Kenneth Mejia, 35, is a certified public accountant who lives in Westlake. In 2022, despite lacking name recognition and running against incumbent City Council member, Paul Koretz, he won the most votes of any comptroller candidate in city history.
Mejia, who is of Filipino descent, became the first Asian American to hold citywide elected office in Los Angeles.
She is famous online, and her two corgis, Kila and Kirby, are a frequent presence in her campaign as well as on the official controller’s website. He points to his audit of the city’s spending on homelessness, police, housing and animal services.
“We said we were going to provide greater financial transparency and accountability and oversight, and we have done that,” Mejia said in an interview.
The Comptroller’s Waste, Fraud and Abuse Team began investigating a homeless service provider after receiving a phone call alleging fraud. Mejia said this became the catalyst for the federal investigation of Alexander Sofer, who was charged in January with wire fraud on allegations that he took $23 million in public funds meant for homeless people.
“Because of the work we do, it forces agencies to look better at their internal controls to hold service providers accountable,” Mejia said. “These events can lead to systemic change, and that’s what happened.”
zack sokoloff, 37, lives in Westwood with his wife, two children and two rescue dogs. He was born and raised in the Westwood area. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master’s degree in education policy and administration from Loyola Marymount University, and an MBA from Harvard University before teaching algebra at a middle school in Boyle Heights and a high school in Watts.
Since joining Hackman in 2018, he has worked on multibillion projects transforming legacy studios. The company is considered one of the largest landlords in Hollywood.
Sokoloff cites his experience managing large-scale projects as key to controlling the city budget and bureaucracy. He said that they will work together in different departments.
Sokoloff said, “Angelenos are tired of reports. They want results, and so my approach balances accountability and collaboration.”
