Robert Myles Hertzberg (born November 19, 1954) is an American politician who previously served in the California State Senate. A Democrat, he represented the 18th Senate District, which includes parts of the San Fernando Valley.
Prior to being elected to the State Senate in 2014, he served as the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly, representing the 40th Assembly District. He was Majority Leader from January 2019 to January 2022. He announced he would not seek re-election and instead announced his candidacy for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He lost the supervisor election to Lindsey Horvath.
Early life and education Hertzberg was born the third of five sons in Downtown Los Angeles. His father, Harrison Hertzberg, was a constitutional lawyer. He grew up in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. The family later moved to Palm Springs, California. He went to Palm Springs High School then graduated magna cum laude from the University of Redlands in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English. Hertzberg earned his Juris Doctor from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1979.
Legal career After graduating from law school, Hertzberg was an associate at the Beverly Hills law firm of Fulop, Rolston, Burns, & McKittrick. He and his father later formed the Hertzberg & Hertzberg law firm. The younger Hertzberg left in 1985 and sued his father over the firm's assets in 1986, seeking $1 million in punitive damages. After his father's passing in 1987, the case was settled as part of the estate.
After Hertzberg retired from the State Assembly in 2002, Mickey Kantor recruited him to full partnership at Mayer Brown LLP, formerly Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. Hertzberg left Mayer Brown in 2014, after being sworn in as a State Senator. Shortly after being elected to the California State Senate in November 2014, Hertzberg was hired as a "of counsel" government affairs attorney with the Los Angeles law firm Glaser Weil. Hana Callaghan, director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, has raised concerns over potential conflict of interests, as the firm services many clients who are affected by state legislation. In December 2017, he and Glaser Weil mutually agreed to the suspension of their relationship, following sexual assault allegations against State Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, who was represented by Glaser Weil.
Political career Hertzberg experience with politics begin at 19 as a driver for State Senator Mervyn Dymally, who ran in the Lieutenant Governor of California race, in 1974. There he built his networks within the Latino political circles, including Gloria Molina, Richard Alatorre, and Antonio Villaraigosa. Hertzberg did legal work for Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina. He was later appointed to the California State Board of Pharmacy.
California State Assembly
Campaigns In 1994, Hertzberg contemplated running for the 40th Assembly District, which encompassed North Hollywood to Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley, but never announced his candidacy.
In 1996, Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman of the 40th Assembly District termed out. In the March Democratic primaries, Hertzberg ran against Francine Oschin, aide to Los Angeles City Councilmember Hal Bernson. According to the California Political Almanac, Hertzberg "racked up a sheaf of endorsements and raised well over $200,000 for the primary." He won the primary with 72% of the vote. In the November general election, Hertzberg had a 59–31% victory over Republican Ron Culver.California Secretary of State: Statement of the Vote, November 1996 General Election.
In 1998 and 2000, Hertzberg was re-elected with 69% and 70% respectively.California Secretary of State: Statement of the Vote, November 1998 General Election. California Secretary of State: Statement of the Vote, November 2000 General Election
Tenure Term limits in the Assembly meant a large influx of new members with every new session. Hertzberg created the California Assembly Program for Innovative Training and Orientation for the Legislature (CAPITOL) Institute with Assemblyman Bill Leonard in 2000 to educate first time legislators and their staff. They offered training on a variety of topics: including ethics, legislative deadlines, key personnel at the capital, voting procedures, restrictions, and committees. After his tenure as Speaker ended, the succeeding Speaker Herb Wesson named the Capitol Institute after Hertzberg."Hertzberg U," by Kathleen Les, California Journal, June, 2000. Hertzberg also created the Speaker's Office of International Relations and Protocol.
Speaker of the Assembly (2000–2002) In November 1999, Antonio Villaraigosa announced his resignation as Speaker of the Assembly the following April to run for Los Angeles mayor in 2001 and immediately endorsed Hertzberg as his replacement. Assemblymen Kevin Shelley and Carole Migden of San Francisco and Tony Cárdenas of Sylmar were seen as potential opponents for the position.
On April 13, 2000, Hertzberg was unanimously elected by a voice vote as the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly. In 1996, when Hertzberg first ran for the Assembly, the Democrats had 38 of 80 seats. By November 2000, when Hertzberg was directing the Assembly Democratic campaigns, his party was up to 50 seats and he was the last Speaker to gain seats until the Obama landslide of 2008.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Hertzberg temporarily shut down the State Assembly and created the bipartisan Legislative Task Force on Terrorism to combat potential threats to California's food and water supplies.Glaberson, William (October 5, 2001). "A NATION CHALLENGED: THE STATES; Local Officials Scramble to Develop Antiterrorism Plans of Their Own". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
2005 Los Angeles mayoral election
Campaign A steady series of fundraising scandals, where members of Mayor James Hahn's Administration were investigated by a grand jury for allegedly awarding city contracts to campaign contributors, and the general attitudes towards Hahn prompted many people to join the mayoral race in 2005.
