The ‘Policy Nerd’ Vs. The Grassroots Organizer In LA City Council Race To Replace Nury Martinez

The two candidates in the special election for the Los Angeles City Council District 6 seat differ little on policy but offer distinctly different resumés in their quest to replace former Councilmember Nury Martinez, who resigned last fall over secretly-recorded racist remarks.

The scandal rocked City Hall and lurks in the background of a race that has turned increasingly nasty in recent days.

Marisa Alcaraz and Imelda Padilla are seeking to represent a district that stretches nearly 20 miles across the San Fernando Valley, from Sun Valley west across the 5, 170, and 405 freeways through Arleta, Panorama City and Van Nuys to Lake Balboa. It includes heavily industrial areas, leafy neighborhoods with rows of single-family homes and streets densely packed with apartment complexes and strip malls.

Padilla won the most votes, and Alcaraz finished second, in the first round of voting on April 4, when seven candidates were on the ballot. The top two finishers moved on to a June 27 runoff. Ballots have been mailed out, so voting is already underway.

The race is for one of 15 powerful seats on the council, where members control how development, policing, homelessness, and other policies are carried out in their districts. Councilmembers — who each represent about 260,000 people — also vote on citywide issues like the LAPD budget, models for unarmed responses, and housing policies.

Two San Fernando Valley natives

Alcaraz, 38, was born on the far western edge of the district in Lake Balboa, a residential area that straddles the Van Nuys airport. Today, she lives near her childhood home, where her parents still reside. Her father immigrated from Mexico.

Padilla, 35, was born on the far eastern end of the district in heavily industrial Sun Valley. She lives with her mother in the home where she grew up. Both of her parents immigrated from Mexico.

Alcaraz went to UC Irvine and Padilla went to UC Berkeley. Each earned a masters degree in public administration — Alcaraz from USC, Padilla from Cal State Northridge.

But they took different paths after college. (Read more in our voter guide.)

Alcaraz went to work for Richard Alarcon, who held the council seat before Martinez. For the past 10 years, she’s worked for Councilmember Curren Price, who represents parts of South L.A.

Alcaraz: ‘I’m a big policy nerd’

“I’d say the primary difference between my opponent and me is the level of experience,” Alcaraz told LAist. Unlike Padilla, Alcaraz said she’s worked on policy from inside City Hall on a range of Price’s initiatives, from the hotel living wage to guaranteed basic income.

“I know how to write policy. I also know how to work on budgets, how to get resources, how to bring projects to fruition,” she said. “I’m a big policy nerd, really.”

Marisa Alcaraz

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Courtesy of the Alcaraz campaign

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She displayed those skills when dealing with calls to repeal the city’s ban on street vending, said Mike Dennis, who was with a group backing repeal. Price had made Alcaraz his point person on the issue.

“She said we can’t just repeal it,” Dennis recalled Alcaraz bluntly saying at the time, explaining there were other powerful stakeholders, including businesses angry over street vending in front of their stores. He said Alcaraz guided the various parties towards a policy that could clear the full city council.

“We really relied on her acumen and her political instincts,” Dennis said.

Alcaraz describes herself as a rational progressive, and said she sees herself as a potential bridge between the growing number of progressives on the council and more moderate members.

“I have worked with the progressive side on things like guaranteed basic income but I’ve also taken the position of supporting increasing our police," she said.

Padilla: ‘a community activist from the very beginning’

Padilla, on the other hand, has mostly worked as a community organizer in District 6.

She cut her political teeth as a teenager on a fight over the expansion of a landfill in Sun Valley. She was a senior at John Francis Polytechnic High School, where activists fighting the expansion held meetings at night.

“The role that I played was … making sure that my classmates were staying after school or going home and coming back with their families,” Padilla said.

Imelda Padilla at her campaign headquarters.

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Frank Stoltze/LAist

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“She was a community activist from the very beginning,” said Ron Lehavi, her high school history teacher.

