| Family |
- Born July 15, 1960, Los Angeles
- Grew up in Highland Park
- Married to Michelle
- Sons, Christian and Preston
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| College
|
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Harvard University
Graduated with honors
Rhodes Scholarship nominee
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AP Honorable Mention All-American
All-Ivy League football player
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| Law
School |
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Career
and Public Service |
- Teacher/
Coach, Los Angeles Unified School District
- Attorney,
O’Melveny & Myers
- Director
of Business Development, Rebuild LA
-
Deputy Mayor of Economic Development,
Office of Mayor Richard J. Riordan
- Elected City Attorney of Los Angeles
2001
- Re-elected City Attorney of Los Angeles
2005
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A native of the Eastside of Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo
became the highest-ranking Latino to win citywide office in
more than 100 years when he was elected Los Angeles City Attorney
on June 5, 2001.
Running unopposed, he was re-elected in March 2005 to a second
four-year term.
Upon first taking office, Delgadillo began implementing innovative
programs to achieve his vision of a better and safer Los Angeles.
His top priorities include fighting crime, improving quality
of life in our neighborhoods and reducing the city's civil
liabilities. Many of the crimes the City Attorney's Office
prosecutes are gang- and narcotics-related. Delgadillo has
enforced and increased the number of gang injunctions to take
on notorious gangs that terrorize neighborhoods.
In his first term, Delgadillo more than tripled the number
of gang injunctions in the city to 22, contributing to a steep
decline in crime in the affected areas. At the same time,
effective legal work by his team helped bring to a close the
Rampart scandal at a substantial savings. When the case broke
in 2000, it was projected that some 120 cases could cost Los
Angeles as much as $125 million in liability payments. Four
years later, Delgadillo's team had negotiated settlements
totaling $70 million in more than 200 cases, a projected $55
million savings over the next several years. He urged the
city to apply to the hiring and training of new police officers.
Liability savings under Delgadillo extended beyond the Rampart
scandal. General liability payouts in Delgadillo's first term
fell by 60 percent, to $33 million.
Delgadillo's efforts went well beyond fiscal responsibility.
Education and after-school activities help deter teens from
joining gangs. That's why Delgadillo created Operation Bright
Future, a tough anti-truancy program that targets sixth-graders
with excessive absences. Operation Bright Future teaches parents
about the importance of education and ultimately holds parents
legally responsible for making sure their kids go to school.
Delgadillo's signature program is the Neighborhood Prosecutor
Program. For the first time in the city's history, prosecutors
work in the neighborhoods, get to know residents on a first-name
basis, and attack quality-of-life crimes where they occur.
Neighborhood Prosecutors work with residents, elected officials
and city agencies to drastically cut illegal dumping, graffiti
and illegal street racing, to name a few of the problems.
The program won a city Productivity Award in 2002 for its
first-year achievements.
Delgadillo also has focused on fighting child abuse; elder
and dependent adult abuse; immigration fraud; and environmental
crimes, particularly in populated urban centers. In addition
to his success as a prosecutor, Delgadillo has helped make
neighborhoods safer by slashing the city's liability costs
by 45 percent and freeing up nearly $18 million to help pay
for police and other crucial city services.
Before his election, Delgadillo was the Deputy Mayor of Los
Angeles for Economic Development, where he worked to attract
new jobs for the neighborhoods that needed them the most.
He created an efficient, neighborhood-friendly approach to
business development and helped bring more than $20 billion
in private investment to the city in four years.
Prior to joining the mayor's office, Delgadillo was Director
of Business Development for Rebuild LA, a nonprofit formed
to bring investment into Los Angeles neighborhoods ravaged
during the 1992 civil unrest, and served as a senior attorney
at O'Melveny & Myers.
Delgadillo attended public schools, including Franklin High
School in Highland Park. He earned a scholarship to Harvard
University, where he graduated with honors, and received his
law degree from Columbia Law School. In 1982, Rocky Delgadillo
won the Robert F. Kennedy Award from Harvard University. The
Kennedy Award is given annually to a member of the varsity
football team who demonstrates a strong desire, determination,
and willingness to work hard as a valuable member of the team
earning the respect and admiration of his teammates and coaches.
The LA County Democratic Party bestowed its annual John F.
Kennedy Award to Rocky Delgadillo in 2002.
Delgadillo and his wife, Michelle, live in Los Angeles' Windsor
Village neighborhood with their sons, Christian and Preston.
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