Don Knabe
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Donald R. Knabe (born October 15, 1943, in
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
) was a member of the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...
, serving the Fourth
District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
. The long east–west district runs from
Marina del Rey Marina del Rey (Spanish language, Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated area, unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination ...
and
LAX Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
through the South Bay, Los Angeles Harbor Region, and the
Gateway Cities The Gateway Cities Region, or Southeast Los Angeles County (also shortened to Southeast Los Angeles and Southeast LA) is an urbanized region located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, between the City of Los Angeles proper, Orange ...
, to the southeastern
San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...
.


Education and early political career

Knabe attended
Graceland University Graceland University is a private university with campuses in Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri. The university offers degree completion and master's degree programs at satellite campuses in Centerville and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Trent ...
and graduated with a degree in
business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...
. After enlisting in the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
, Knabe settled in Cerritos. The Knabes owned a small business, and Knabe entered politics in 1978 as one of several candidates for the GOP nomination to replace
Del M. Clawson Delwin Morgan Clawson (January 11, 1914 – May 5, 1992) was an American politician. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served as mayor of Compton, California. Clawson was born in Thatcher, Arizona and attended Gila ...
as Congressman from the 33rd District (Downey-Norwalk-Whittier). Knabe lost to
La Mirada La Mirada ( Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre ...
Mayor
Wayne R. Grisham Wayne Richard Grisham (January 10, 1923 – January 19, 2011) was a two-term member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1979 to 1983. Biography Born in Lamar, Colorado, Grisham graduated from Jordan High School (Lo ...
, but carried his home area. In 1980, he was elected to the Cerritos City Council on the basis of growth issues. Knabe took a job with Supervisor
Deane Dana Deane Dana, Jr. was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Dana was born July 9, 1926, in New York City.
's office in 1982, soon advancing to Chief of Staff. In 1987, Knabe considered running as a Republican for the state Senate in a special election. However, he backed down in favor of Grisham, whose Congressional seat had been redistricted and was now a state Assemblyman. Grisham lost the special election to Democratic Norwalk City Councilman Cecil Green by a larger-than expected margin, and Republicans immediately concluded that the younger, more energetic Knabe should have been the nominee. Knabe retired from the City Council in 1988 to run for the state Senate. After a hard-fought and expensive campaign, Green defeated Knabe by 51% to 49%.


Fourth District Supervisor, Los Angeles County

In 1996,
Deane Dana Deane Dana, Jr. was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Dana was born July 9, 1926, in New York City.
, the former Supervisor of the 4th District, announced that he would retire in December of that year, after serving 16 years in office. Don Knabe, who had served as Dana's chief deputy since 1982, ran to fill the vacated seat. During the campaign, he raised more than $2.6 million, with Dana's campaign committee spending more than $152,000 on Knabe's behalf. The majority of the campaign contributions came from special interest groups. In the non-partisan primary, he finished first with 40% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated former Rolling Hills Mayor Gordana Swanson, who had given Dana a tough race in 1992. A moderate
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, Knabe instituted a
safe-haven law Safe-haven laws (also known in some states as "Baby Moses laws", in reference to the religious scripture) are statutes in the United States that decriminalize the leaving of unharmed infants with statutorily designated private persons so that th ...
or
baby hatch A baby hatch or baby box is a place where people (typically mothers) can bring babies, usually newborn, and abandon them anonymously in a safe place to be found and cared for. This kind of arrangement was common in the Middle Ages and in the 18t ...
in 2002, where mothers can leave their baby at a
fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...
, lifeguard headquarters, or
hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
within 72 hours of their birth. The program was instituted after several publicized cases of child abandonment and
infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...
. The program was quickly adopted statewide. As of August 31, 2011, 87 babies, in
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
alone, have been safely surrendered. Knabe was the Chairman for the 2010 session. He was reelected in the June 3, 2008 election.


