In conclusion
Toni Atkins may have conflicts of interest with her husband’s consultancy businesses if she is elected governor. Clients who also petition the state government bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for Atkins and her spouse, Jennifer LeSar, each year.
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Toni Atkins, a former leader of the state Senate, would be in charge of a state contract that would benefit her personally if she were elected governor the following year.
In 2020, the California Department of General Services engaged a consulting firm to assist in site prioritization, market research, and contractor application evaluation in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s direction to develop state-owned lands for affordable housing.
Jennifer LeSar, Atkins’ husband, is the owner of that company, LeSar Development Consultants. According to financial disclosures, Atkins has benefited from a $1 million contract that was renewed in February through 2028, which is worth tens of thousands of dollars due to California’s community property law, which grants couples equal ownership of assets in their marriage.
Atkins is running for the most powerful office in California, and this is just one of the several conflicts of interest she may have with her spouse’s business interests. In order to influence government policy, over half of LeSar’s companies’ big clients hired lobbyists last year.
The Department of General Services is one of 51 organizations listed in the disclosure forms that Atkins and LeSar filed. Last year, they received over $10,000 in revenue from these organizations through LeSar Development Consultants, LeSar Support Services, LeSar Holdings, Inc., or Global Policy Leadership Academy, all of which LeSar is the president or CEO of.
Twenty-four of those clients are registered lobbyist employers, according to a CalMatters investigation. The insurance company Elevance Health, the Bay Area homelessness advocacy group All Home, the homebuilder Brookfield Residential, the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange, and the cities of San Jose, Oakland, and Palm Springs are among them.
This implies that Atkins receives hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from organizations that would soon be demanding financing in her state budget plans, applying for contracts with her administration, or requesting her signature or veto on key legislation.
According to Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and a former head of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, anyone with business before the state may be effectively utilizing the prospective governor’s spouse as an advocate.
No plan for Atkins on managing conflict
When asked if she would address conflicts of interest as governor, Atkins declined the interview. She made no mention of changing their current arrangement or taking any particular actions to distance herself from LeSar’s business affairs.
According to a statement from spokesperson Danni Wang, Toni is proud of her husband Jen’s decades of efforts to increase access to affordable housing in California. Toni has upheld the highest moral standards during her tenure as Senate and Assembly leader, emphasizing openness and steering clear of any conflicts of interest. She will continue to follow the same values and make sure that every choice is made with Californians’ best interests in mind if she is elected governor.
Although there is an exception if the possible impact does not benefit the official any more than it would the general public, California’s conflict of interest laws prohibit public officials from taking part in decisions that would inevitably affect their personal finances.
Atkins is not the first politician to have a family member whose employment could put their elected seat in jeopardy. She is also not the only 2026 contender for governor whose salary might make their term more difficult.
In April, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakist told CalMatters that if she were elected in November of next year, she would put her substantial real estate holdings—which include office buildings in downtown Sacramento that are rented to at least three state agencies and dozens of organizations with operations before the state government—into a blind trust. On Friday, she dropped out of the race.
However, Levinson stated that this is a particularly difficult situation because of the direct financial advantage Atkins receives from LeSar’s revenue and the governor’s broad portfolio, which includes the whole California government.
Although Levinson emphasized that the possibility of a conflict of interest does not necessarily mean Atkins has done anything unlawful or immoral, organizations can conceivably hire LeSar in order to get closer to Atkins, and Atkins, as governor, might send more state business to LeSar’s enterprises.
According to Levinson, none of this indicates that she is dishonest or that she would make dishonest choices.
The relationship has long raised eyebrows
Throughout her ascent in California politics, Atkins has been plagued by concerns of possible conflicts of interest with her spouse’s work. She became the first person in over a century to head both the Senate and the Assembly after serving 14 years in the Legislature. She married LeSar in 2008, while Atkins was a member of the San Diego City Council.
Atkins sought approval from a legislator after she faced criticism as a lawmaker for proposing laws that would have increased taxes and levies to support the building of affordable housing, which is her spouse’s profession. The Los Angeles Times stated that LeSar’s firms’ clientele had nearly doubled in just five years after she was elected Senate president pro tem in 2018. Atkins allegedly misused campaign funds for a $22,500 study trip to Austria that was arranged by the Global Policy Leadership Academy last year, according to a campaign monitor.
Atkins has consistently denied any misconduct.
The four businesses that now make up LeSar’s business portfolio employ close to thirty individuals. The biggest, LeSar Development Consultants, is a management consulting company that offers strategic counsel on initiatives pertaining to homelessness and affordable housing. LeSar Support Services oversees public health, catastrophe relief, and longer-term housing initiatives. The Global Policy Leadership Academy provides urban development-focused study trips and training programs. LeSar Holdings, Inc. provides operational support to all.
LeSar is not one of the state’s most prestigious affordable housing consultants, but she has a lot of clout in the field, especially since she has made a name for herself with ancillary services like her training academy, according to Ben Metcalf, managing director of UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
According to Metcalf, who has participated in a study tour with the Global Policy Leadership Academy, there are clear advantages and synergies from her participation in both of those organizations.
LeSar listed the fair market value of LeSar Development Consultants at above $1 million and each of her other three businesses at between $100,001 and $1 million on a statement of economic interests she submitted to San Diego County last year for her consulting services. Filers are only required to submit broad ranges for state financial disclosures.
Last year, Atkins claimed gross profits from all four businesses above $100,000. This indicates that LeSar made at least double that sum, or more than $800,000, across all of her enterprises under California’s common property law.
It’s unclear how much money Atkins made overall. Nevertheless, LeSar received over $10,000 from roughly 40 of her clients last year, which prompted disclosure requirements for Atkins as well. 18 lobbyist employers and the Department of General Services were among them.
Thomas Hiltachk, a political and election lawyer whose company assisted in creating a blind trust for Arnold Schwarzenegger after he was elected governor in 2003, stated in an email that there may be conflicts of interest with regard to any state agency consulting contracts. Conflicts of this nature may also arise with private consulting clients whose legislation or affairs fall under the governor’s purview.
Few solutions for avoiding conflicts
The Department of General Services hired LeSar Development Consultants for its affordable housing project in November 2020, on a three-year contract worth nearly $1.1 million, according to a copy provided to CalMatters. LeSar received $301.41 per hour, which included profit, overhead, labor, and fringe benefits.
Shortly before it expired, the contract was extended for another year for an additional $364,000. Then in February, the department signed a new three-year contract, for just over $1 million, which will keep LeSar Development Consultants advising on proposals to build housing on state-owned properties through 2028. LeSar s rate has increased to $350 per hour.
DGS is using the consultant to help as needed, through project initiation, preparation for and evaluation of proposals submitted by developers, provision of advice for complex policy, technical and procedural matters concerning affordable housing development, and ground lease and financial closings, Fallon Okwuosa, a department spokesperson, wrote in an email.
CalMatters obtained several other public contracts that LeSar Development Consultants signed with cities and counties listed in Atkins statement of economic interest last year. These include a one-year, $964,800 contract to develop a housing strategy for San Diego County; a one-year, $161,230 contract to update Ventura County’s homelessness strategy; a one-year, $120,000 extension of a contract to provide loan underwriting services for San Jose; a one-and-a-half-year, $100,000 contract to advise San Jose on financing affordable housing projects, with options for renewal through 2030; and a one-year extension of an existing, $259,600 contract with Monterey County to update its exclusionary housing ordinance.
These local governments all employ lobbyists to weigh in on state budget funding requests and legislation.
Levinson and Hiltachk agreed that there are no easy solutions for Atkins to address the potential conflicts of interest if she is elected governor. Unlike with assets, such as property or investments, Atkins cannot put her spouse s work in a blind trust.
And it would be complicated, Levinson said, for Atkins to recuse herself from every policy decision that affects LeSar s clients.
There s just too many things that the governor does and too many ripple effects from a governor s decisions, Levinson said.
Because even the appearance of conflict of interest could undermine the public s confidence in Atkins as governor, she added, LeSar might ultimately be forced to narrow the scope of her work or step back from her firms altogether.
You re punishing people who might never engage in nefarious behavior, Levinson said. But there s a reason for that.
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