Democrat Ron Galperin is running for California controller

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — This story was originally published by Calmatters.

How much does experience as a controller count? 

Ron Galperin is betting it counts for a lot. 

The Democratic city controller from Los Angeles is running to replace Betty Yee, who has served as state controller for two terms and is ineligible to run for re-election.

He faces a crowded field in the June 7 primary: Malia Cohen, chairperson of the state Board of Equalization, who has the Democratic Party endorsement; state Sen. Steve Glazer, a Democrat from the East Bay; Democrat Yvonne Yiu, a city council member in the San Gabriel Valley who has poured nearly $6 million into her campaign; and Republican Lanhee Chen, an academic with national political experience.

But none of the other candidates have what Galperin calls the “golden ballot designation” — the title “controller” next to his name. 

In a down-ballot race, he hopes that’s enough for voters to boost him into the top two, even though his time as L.A. controller hasn’t been an unqualified success.  

“I’m the only one who’s running for this office who has spent the last nine years as a controller, and who’s actually done this day after day,” Galperin said in an interview with CalMatters. “I think what we need is somebody to step into this role, who actually knows what it is that they are doing.”

Here are five key takeaways from the conversation:

Galperin sees the controller post as a way to take on what he calls an “existentialist” and “humanitarian” crisis facing California: housing affordability and homelessness.

“It is a public health crisis. It’s also an economic crisis,” he said. “If we want people to come to California, if we want them to stay, if we want them to invest in California, we’ve got to much better address this problem.” 

Taking it on means looking at state spending — specifically the $12 billion approved last year to address homelessness — and whether the money is achieving results.

Galperin cites his experience with Proposition HHH, approved by Los Angeles voters in 2016 to allow city officials to borrow as much as $1.2 billion to reduce homelessness by buying or developing property and remodeling supportive housing and facilities. 

Galperin conducted audits and issued reports in 2019, 2020 and this year, flagging rising costs and sluggish development. Specifically, Galperin’s 2022 analysis found that projects were taking from three to six years to complete and costs had increased to an average of $596,846 per unit, with 14% of units exceeding $700,000 and one project topping $800,000.

If elected, Galperin says he plans to create a “strike team” to audit state, county, and municipal spending on homelessness within 60 days of taking office. 

Among Galperin’s notable accomplishments as controller in Los Angeles is the creation of a data dashboard itemizing all city expenditures for the last 10 years.

“You can search and filter every single item that we’ve purchased, every dollar that we’ve dispersed,” he said. “And I want to do the very same thing for the state of California.” 

Such public information is the first step to transparency, as Galperin sees it. A similar state dashboard would allow him, as controller, to track spending not just on housing and homelessness, but education and local governments. 

“We are at one of these moments in time where people do not feel very trusting in government at all … I think our very democracy is at stake right now, and we have to find ways to try and rebuild trust in government,” he said. “I think one of the most important ways that we do that is through the work that a controller does.”

While California does have FI$Cal, its financial management system, the state auditor says it is far over budget and behind schedule. That failure is “particularly shameful,” Galperin said, when California is home to Silicon Valley. 

He blames a lack of understanding of how different departments would need to transition to the new software, and trying to make the system do too much. He says he would convene stakeholders to develop a priority list of what can be fixed immediately, and what issues need more expertise and time. 

Having an open data dashboard allows stakeholders and activists to help a controller keep an eye on how money is being spent. 

“Every day I’m getting emails from a whole variety of different folks saying, ‘Well, what about this expenditure? Can you explain this?’ Or ‘Does this make sense?’ Or ‘Did you know?”

Asked whether his open data approach may have prevented the estimated $20 billion in fraud in the state Employment Development Department during the pandemic, Galperin said that while COVID required quick payments to the jobless, audits done years ago had flagged some of the problems that emerged, but were “largely unheeded.” 

“If many of these recommendations had been put in place earlier, you would’ve had a very different result,” he said.

While the state controller doesn’t craft policy, he or she can make recommendations. 

A controller might, for example, weigh in on whether it’s prudent to issue stimulus payments from the state’s massive surplus to ease the burdens Californians face from rising gas prices.

Galperin said he believes any relief needs to be more targeted. “We have so many deep and profound needs in this state at this moment that I want to make sure that monies that are distributed are going to those who really need it,” he said.

He also doesn’t support increasing taxes on the wealthy — but does think it’s worth reassessing the state’s overall tax structure to account for an economy based more on services than goods.

“How do we rearrange that tax burden?” he asked. “So we should look at ways that we can make sure that it’s as fair a system as possible.”

The controller also sits on the boards of the nation’s two largest public pension funds for teachers and employees. The state faces a significant shortfall in those funds: As of 2020, the state had just two-thirds of the money it had promised.

Galperin said the state should find ways to maximize investment returns, and also avoid creating a “two-tier” system with new employees receiving lower benefits than existing workers.

And while Galperin generally supports divesting from Russian assets due to the war in Ukraine, he approaches the question with caution:

“If you’re just going to sell it to a Russian oligarch, who’s now going to make a killing on the fact that you sold it at a very depreciated price, does that actually accomplish anything? Does that help the people of Ukraine? Does that punish the Russian government?” 

Several scandals have rocked L.A. City Hall on Galperin’s watch. But he deflects any direct involvement or responsibility.

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