Padilla said most of her work has occurred “at the level of listening and collecting and elevating the direct stories of people impacted by future policies.”

Out of college, Padilla worked for the environmental justice group Pacoima Beautiful and for 18 months as a field deputy to Martinez. She also worked for the L.A. Alliance for a New Economy on the campaign to raise the minimum wage in L.A. in 2015.

“My role was to build out a base in the San Fernando Valley,” she said. “I got the community impact statements out here from the neighborhood councils, and got a lot of support from the nonprofits.”

Alcaraz worked on the minimum wage hike too — from inside City Hall as an aide to Price, who introduced the ordinance.

Powerful backers

City Hall lobbyists have donated to both campaigns.

Labor unions are split in the race, with some supporting Alcaraz and others backing Padilla. The powerful police union has yet to endorse a candidate.

Price, who has endorsed Alcaraz, called her a workhorse. “When you want something done, give it to her,” he said, adding, without prompting, that Alcaraz is not his puppet candidate. “She was not recruited to run.”

Rep. Tony Cárdenas, who represents much of the area in Congress, is among the elected leaders who have endorsed Padilla.

“She’s tenacious. She leads with her heart,” Cárdenas said.

He said Padilla, who volunteered for him as a teenager when he ran for city council, was one of the few people from hardscrabble Sun Valley to make it to UC Berkeley.

“She went to Berkeley and she tackled it,” he said. “She came right back to her community to take what she learned and to be an example to other young people to say, ‘If I can do it, you can do it too.’”

One example: Padilla started the Adelante Youth Summit, which promotes cultural awareness and career exploration for high school students. She said she is especially motivated to help young people because her brother is incarcerated.

Padilla said her favorite class in college was international relations, but that’s not where her heart lies. “I’m just a big believer in like, the work is in the backyard.”

In 2016, Padilla unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the L.A. Unified School board, losing to Kelly Gonez.

The candidates on the issues

When it comes to the issues, Alcaraz and Padilla agree on a lot.

Alcaraz with her 6-year-old daughter Emma.

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Courtesy of the Alcaraz campaign

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Both support increasing the size of the LAPD but diverting some police calls to unarmed responders. Both back guaranteed basic income for some residents. And both support the right to free legal counsel for renters facing eviction — although it's worth noting that Padilla won the endorsements of apartment associations.

The two agree more housing and social services are needed to address the homelessness crisis and both support ordinance 41.18, which prohibits encampments near schools, daycare centers and parks. But they differ on another, now expired ordinance.

Read LAist’s promise tracker, which is monitoring Mayor Karen Bass’ progress on homelessness and other issues.

Alcaraz and Padilla disagree on whether the city should reinstate ordinance 85.02, which would ban RV’s from residential areas. The proliferation of RV’s parked along roadways in District 6 is among the top concerns of voters there.

“I believe we do need to reinstate 85.02 or at least some form of legal structure around RV’s,” Alcaraz said.

Padilla said she opposes reinstatement.

“I think we need to be more hands-on about really finding long-term sustainable solutions for these individuals,” she said. “We need to get them into housing.”

On City Hall reforms, Alcaraz and Padilla agree the city council should be expanded and create an independent redistricting commission to draw political boundaries.

Imelda Padilla points out on a map where she lives in Sun Valley.

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Frank Stoltze/LAist

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Another reform under discussion at City Hall is reducing the power of individual councilmembers over land use decisions in their districts. Supporters of the idea say it would reduce opportunities for corruption. It also may reduce nimbyism.

Alcaraz said it's a good idea.

“I think it's important,” she said. “Right now we put not just a lot of discretion in the hands of the councilmembers, but also just make it hard to build in the city generally.”

Padilla opposes limiting councilmembers’ control over land use.

“What I would like to do is empower existing structures” like neighborhood councils, she said.

Both candidates were shocked and angered by Martinez’ remarks

Calls for such reforms arose out of the scandal that prompted this special election.

