Ron Shalom Galperin (born August 1, 1963) is an American politician who served as the 19th

Los Angeles City Controller The Los Angeles City Controller is an official in the government of the city of Los Angeles, California. The City Controller is the paymaster and chief accounting officer of the city. Along with the Mayor and the City Attorney, the City Controller ...

from 2013 to 2022. He took office on July 1, 2013 and won re-election in 2017. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Galperin is the first

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

official and first neighborhood councilmember to be elected to citywide office in Los Angeles. Galperin was elected Los Angeles City Controller in 2013, and re-elected in 2017. He was a candidate in the

2022 California State Controller election The 2022 California State Controller election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the California State Controller. Due to term limits, incumbent Democratic Controller Betty Yee was ineligible to run for a third term. Democrat Malia Cohen wo ...

Education

Galperin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, business, and political science from the

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

. He was admitted to the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

on December 12, 1994. In 2018, Galperin complete
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government
program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as
David BohnettLGBTQ Victory Institute
Leadership Fellow.

Career

Prior to his election to the city controller of Los Angeles, Galperin practiced

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

as both a transactional and litigation

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

for more than 20 years. Galperin was the first Neighborhood Council member elected to citywide office in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. As an officer of his local neighborhood council, he advocated for

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

improvements and more responsible neighborhood planning. He also developed and taught "L.A. City Government 101" to new neighborhood council members throughout the city and served as a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. Galperin was

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Los Angeles Commission on Revenue Efficiency. He also served as president of the city's Quality & Productivity Commission.

Los Angeles City Controller

Galperin was sworn in as the 19th Los Angeles city controller on July 1, 2013. Galperin launched ControlPanel LA, the city's first

open data Open data is data that is openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shared by anyone for any purpose. Open data is licensed under an open license. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-source)" movements ...

portal, in October 2013. Because of these efforts, Los Angeles has been named the No. 1 Digital City three years in a row by the U.S. Open Data Census. ''

Government Technology ''Government Technology'' magazine is the flagship periodical of Folsom, California-based publishing company e.Republic Incorporated. The magazine contains editorial content about information technology in the public-sector The public sect ...

'' magazine named Galperin to its list of the Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of 2015. Galperin created UtilityPanel.LA, a data portal featuring key financial data about DWP spending and payroll.

Candidacy for California State Controller

In May 2021, Galperin started running for a seat on 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 first ...

, but announced in January 2022 that he would instead run for

California State Controller The state controller of California is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of California. Thirty-two individuals have held the office of state controller since statehood. The incumbent is Betty Yee, a ...

. If elected, he would have been the first openly LGBTQ state controller.

Personal life

Galperin was born to immigrant Jewish parents, one of whom was a Holocaust survivor. He is the first LGBT official elected citywide in Los Angeles. His husband, Zach Shapiro, is a rabbi, and they have two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Galperin, Ron Living people Los Angeles City Controllers California Democrats American LGBT politicians 1963 births Washington University in St. Louis alumni Loyola Law School alumni LGBT Jews Jewish American attorneys Gay politicians Jewish American people in California politics