by Garth Meyer
Over the September 24 weekend, a dozen Redondo Beach firefighters from each of the city’s three fire stations knocked on doors in City Council District Four, with Council Member Zein Obagi, Jr. He is the target of a recall on the Oct. 19 ballot. The fire fighters urged residents to vote no.
“All volunteers, it was fabulous,” Obagi, Jr., said. “It was really neat to have them out there to debunk the imposters.”
Recall proponents contend Obagi wants to disband the local fire department, and contract with Los Angeles County for fire protection.
Obagi responds to the claim by explaining, that during budget talks in June, RBFD representatives asked for three things: to complete needed hiring (administrative, a fourth person for ladder truck crews); to analyze the effectiveness of a three-city fire department with Manhattan Beach and El Segundo; and to complete a fire study, which considers L.A. County taking over the Redondo fire department.
“We are doing all three things, because it is what due diligence requires,” said Obagi, Jr. “No stone left unturned.”
Kenny Campos, Redondo Beach Firefighters Association (union) president, concurs.
“We support Zein because of his support for us, particularly in this last budget cycle,” he said.
Campos said the firefighters would like all options explored.
“If you don’t study things in their entirety, there leaves a question of ‘what if?’ he said.
The effort to recall Obagi is funded by nearly $300,000 in cash and in-kind campaign contributions from Elliot Lewis, CEO of Catalyst Cannabis Co. Lewis is also a proponent and underwriter of Measure E, which would legalize retail marijuana in Redondo Beach.
Obagi contends he is being targeted for recall to send a message to elected officials in other cities not to oppose the cannabis industry. Lewis says the recall also stems from his partner, attorney Damian Martin, being treated disrespectfully by the Redondo City Council when he addressed it last fall.
Obagi is one of nine children. He grew up in Los Angeles, and went to high school at Lycee Francais De Los Angeles, a French immersion school.
“Coming from a large family is awesome. It definitely makes you thick-skinned, and prepares you for life in Redondo Beach politics,” Obagi said.
He was one of 20 in the American section of his class, along with 20 to 25 French embassy kids.
Obagi played power forward on the basketball team. He was elected ASB vice president his senior year. He drove a Volkswagen Passat, with cloth seats and roll-up windows.
“And no sunroof,” Obagi said.
He turned down a partial, merit-based scholarship to UCLA, in favor of Cal .
“I wanted to get out of materialistic L.A.,” he said.
Following his junior year in college, he spent six weeks with four fraternity brothers on the inaugural tour of Ability First’s “Build America” tour. After raising money for materials, they built facilities at camps for special needs kids.
He went to USC law school, and the summer before his last year, worked land use for the real estate firm Allen Matkins.
He graduated in 2008.
“There was no more land use then,” Obagi said, referring to the recession.
In 2009, he opened Obagi Law Group, with an office in downtown Los Angeles. He now has a second office in south Redondo.
In 2012, he ran for Congress. While campaigning, he met a Redondo Beach Rotarian, who told him AES may replace its aging, Redondo Beach power plant. Subsequently, he met now Mayor Bill Brand, who was leading the effort to close the plant (and convert the site into a park).
In 2018, Obagi and his wife moved from Hollywood to Redondo.
“I wasn’t looking to get involved in politics,” Obagi said. But he soon became the proponent of the 2019 effort to recall Fourth District Councilman John Gran, because of his vote to discontinue the fire study.
The recall failed, but Obagi beat Gran in the March 2021 council election, by 33 votes.
“I thought that the vitriol from that election would subside. But the people opposed to me are relentless. They’re vicious,” he said. “They are vicious.”
His challenger in the recall is Tonya McKenzie. She will take the seat if voters first decide Obagi should be recalled.
“There’s one decision she actually disagrees with me on: housing,” Obagi said. “The council had to do what I supported. It was what the state would approve. What the state was cramming down our throat.”
McKenzie asserts that too much of the required new housing was slated to go into District Four, and that the city could have distributed it more equally among the five districts.
“I think it’s going to be close,” Obagi said of the recall vote next week. “People who don’t read the paper are going to decide this election,” he said, noting they will be reached by lawn signs and door-knocking.
And by sunscreen. Obagi has given out nearly 1,000 bottles of “No Recall” sunscreen.
“I have a lot of hats because I have a bald head, and come from a dermatology family,” he said.
His father is Zein Obagi, Sr., founder of ZO Skin Health.
Last summer, Obagi was the subject of a State Bar investigation into alleged misappropriation of client funds, in a dissolving partnership case. A status conference is scheduled for Oct. 17, when the State Bar may decide whether to press further charges against Obagi or drop the case. The original charges have not yet gone to trial.
He denies knowingly violating State Bar rules and is suing his attorney for malpractice.
“I did not benefit from it, nor was it anything other than an inadvertent mistake when I thought I was following the rules of professional conduct,” Obagi said.
He and council members Todd Lowenstein and Nils Nehrenheim form a majority voting block for what he calls “resident-focused” issues.
“We are not making decisions to advance some special interests or corporate interests,” he said. ER
