On the evening of Sept. 4, some of the biggest movers and shakers in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles gathered in a hillside home to raise money for Nathan Hochman’s campaign for Los Angeles County District Attorney.
Hochman, who grew up in Beverly Hills, is running on a tough-on-crime platform and seeking to unseat current D.A. George Gascón. If elected, he vows to reverse most of the liberal incumbent’s reform measures and prosecute violent crimes to the fullest extent of the law.
The fundraiser took place at the residence of luxury home builder Mauricio Oberfeld and his wife Sharon in the Bird Streets neighborhood overlooking the city of Beverly Hills. It was co-hosted by Oberfeld’s business partners Matt Dugally and Mauricio Umansky and featured real estate mogul and former L.A. Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso as a guest speaker. Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian was also in attendance.
“What I have seen in the last four years with Mr. Gascón is absolutely alarming to me,” Oberfeld told the Courier. “The idea that I can be mugged in Beverly Hills, and nothing will be done, the idea that stores get robbed on Rodeo Drive and nothing gets done, the idea that any criminal that commits a nonviolent crime gets off on zero bail—that absolutely bothers me.”
Gascón ran his 2020 campaign, and is currently running his 2024 campaign, on a criminal justice reform campaign to reduce racial disparities and end mass incarceration.
While in office he has enacted a sweeping series of reforms.
Those reforms include ending the practice of trying juveniles as adults, eliminating gang sentencing enhancements and removing cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. Gascón also issued a blanket pause on the prosecution of many misdemeanors including trespassing, disturbing the peace, driving with no license, making criminal threats, drug possession and resisting arrest.
If elected, Hochman has vowed to reverse all those policies on his first day.
“I will assure you that what I will be doing is restoring safety in this community, changing these pro-criminal policies and working with prosecutors, law enforcement, victims and the public,” said Hochman.
Hochman said in lieu of “blanket policies” he will take a “hard middle” approach. This entails evaluating each crime individually to determine who is a true threat to public safety and should be behind bars versus who would be better suited to community service or drug rehabilitation programs, he said.
During the event, Caruso delivered a speech urging attendees to do everything they can to ensure Hochman wins in November.
“We’ve got a serious problem in the city and the county. We all know that. We see it with our eyes every day,” said Caruso. “My wife and I live in Brentwood and the crime rate in our neighborhood is up 71 percent. There are six homes in our little pocket that have been broken into.”
In his remarks, Hochman painted a clear contrast between himself and his competitor’s work experience.
“He (Gascón) has never personally prosecuted or defended a single criminal case in his entire career, yet he has been the D.A. of San Francisco, destroyed that city’s public safety, and he’s come down to L.A. and been our D.A. and done his best to destroy our public safety,” he said.
Before his legal career, Gascón worked in law enforcement. He was an Assistant Chief of Police for the LAPD, and the Chief of Police in both Mesa, Arizona and San Francisco. He became the San Francisco D.A. in 2011 and the Los Angeles D.A. in 2020.
Hochman graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1981 and has 34 years of legal experience working as a prosecutor and defense attorney. He is a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General and L.A. Ethics Commission President.
A recent survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the LA Times, found that 45% of likely voters in L.A. County support Hochman, 20% support Gascón and 35% are undecided.
Despite these promising numbers, Hochman said he is not taking anything for granted and will continue to campaign hard through election day.
“Our polling is going about as well as it can go right now,” said Hochman. “We’re up around 25 points according to the LA Times poll, but I tell the team we have to approach it as if we’re 25 points down.”
Oberfeld said he considers the District Attorney the most critical race on the ballot this year. In addition to raising money, he also wanted the event to raise awareness about Hochman’s platform and inspire his influential friends to become involved in the campaign.
“His vision and his ideas are really a breath of fresh air for me,” Oberfeld told the Courier. “Our intent here is to spread the word on who Nathan is and who he will be as a D.A.”
In closing his speech, Hochman urged all the event attendees to share his campaign message with their personal and professional networks.