Controversies

Knabe's son, Matt Knabe, is a partner at a major Los Angeles
lobbying firm In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
, Englander, Knabe & Allen and is a registered County lobbyist. Despite the family ties, Knabe routinely votes on board matters involving clients that his son and son's firm represents (including the award of government contracts), instead of recusing himself. Because of the father-son relationship, local media, in particular the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', have regularly raised
ethic Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
al concerns over perceived or real
conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, finance, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, t ...
. Board matters that Knabe has not recused himself from voting include contract awards that circumvented standard
government procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the procurement of goods, services and works on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. Amounting to 12 percent of global GDP in 2018, government procurement accounts for a sub ...
processes and other actions that had a financial impact on Matt Knabe's firm: *March 2005: A $7.4 million contract award with Global 360 BGS Inc. that Knabe voted to approve. The said company paid $72,000 to Matt Knabe's firm. Later that year, J.D. Knabe & Associates, the firm owned by Knabe's wife, Julie, arranged an event for Global 360. *June 2006: Knabe voted to approve the expansion of a controversial
air park A residential airpark (also spelled air park) is also referred to as a "fly-in community". The word can also refer to a community specifically designed around an airport where the residents each would own their own airplane which they park in thei ...
in
Agua Dulce, California Agua Dulce () (Spanish for "Sweet Water") is a census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It lies at an elevation of , northeast of Santa Clarita. The community had a population of 3,342 at the 2010 census and co ...
. The firm paid Matt Knabe's firm $32,800. *June 2006: Knabe voted to approve a permit for Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), a landfill operator in Sunshine Canyon. BFI had paid Matt Knabe's firm more than $83,000. *February 2011: Knabe voted to award a $1.5 million contract to TRC Solutions, a client of Matt Knabe's firm. *December 2011, May 2012: Knabe voted twice to award American Golf Corporation lease extensions to run the County's
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
s. American Golf Corporation is a client of Matt Knabe's lobbying firm. From July 2012 through January 2013, AGC paid Matt Knabe's firm a total of $67,500. The company also sponsors the Knabe Cup, an annual golf tournament for high schoolers held by Knabe. *March 2012: Knabe voted to award a $1.75 million
no-bid contract Multisourcing is the concept of working with multiple suppliers who are also competitors. Large-scale buyers, such as the U.S. federal government, may want to feel assured that there is more than one supplier for an item. It has been described as ...
award with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a client of Matt Knabe's lobbying firm. Following a ''SoCal Connected'' broadcast on the nature of the contract award, Supervisor Antonovich held a motion to investigate the contract award. In January 2013, the Department of the Auditor-Controller published its findings to a limited investigation regarding the Enterprise Rent-a-Car
no-bid contract Multisourcing is the concept of working with multiple suppliers who are also competitors. Large-scale buyers, such as the U.S. federal government, may want to feel assured that there is more than one supplier for an item. It has been described as ...
award, concluding that the solicitation had been conducted improperly. From July 2012 to January 2013, Enterprise Rent-a-Car paid Matt Knabe's firm $97,500. *July 2012: Knabe voted to award a $22,305,549 contract with Maximus Inc., a client of Matt Knabe's firm. From July 2012 to January 2013, Maximus reported paying Matt Knabe's firm a total of $48,000. *January 2013: On a motion initiated by Knabe, Knabe voted to waive the 15% gross receipts fee (typically applied for use of County facilities), for Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association (a client of Matt Knabe's firm), which sponsors United States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard and Junior Lifeguard Championships, for the company's use of the Manhattan Beach Pier. From July 2012 to January 2013, the said company had paid Matt Knabe's firm a total of $45,000. Knabe has been criticized for his use of
taxpayer A taxpayer is a person or organization (such as a company) subject to pay a tax. Modern taxpayers may have an identification number, a reference number issued by a government to citizens or firms. The term "taxpayer" generally characterizes o ...
-funded discretionary funds (each supervisor is allocated a $3.4 million spending account), including the employment of an armed driver earning an annual salary of .


Personal life

Knabe is married to Julie Knabe née Gillbreath. Julie operates J.D. Knabe & Associates, a customer relations firm. The Knabes have two sons, Curt and Matt, both graduates of
Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...
. Knabe's son Matt is a partner at a major Los Angeles lobbying firm, Englander, Knabe & Allen. Knabe is a member of New Life Community Church in
Artesia, California Artesia (Spanish for "artesian aquifer") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California. Artesia was incorporated on May 29, 1959, and is one of Los Angeles County's Gateway Cities. The city has a 2010 census population of 16,522. Artesi ...
.


References


External links


Los Angeles County: official Supervisor Don Knabe websiteKnabe official websiteLos Angeles County Supervisoral districts map
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