altogether.

“You’re punishing people who might never engage in nefarious behavior,” Levinson said. “But there’s a reason for that.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Thousands more students joined walkouts Friday to protest the Trump administration’s militarized crackdown on immigrants, detainment of children and violence against U.S. citizens protesting the raids.

By mid-afternoon, nearly 12,500 students from more than 85 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District had walked out, according to a district spokesperson. Hundreds of students in other districts — from Pasadena and the greater San Gabriel Valley to Orange County — also marched in their communities.

At Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar, about 100 students—some as young as 11—walked out of their science, English, and math classes, then walked to a nearby park.

For many students, Friday’s walkout marks the first time they’ve ever participated in a protest. And after months of watching federal immigration agents violently detain people on social media, the students told LAist that protesting — on behalf of their communities and in honor of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — filled them with a sense of freedom and power.

Isaac, a seventh grader, walked out of science class.

“This felt like I was breaking out of some sort of chamber,” he told LAist. “I felt like I was being free for once.”

Many of the 12-year-old’s family members are from Mexico and he’s been worried about what could happen if they’re detained.

“I'm standing up for my family and my friends, our community, really,” he said. “The most we [can] do is what we're doing right now.”

After months of being scared every time his parents go to work, Isaac said the protest was a type of salve.

“It makes us feel better,” he said. “It makes us stronger.”

M, right, is a sixth grader at Olive Vista and organized the school's walkout.

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How to organize a middle school

A few weeks ago, M, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Olive Vista Middle School, asked her mom, Maritza Ocegueda, why students in Minnesota and elsewhere were walking out of school. LAist has agreed to refer to her solely by her first initial, after her mom raised concerns for her safety.

Ocegueda shared with her daughter that she walked out of Van Nuys High School as a junior in 2006 to protest proposed federal immigration legislation. Nearly 40,000 students from across Southern California joined the movement.

“ I was floored,” Ocegueda said. “It inspires me and gives me that little bit of hope… Maybe we can make a change.”

M decided to organize a walkout at her school concurrently with other students in the community. 

She made several lunchtime announcements about a walkout on Friday, Feb. 6 at 10:24 a.m.

“If you'd like to join, please come over here and if you have any questions, just ask me.”

Those announcements did not come easily to M, who is soft spoken and admittedly shy. “ I try to be the bravest I can,” she said. “ I want [my classmates] to understand how serious this [is] … [The federal government is not] letting people be themselves, like, they can't go to Home Depot without feeling unsafe.”

M, and several other students said some teachers and administrators discouraged their organizing. M said at one point she was pulled out of class for more than an hour to talk about the walkout.

“ One of the things I told the school [is] you dropped the ball because this is a learning moment,” Ocegueda said. However, she said she’s open to more conversations with school and district leaders on how to support students.

Maritza Ocegueda's daughter M organized Olive Vista Middle School's walkout. She said she's active in the community passing out food and clothes to unhoused neighbors and helping other people connect with resources.

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A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson provided a statement that said students were informed that walkouts are not school-sponsored, there are spaces on campus for students to exercise their freedom of speech and that they would be marked absent for missed class periods. A similar message was posted to the school’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon.

“Administrators routinely meet with students to share safety information and clarify options for on-campus expression—not to threaten or discipline,” the statement read. “Leaving campus during instructional time without permission is discouraged; that message is about safety and supervision, not suppressing speech.”

M said that other teachers were more supportive and helped her spread the word about the walkout to other students.

“ What I've learned is students should not have to come protest 'cause that's what the adults should be doing,” M said. “Adults should know better to help out the community and students should not have to come out.”

Honks of support 

By mid-morning, students began to trickle out of Olive Vista.

As students joined the group of young activists, those already outside cheered and passing cars honked their horns in support. One SUV had a Mexican flag poking out of the sunroof.

Out by the curb, some of their parents, including M’s mom, were waiting. The adults encouraged the students to stick together and made sure the group waited for the light to turn before crossing the street to Sylmar Park.

" What's in my heart is that my parents are Mexican and I wanna support," said Jayden, an Olive Vista 6th grader.

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Once they gathered, the middle schoolers marched to a nearby park, carrying homemade signs and flags of Latin America.

One student turned to a friend and nervously quipped: “I just really hope we don’t get shot or tear gassed.”

‘They don't understand how much we love our parents.’

In conversation with LAist, multiple students said they live in fear of being separated from their families. They also worry that their parents could be mistreated if they are detained by federal agents.

Eleven-year-old Alejandro, for instance, usually goes to Sylmar Park to play baseball. Today, he said, he went to the protest to honor his mom and dad, Mexican immigrants from the states of Michoacán and Jalisco.

To critics who think he should have stayed in class, he said: “They don't understand how much we love our parents.”

“I just don't like how Donald Trump is calling us ‘animals,’ when we're the ones working our asses off to live paycheck to paycheck, while he's up there sitting in his chair throwing out orders at Kristi Noem,” said eighth-grader Jesús, referring to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The 13-year-old had his family and his neighbors in mind during the protest, along with 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, whose deportation the federal government is working to expedite.