Hertzberg termed out of the California State Assembly in 2002 and transitioned back to private law practice. He launched his mayoral campaign in June 2004 with an extensively produced website at ChangeLA.com. The website attacked Hahn's leadership and encouraged readers to donate and interact with Hertzberg. It has been likened to Vermont Governor Howard Dean's digital campaign in the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, which elevated Dean's name recognition from unknown governor to apparent frontrunner. Hertzberg told the Los Angeles Times that he while he made more money doing business and conducting his law practice, he ran out of a sense of civic duty. However, half of Los Angeles city voters did not know much about Hertzberg.
Hertzberg was the first to launch a TV campaign in the race, which featured a giant image of him towering over a city full of problems.Levey, Noam N. (June 29, 2004). "Hertzberg Launches Web Campaign Against Hahn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010. He was endorsed by Education Secretary, and former Los Angeles mayor, Richard Riordan.Gold, Matea; McGreevy, Patrick (February 26, 2005). "Hertzberg Gets a Lift From Gov". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
A second Los Angeles Times poll found the primary too close to call, with Hertzberg, Hahn, and Villaraigosa each with about 20% of the vote, with a very high likelihood for a runoff election.Finnegan, Michael (March 1, 2005). "2 Rivals Eroding Hahn's Strengths". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010. Hahn's supporters ran negative mailers, linking Hertzberg and Villaraigosa to Enron and drug dealer Carlos Vignali during their time in the State Assembly.McGreevy, Patrick; Rabin, Jeffrey L. (March 5, 2005). "Charges Fly Between Hahn and Hertzberg". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010. An analysis by the Los Angeles Times showed that Hertzberg was popular among Hahn's base, which included San Fernando Valley residents, conservatives, moderates, and Jewish voters. However, he struggled with young, black, and Latino voters, polling less than 5% per group and well behind his opponents. Hertzberg also won twice as many precincts as Hahn but fell short when Hahn's negative ads decreased his support in the Valley. Hertzberg placed third in the primary election after Hahn and Villaraigosa, with the most votes of any candidates in the San Fernando Valley. An editorial in the Los Angeles Times claimed a dull run-off debate between Hahn and Villaraigosa made them "miss Bob Hertzberg and his outsized ideas". After missing the run-off election, Hertzberg endorsed Villaraigosa. Villaraigosa would go on to defeat Hahn 59% vs 41%.
Platform Hertzberg ran as a moderate Democrat. His platform included the breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, calling the District's 50% dropout rate the biggest threat to the city's future, despite not having any control over the department as mayor. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did not endorse any candidates, despite his close working relationship with Hertzberg, probably due to souring attitudes towards him by the city's Democratic majority. However, he has expressed support for Hertzberg's plan to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District, although he did not specify which parts. He opposed raising taxes for more police officers.
California State Senate
Campaigns In May 2013, Hertzberg announced his candidacy for the Senate seat representing California's 18th State Senate district. His announcement was followed up by a lieu of endorsements by state officials, including Ted Lieu, Raul Bocanegra, Tony Cárdenas, and Alex Padilla, and local representatives, including Felipe Fuentes and Curren Price. He credited his time co-founding the Think Long Committee with billionaire Nicholas Bergguen and successfully drafting legislation as motivation to re-enter the political scene. He placed first in the June 2014 primary elections with 63.1%, with Republican candidate Ricardo Benitez placing second with 29.1%. Hertzberg won the general election in November 2014 with around 70%.
He defeated Republican challenger Rudy Melendez with 78.1% of the vote in the November 2018 election, the highest of any California Senate seat that year. When asked about his legislative priorities in 2018, he listed tax reform, economic Opportunity Zones, simplification of government forms, refining the bail reform law, and updating disaster related infrastructure. He was sworn in for his second and final Senate term on December 3, 2018.
Tenure In December 2018, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins appointed Hertzberg Senate Majority Leader for the 2018–19 Legislative Session.
Technology In 2018, Hertzberg introduced a bill to identify automated social media accounts as bots with full disclosure. He has said that the bill was aimed at preventing internet fraud, particularly in politics and advertising. Early drafts of the bill would have required undisclosed bots to be removed and covered all bots, not just political and commercial ones. These provisions were later removed after backlash from the Internet Association and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whom were concerned about potential conflicts with the First Amendment. The Bolstering Online Transparency (BOT) Act was signed into law on October 1, 2018, by Governor Jerry Brown. It went into effect on July 1, 2019, with violators facing fines related to unfair competition.
In 2018, Hertzberg announced a bill that would allow the transfer of corporate share certificates through blockchain. The bill has yet to be passed.
Judicial