Laura N. Chick | |
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17th Los Angeles City Controller | |
In office July 1, 2001 – April, 2009 |
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Preceded by | Rick Tuttle |
Succeeded by | Wendy Greuel |
Member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 3rd district |
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In office July 1, 1993 – July 1, 2001 |
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Preceded by | Joy Picus |
Succeeded by | Dennis Zine |
Personal details | |
Born | 1944 (age 72–73) New York |
Political party | Democratic |
Laura N. Chick (born 1944) is a longtime California political figure. Most recently she served as California's Inspector General overseeing the state's spending of $85 billion of Federal Recovery Act funding. Chick was appointed to the newly created position by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in April 2009 and served until December 2010, when the office was eliminated.
Chick was elected to the Los Angeles City Council from the Third District (Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Reseda, West Hills, Winnetka and Canoga Park), in 1993 and served two terms, until 2001. She defeated Joy Picus, who had served since 1977, and for whom Chick had worked as a political aide.
In 2001, Chick was elected Los Angeles City Controller, becoming the first woman to hold citywide office in Los Angeles. As Controller, she was the Chief Auditor and Chief Accountant of the City working to ensure its fiscal health. In her nearly eight years in this office, Chick released over 170 audits and reports exposing a wide range of problems throughout city government.
In 2006, Los Angeles Magazine named Laura Chick one of the most influential people in the City. The Los Angeles Daily News editorialized, “…as City Controller, she’s often been downtown’s lone champion of good government." A Los Angeles Business Journal feature said, “Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick has emerged as a central voice in the ongoing debate over how the City handles its contracts.” In a May, 2004 feature article, Los Angeles Magazine states, “Where others couch and evade, she is Ms. Blunt.”