“The little boy who was captured with his little bunny hat, he was captured and he was sent to prison,” Jesús noted. “And that's just crazy, because how are you going to let a little kid inside a prison?”

The federal immigration activity in the San Fernando Valley has also left him feeling nervous, even when he is on campus. “I'm trying to study and then I just get reminded: maybe there's somebody waiting outside to take us.”

Sixth grader Sophia’ said she walked out for her grandmother who’s from Mexico. "I wanna represent our people and show that we aren't bad," Sophia said. "We are actually, like, a great community."

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As the students chanted and waved their signs, adults passed out snacks, water and pizza purchased with money donated from the community.

“They're here with clear intentions and they're here for a purpose,” said Michelle, the parent of another young protestor who requested LAist only use her first name. “I’m just proud of them.”

M, the organizer, said she wouldn’t have used that term to describe herself before the protest.

“Now that I'm looking at myself, I do see myself as a helper,” M said. She plans to continue helping her community, for example by distributing food and clothes to unhoused neighbors.

And she has some advice for any aspiring student organizers.

“ I was a shy kid, so I want them to be brave and speak up,” M said.

She said she planned to finish up the day at school after she ate.

Topline:

Why it matters: King Taco helped establish the template for the modern L.A. taqueria — shifting the city's understanding of tacos from the hard-shell, Americanized version to soft tortillas filled with carne asada, carnitas and tacos al pastor. As the late food critic Jonathan Gold noted, King Taco "solidified what we all think of as the modern Los Angeles taco sensibility."

Why now: The nomination comes as part of the city's ongoing effort to recognize Latino cultural landmarks.

The backstory: Founder Raul Martinez launched King Taco from a converted ice cream truck in 1974, eventually opening the Cypress Park brick-and-mortar location that became the chain's flagship. The business grew to 24 locations across Southern California, becoming a model for immigrant entrepreneurship and establishing key Mexican dishes like tacos al pastor and carnitas as L.A. staples.

What's next: The Cultural Heritage Commission will determine whether King Taco's original location retains sufficient historic integrity and continues to convey its cultural significance. If approved, King Taco would become one of the few designated restaurant landmarks recognizing Latino culinary contributions.

President Donald Trump's harsh immigration tactics are taking a political hit as new polls show a majority of Americans feel federal agents have "gone too far" in enforcing immigration laws.

It's not just Democrats who are concerned, but also independent voters who are expected to play a major role in the upcoming midterm elections.

"The base loves it, but it's an issue for the independent voters who decide elections in this country," said Alex Conant, a veteran Republican strategist. "Independents want a strong border and they want to deport criminals, but they're really uneasy with having masked federal agents going around in neighborhoods, deporting anyone that they see — as the Democrats are portraying it."

After months of aggressive enforcement, Trump's signature issue that twice got him elected is now turning into a liability ahead of this year's midterm elections.

The outcry over what many saw as militant tactics hit a fever pitch after the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by immigration officers in Minnesota.

A new NPR/Marist poll shows that six in 10 Americans disapprove of the job federal immigration agents are doing.

Even typically loyal Republican supporters have called on the Trump administration to make changes and rebuild trust with law enforcement.

"They, being the White House, need to recalibrate on what needs to be done to make sure that that respect is going to be re-instilled," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told conservative radio host Mark Davis.

Trump shook up the leadership of the Minneapolis operation, and directed his team to withdraw 700 federal officers.

"I learned that, maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch," Trump said in an interview with NBC's Tom Llamas. "But you still have to be tough. We're dealing with really hard criminals."

It's a bit unclear what a "softer touch" actually means.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt largely defended the administration's enforcement efforts Thursday and pointed to different polling — from a Harvard/Harris survey — that she said showed support for their "deportation agenda."

"Nearly eight in 10 Americans say criminal illegal aliens should be deported," she said. "A solid majority also support deporting all illegal aliens, regardless of additional crimes."

She also said the administration is now prioritizing criminals who are in the country illegally.

Theresa Cardinal Brown, who worked on immigration policy under two presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said there may be an "operational pause" as the administration retools its efforts, both from a policy standpoint and a public relations standpoint.

"Operationally, you're not really thinking about politics as you're putting together an operation, said Brown, now a member of the Council on National Security and Immigration. "But politics comes into everything, right?"

She points to the announcement that body cameras would be deployed to federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, noting that while video can uncover when officers are doing something wrong, body cameras can also vindicate officers when they have done the right thing.

"I do think that probably the administration is thinking, 'Well, if we had body cam footage of our own, we could put our own perspective on it,' " she said.

Trump has a big incentive to get a handle on this crisis — and to do so quickly.

Conant, who previously worked on Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign, said Trump has left an opening for Democrats to sound more reasonable on immigration ahead of the midterms.

"If he loses the immigration issue as a political winner, it's a real political problem," Conant said, "not just for Trump, but Republicans more broadly."

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