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Newly seated Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis has named Peter Hong as her chief deputy — the county's title for the chief of staff in individual supervisors' offices. Hong in September had begun a new job as Director of Strategic Initiatives and Deputy Chief of Staff in the office of Cal State LA president William A. Covino. He joined Cal State LA from the staff of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, where he was a senior deputy. Before that, Hong was a reporter at the Los Angeles Times for 15 years, covering higher education, economics, politics and Southern California culture. He also covered the war in Iraq. Hong started at the Times in the old Central section, which covered the communities at the core of the city. Before the LAT Hong had worked for the Washington Post, BusinessWeek Magazine and the ABC News Washington bureau.
Hong wrote an interesting piece about the Times in 2012, on the 20th anniversary of the riots that followed the acquittal of the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King on that dark street in Lake View Terrace. He observed that in the 20 years, the LA Times had become a less diverse place — a whiter institution than the LAPD. His career, he wrote, "roughly covered the rise and fall of newsroom diversity."
I assume that Hong is responsible for grabbing another LAT veteran for Solis' staff. Shirley Bermudez, named the executive assistant to Solis, had been the assistant to LA Times editor Davan Maharaj and a series of senior editors before him. The Solis team also includes Andrea Ordin, the former U.S. Attorney, LA County Counsel and police commission member when Antonio Villaraigosa was mayor. She will advise Solis on legal issues. More names of Solis aides should be coming later this week.
Hong, interestingly enough, shares an Occidental College connection with the other new chief deputy in the Hall of Administration — Lisa Mandel, the chief for new Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. The Kuehl office released the names of her key staff today. Lot of Yaroslavsky holdovers on the list, plus the former school board president Genethia Hudley-Hayes as deputy for education and social services, and former deputy mayor Torie Osborn as principal deputy for strategy and policy.
Here's the Kuehl release:
Third District County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl today announced her incoming policy and constituent services staff appointments as she officially assumed office following her formal swearing-in Monday by her sister, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jerilyn Borack.
“I’m extremely proud and pleased to introduce the people who will be joining my staff at the County Hall of Administration,” Kuehl said. “It’s a wonderfully experienced group, able to hit the ground running from the first day.”
Kuehl added, “Supervisor Yaroslavsky has been an amazing representative for the entire Third District over the past 20 years, and my team and I look forward to continuing his great work.”
Kuehl won election on November 4 to succeed Zev Yaroslavsky, who is retiring due to term limits after representing the two million constituents of the Third District since 1994. The District includes much of the mid-city, Hollywood, San Fernando Valley and Westside portions of the City of Los Angeles, as well as the cities of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, West Hollywood, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, San Fernando and Westlake Village, unincorporated Topanga and other communities in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Kuehl’s policy and constituent services staff will include:
DOWNTOWN
Lisa Mandel, Chief Deputy - Previously Deputy for Children’s Services for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Legal Director, Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles, children’s dependency attorney and public defender
Torie Osborn, Principal Deputy for Strategy and Policy - Previously a Deputy Mayor under
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Liberty Hill Foundation
Joel Bellman, Deputy for Media Relations - Previously Press Deputy for County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Edmund D. Edelman, and former print and broadcast editorial writer, documentary producer and columnist in Los Angeles
Maria Chong-Castillo, Deputy for Public Works - Previously Assistant Chief Deputy and Public Works Deputy for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and Capital Projects and Field Deputy for then-Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky
Genie Chough, Deputy for Children’s Services - Previously Director of Finance for First 5 LA, Budget Deputy for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Assistant Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, and Assistant Director of the Domestic Policy Council for the White House
David Colgan, Deputy – Assisting with justice and transportation, previously Assistant Deputy for Transportation and web writer for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, legal intern for Basta, Los Angeles-based non-profit tenants’ rights advocacy organization
Nicole Englund, Deputy for Planning and Transportation - Previously Director for Land Use and Transportation and Senior Legislative Deputy for Supervisor Gloria Molina
Genethia Hudley-Hayes, Deputy for Education and Social Services - Former President and member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, school principal, educator, and Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference/Los Angeles
Sylvia Drew Ivie, Deputy for Mental Health Services and Clinic Health Services - Previously Executive Liaison to the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Senior Deputy for Human Services for Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Chief Executive Director of the non-profit T.H.E. (To Help Everyone) Clinic, Inc., and Executive Director of the National Health Law Program
Kieu-Anh King, Deputy for Budget and Finance - Previously Budget Deputy for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, legislative analyst for the Seattle City Council, finance analyst in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Public Policy and Finance
Madeleine Moore, Deputy for Special Projects - Previously Campaign Manager for Kuehl for Supervisor and state legislative candidates and ballot measures, research associate for California State University Northridge Consulting Center
Molly Rysman, Deputy for Housing and Homelessness Services (as of mid-January 2015) - Los Angeles Director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing and former External Affairs Director for Skid Row Housing Trust
Nik Swiatek, Deputy for Technology and Social Media - Previously Founder and Principal of political consulting firm Rex for President, Creative Director for Los Angeles County Democratic Party, and Field Director, Field Organizer and Deputy Campaign Manager for local, state and federal campaigns
Elan Shultz, Deputy for Public Health Services and Health Services Financing - Previously Deputy for Health and Public Health Services for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Assistant to the Director of the Department of Public Health, and staff member for New York-based international non-profit health agency EngenderHealth
Gilbert Valle, Caseworker/Office Manager - former Intermediate Board Specialist for Executive Office of Board of Supervisors
Katy Young, Deputy for Arts and the Environment (as of June 2015) - General Counsel & Director of Government Affairs with Climate Action Reserve, former Southern California Coro Foundation Fellow and Associate Attorney in Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins LLP
FIELD OFFICES
Van NuysAngelica Ayala, Field Deputy (as of March, 2015) - California Leadership Education and Action Pathways (LEAP) Director, Youthbuild USA, former East Valley Area Director/Labor Liaison and Outreach Director for Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa
Moses Ledesma, Field Deputy/Caseworker - previously Senior Board Specialist and intake specialist for Executive Office of Board of Supervisors
West HollywoodFelicia Park-Rogers, Senior Field Deputy - former Executive Director of Beth Chayim Chadashim, world’s first LGBT synagogue, and COLAGE, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere
Rachel Katya Zaiden, Field Deputy/Caseworker - former Constituent Services Manager and caseworker for Rep. Henry A. Waxman
West Valley/Mountain CommunitiesSusan Nissman, Senior Field Deputy - former Senior Field Deputy for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and lead deputy for watershed management, water quality and waste management issues
Timothy Lippman, Field Deputy - previously District Director for Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, Senior Assistant for Assemblymembers Julia Brownley and Fran Pavley, and legislative assistant for Assemblymembers Patricia Wiggins and Susan Davis
Lourdes Arevalo, Caseworker - previously caseworker for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky
