On a warm Saturday in mid-September, Jose Ugarte gathered a group of roughly 80 constituents in a community center-turned-campaign office in South Central Los Angeles. Campaign signs lined the room, with supporters handing out flyers and a cheery atmosphere. Ugarte is running against Estuardo Mazariegos to represent District 9 in the Los Angeles City Council. Both candidates are Latino immigrants, and either will be the first non-Black city councilmember to represent District 9 in more than 60 years.
Ugarte’s September event was an opportunity for voters to meet the candidate who won 40.62% of votes compared to Mazariegos’s 22.31% in a June primary. Ugarte talked about immigration, homelessness, and affordability: issues central to his campaign in a district that is 78% Latino with the highest poverty rate in the city.
“We want people to stay here, live here, rent here,” he said.
One subject Ugarte didn’t talk about was the Los Angeles Ethics Commission fine he paid in February and his connection to the embattled incumbent Curren Price who is facing 12 felony counts, including embezzlement of public funds, conflict of interest, and perjury. Despite this history, Ugarte’s connection to the incumbent, coupled with voters’ lack of knowledge about their scandals, seems to be helping Ugarte’s campaign, according to Giovanni Garcia, chairperson of the Voices Neighborhood Council, a community advocacy group operating in District 9.
“When people go vote, it really just comes down to whatever knowledge they have when they’re filling that ballot. That’s the way they’re gonna vote. If they have minimal knowledge of Estuardo and they’re like ‘Well, we see Ugarte,’ they’re gonna vote for Ugarte,” said Garcia.
Incumbency has long been a statistically observable advantage in elections. In this race, Ugarte’s name recognition and history in the community work to his benefit, said Garcia.
“Even though Curren Price is leaving, that is his protégé,” he said. “When we think of Jose Ugarte, that’s the machine. That’s someone that is well established, he’s been in these spaces.”
Ugarte was fined $25,000 by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission for failing to disclose his ownership of and income from his political consulting business while working for the city.
“I feel like the city really needs to tackle the whole ethics violation seriously, and there should be
major repercussions,” said Garcia.
“I think overall it’s the lack of knowledge,” he added, explaining why voters seem unmoved by the issue. “I feel like because of the lack of information, they’re like, ‘We’ve seen his face, it’s easier to just vote on that.’”
Some other District 9 residents said they were also concerned with the violation, and rejected Ugarte’s assertion that it was an unintentional reporting error.
“To me, it goes beyond clerical errors and it does seem like, for someone who has worked in government for so long, it is at minimum irresponsible, but it feels very intentional and deceptive. And so to me I think this office has a long history of operating in this manner and intentionally deceiving the public,” said Elmer Roldan, executive director of Communities in Schools in Los Angeles, an education advocacy group, and a former City Council candidate who lost the primary in June.
In May, Roldan shared concerns he has about Price, Ugarte, and other District 9 staff with the
Los Angeles Daily News, and said he still feels the same way now.
“My opinion has not changed because things have not changed in the district. I still share those same concerns about not only the need for us to have council members who are going to operate with ethics and proper morals and good values, and that are putting the needs of the residents of Council District 9 first above anything else,” said Roldan.
Roldan said voters can’t be bothered by an issue they don’t know about.
“I think the awareness is inconsistent,” said Roldan. “I think that the information they’re getting is either limited or it’s being fed to them by a campaign that obviously has a very specific interest in mind.
Attitudes at Ugarte’s September event told a different story. To them, Ugarte’s work for Price is a
bonus.
“He’s got all the training, he was working with Curren Price for years, so he knows what he’s doing. He’s familiar with the area, and he’s a nice guy,” said Rose Rios, a South Central resident who works with the Cover The Homeless Ministry to provide resources to the city’s homeless population.
“I love [Price]. He’s been around for years. He built this community up,” said Rios. “Everybody liked him, and he does a lot for the community,” she added.
Price is being termed out this year. Price endorsed Ugarte in April, though his endorsement is excluded from Ugarte’s website list of endorsements.
When asked about Mazariegos, Rios said “I don’t know too much about that guy.”