The two candidates said they were shocked and angered by the anti-Black remarks by former councilmember Martinez. Alcaraz said she once admired Martinez. “I think a lot of women looked up to her,” she said.

Alcaraz touted the fact that she works for a Black council member who represents a mostly Latino district and who has worked to improve the relationship between the two communities. She pledged she would do the same.

The way she describes it, if elected, she won’t do anything her young daughter would disapprove of.

“You almost want to say you have to learn from the kindergarteners — go back to your teachings at school, which is, be nice to everyone and take turns and listen,” said Alcaraz, who holds a black belt in kung fu.

Padilla said she has the skills to heal racial wounds.

“Coming from community organizing, I’m trained in how to get community leaders to be vulnerable and have these conversations,” she said. “It's going to be a lot of difficult conversations.”

The political attacks

Padilla’s previous work for Martinez at Pacoima Beautiful (when Martinez ran the group) and as the councilmember’s field deputy has become an issue in the campaign.

At Alcaraz’s campaign headquarters in Panorama City, an outreach worker calling voters read from a script that pointed out Padilla worked for Martinez.

“It almost sounds like a cheap shot,” Padilla said. “I was right out of college.”

Padilla in turn has sent out a mailer that says putting Alcaraz on the council would mean more corruption at city hall.

The flyer notes a four-year-old news story that the FBI was investigating Alcaraz’s boss, Councilmember Price, as part of a corruption probe. He was never charged with a crime.

Alcaraz’s campaign accused Padilla of trying to stoke racism. Price is Black.

“Imelda Padilla is following in the footsteps of her mentor and previous boss, disgraced former Councilmember Nury Martinez, who resigned after her racist rants were exposed,” the Alcaraz campaign said in a statement.

Meanwhile, an Alcaraz campaign mailer says Padilla is backed by “downtown special interests,” noting she has been endorsed by the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, BizFed and Central City Association. “Which side are you on?” the mailer asks.

Padilla’s campaign said in a statement that while she “did receive lobbyist money, based on ethics commission reports Marisa Alcaraz received far more.”

Alcaraz has raised a total of $448,000 in direct contributions and city matching funds, while Padilla has raised $471,000 from the same sources.

Outside groups — mainly labor unions — have spent nearly $306,000 in independent expenditures on Alcaraz’ behalf. Independent expenditures on behalf of Padilla — by unions and a PAC for Latino politicians — amount to $186,000.

Turnout in the first round of voting in April was a paltry 11.4%, according to the registrar of voters. Both campaigns expect turnout to be higher in the runoff, perhaps 15%. That’s still very low, said Fernando Guerra, who directs the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

“The lack of turnout shows there’s a lack of outrage” over the Martinez scandal, he said. “People thought there would be tremendous mobilization and activation because of the audio leak and nothing could be further from the truth.”

The people who will vote, Guerra said, likely are aware of the scandal and may be influenced by the campaigns’ references to it.

Their heroes: Dolores Huerta and Frida Kahlo

The candidates’ campaign headquarters are in the same shopping plaza in Panorama City, but they couldn’t be more different.

Padilla has the office of a community organizer. An open bag of potato chips sits on her desk. Post-it notes are plastered on large sheets of paper on the walls next to political art, including posters of labor leader Dolores Huerta and Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.

Political posters on the wall of Padilla's campaign headquarters.

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Frank Stoltze/LAist

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“I just have them as a sense of inspiration,” she said. “I’m Mexican American. So why not?”

The office is about the size of a one-car garage with no bathroom — you need to use the public restrooms in the plaza outside.

Alcaraz’ headquarters is much more spacious, with its own restroom. The walls are adorned with campaign posters and nothing else.

Alcaraz named Mayor Karen Bass, Huerta, and Kamala Harris as among her political heroes. Padilla named the painter and philosopher Frida Kahlo.

“I like that she made women unapologetic to engage in selfies,” Padilla said laughing.