Meet the McCoskers: How someone from the South Bay has power at City Hall

As Los Angeles City officials worked on a deal to modernize the convention center, more than one member of the McCosker family played a major role.

City Councilmember Tim McCosker sponsored the $2.6 billion expansion, which could bring more tourism but threatens to further add to the financial situation.

Nella Mcosker, his daughter, runs for the Central City Assn., the influence of the Lostown Los Angeles Business Group, which is strongly encouraged in this work.

And his nephew, Emmett Mcosker, former assistant to former mayor Eric Garcetti, works for the tourism department – managing the convention center.

Nella Mcosker used to oppose this project as her father listened to the Council. In September, he cast a “yes” vote.

“It’s just a family tradition of Government jobs,” said Modo Liu, Executive Director of the Department of Tourism, who is a long-time friend and colleague of Tim Mcosker – and Emmett Mcosker’s Boss. “I wish there were more Mcoskers working at City Hall.”

And there is. Flying a little under the radar, because of his last name, is the fourth family member, Anissa Raja – the niece of the Government (his cousin in Emmett and Nella), who is his legal director and the President of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats.

Raja does not lead by the fact that he is a relative of the Council.

“I’m not telling it because I’m a stage. I keep a professional at work,” he said.

While the interplay between mcoskers can create potential conflicts of interest, Nella says she enters all the interesting conversations she has with the city’s TIT office, as she does with other attractions.

Also, he and his father often disagree. Even in the city government of La City, promoting a close family member is legal, as long as Puli doesn’t have the money.

“As a city, we have made a policy decision that you should not be related to someone who will not try to influence them if they are in an elected position,” said Loyola Marymount University professor Unijentsion and Head of Coty Ethics.

Councilor Tim Mcosker speaking during the 2023 meeting at City Hall.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

For decades, the McCoskers – a large Irish Catholic family from San Pedro – have held power at Los Angeles City Hall. Unlike the Garcettis and the Hahns, the McCoskers did not serve in an elected office Citywide or Coastwide. But the scope of their influence on Los Angeles Politics for a century is much larger than can be estimated.

The McCoskers are not alone in making city politics a family business.

There is the Council of Revember Karoslavsky, who once managed his Zev Yaroslavsky. And Herb Wesson, former Speaker of the Council, who was his daughter and his father-in-law Alexis Wesson is the chief of staff of Councilmember Adrin Nazane.

Sometimes that leads to family members rebelling against each other in questionable ways.

Eric Garcetti’s father Gil Garcetti – perhaps best known for being the LA County District Attorney during the OJ Simpson case – was President of the Ethics Commission when his son was on the city council. That led to news in 2006, when Gil inadvertently contributed to Eric’s reelection campaign, which he was not allowed to do. Or consider the price of CouncilMember Curremember, who is charged with voting accused of prophecies of development paid for by his wife’s consulting firm.

The McCoskers’ tradition of city service predates Tim, who worked for City Attorney James Hahn in the 1990s before becoming Hahn’s chief of staff at Chindolo in the early 2000s. Tim’s father, Mac, was a city firefighter, which many in the family cite as the origin of the public service bug.

To this day, the family is a good, or more, fire family than a political family – and some members have combined the two.

Tim’s brother Patrick is a retired LAFD engineer who served as President of the Los Angeles City Firefighters Union, the powerful Fireferers Union. Another brother, Mike, who died in 2019, was an adulterous president of the same organization.

Emmett, Patrick’s son, said his father was always his hero and that he wanted to be a firefighter. But when he graduated from college in 2011 following the Great Recession, the Fire Department was not hiring, so he entered politics instead.

Time, too, we wish to be a firefighter in one place. Two of his children are firefighters, one with the LAFD and the other with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, while a cousin works for the County Fire Department.

In 2003, Councilor Janice Hahn – the sister of Mayor James Hahn and the daughter of Kenneth Hahn – Mike and John (then and the courtesy of the city of Eku Lomsefeni) “are involved in everything.”

Rebecca Liu Morales, who used to be her partner to Councilor Eric Garcetti, was Nella McCosker’s childhood sweetheart in San Pedro.

“We grew up knowing a lot about public life and what it looks like. We were drawn to campaigning events. We spent Marnemianey Movy –

Little does Nella Mcosker know that if she had been in the field for decades, she would have been there in her father’s campaign, helping him to be elected to the city council in 2022.

He served as her Operations Director, referring to her as his “ego killer” for his constant willingness to pull her down a peg. The campaign was filled with volunteers from family, Tim’s family, Connie, Mbuzabi Patrick, who was a growing doorknocker.

One of the politicians who lives in the region noticed that two mcoskers knocked on his door separately and the third called him as part of the phone bank operation.

After Tim won his Council seat, Nella took a job running the Central City Assn. Now, he points to the glorious ones, including his father’s office.

Council Mcosker, and the Council of Yaroslavsky, proposed a law in 2023 that would require Nelbbyists who like Nella who are close to the council’s relatives to disclose the relationship. They were denied promotion in the formation of land development projects in that Chief’s district. Because Nella works on issues involving the city, not the San Pedro area, she and Tim would not be affected. The law did not pass.

Rob Quan, managing director of Expressive – which focuses on the positive risk of the Federal Government,
There is no evidence that the MCOSKERS have obtained their fellowship by undue advantage.

Tim said the family rarely talks about local politics at meals and holidays. First, there are so many of them that the universe can become chaotic.

Last time he checked for Thanksgiving, Tim said about 47 people showed up, and the tables were empty all the way out on the back patio. Mostly, they are lost to the children, and the cousins ​​reconnect.

“It’s not so much about politics. It’s more about family,” Tim said.

When politics comes up, mcoskers tend to kick the world sideways.

Tim said he was arguing with his daughter Miranda and his brother Patrick, who believed Lafrd king Kristin Crealeley should have been reinstated after mayor Karen Bass asked him to handle the fire. Both represented other firefighters at Council camps where Council voted on the matter.

“You can’t have the mayor and the fire chief … on different pages. It’s dangerous,” Tim said.

While Tim and Nella both supported the expansion of the convention center, they both differed on other issues.

Earlier this year, Tim voted to increase the minimum wage for the hotel and airport – Nella and the Central City Assn. strongly opposed.

“There are a lot of different things I can get to [than with other councilmembers]”He said, talking about his discussions with his father about politics.

This summer, Nella Mcosker and the Central City Assn. They were part of a business coalition that proposed a ballot measure to repeal the city’s top tax on businesses, which generate about $800 million for the city annually. His goal was to help fight for businesses by reducing their taxes.

Tim McCosker said: “It’s a terrifying sight.

That’s probably why a very angry “Tim” came with him, Nella said.

He called him Tim, not father – partly out of decorum in the country where he covers for himself and his colleagues and so on.

And also how she and her four younger siblings grew up – they always called their parents Tim and Connie.

Nella’s son Omero is 4. He says he can be anything he wants when he grows up, but others in the town family already have their eyes on him.

“I am ready to give him an internship,” said Liu.