Studio City's Eric Preven Announces Candidacy for LA County Supervisor

LOS ANGELES – Eric Preven, a visible and vocal critic of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' insular, behind-the-scenes governing style and an impassioned advocate for greater public involvement, promised greater government transparency and accountability today as he announced his candidacy for  the Board’s Third District seat.

Preven, an independent television producer and consultant who has worked in the entertainment industry for three decades, is running as a Democrat in the June 3 open primary for the seat, which is being vacated this year due to term limits. A 29-year resident of Studio City, this is his first bid for public office.

“Three years ago,  I started watching this important governing body, and I was pretty shocked at how it functioned,” Preven said, announcing his candidacy outside the Kenn Hahn Hall of Administration. “I saw immediately that a lot of major decisions affecting the public are made out of the public eye, and that the Board of Supervisors likes it that way. I think that’s wrong and it leads to bad decisions. The Board, operating in a vacuum, doesn’t seek the public’s input, is beholden to special interests and inclined to cronyism.”

Preven’s activism at the county level dates to 2010, after his mother, a longtime Malibu resident, had a harrowing  encounter with the county’s Animal Care and Control agency, which impounded her two Labs with no due process, held them for six months and charged her for their boarding fees. Outraged by the agency’s handling of the matter, Preven appeared before the Board of Supervisors for the first time to press for redress and changes in the agency’s policies.

Finding legislators ambivalent and out of touch, Preven became a fixture at meetings of the Board of Supervisors and has been outspoken before the board on issues of government transparency and accountability. He has advocated for criminal justice reform, including greater civilian oversight; government ethics reform; and economic incentives to retain vital county businesses, such as the entertainment industry.

Preven has also been vocal about improving opportunities for civic participation and engagement. His “watchdog” efforts have drawn praise from good government groups and media attention: He has collaborated on or appeared in news stories in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and WitnessLA, on KCRW and KCET’s “SoCal Connected” program. 

“I have dug deep into the real stories going on behind the publicly available agendas, and it’s a discussion of those issues I hope to bring to this race,” Preven said. "I’m running because I want to enact as a legislator the changes I’ve spoken out for, before the Board and elsewhere. My campaign will stress fairness and honesty, openness and civility, transparency and candor.”