Nick Pacheco: ‘I have the experience; I've done it’

Born and raised in Boyle Heights, Nick Pacheco grew up with immigrant parents – a unionized steel worker father and a seamstress mother. It was only after leaving his home to pursue his studies at the University of California, Berkeley, that he realized he grew up “dirt poor”.

Pacheco went on to graduate from Loyola Law school in 1994 and served both as an elected Charter Reform Commissioner and Deputy District Attorney until he ran for office and won the City Council District 14 seat in 1999. Only the second Latino to represent the district in history, Pacheco did not get elected to a second term, beaten in 2003 by Antonio Villaraigosa – who famously abandoned the seat two years later to run for mayor.

Now, the 59-year-old is running again for CD 14 and if elected, Pacheco believes he would not have a learning curve slowing him down and would be able to jump right in to fixing problems in the community.

“You get to the learning curve and you start to make adjustments slowly,” said Pacheco, who hopes to bring back community programs, like “No Appointment Necessary Office Hours” and “Unity in the Community”.

“Most of the projects that we did came from either community meetings or people talking to me on the campaign trail,” he said.

Some of Pacheco’s legacy is still visible in Boyle Heights, perhaps the best example being the Evergreen Cemetery jogging path, used daily by dozens of residents.

During his time as an elected official, Pacheco prided himself in making his office available to constituents. He said that if re-elected he would again start hosting “no appointment necessary office hours,” making himself available for three hours, twice-a-month, to hear community members.

Pacheco would also like to bring back his “Unity in the Community” block parties which he claimed helped deter crime during his term in office. The way it works, he said, was that someone tips off his office of criminal activity in an area and then he closes that area down and throws a resource fair, not singling anyone out.

“We’ll have a stage with free food and entertainment,” Pacheco said. “We will have LAPD booths. We’ll have all the services that people can use. We’ll have a presence and that will tell the drug dealer that, ‘we’re here and we know you’re here’. Little by little people leave because the heat’s on.“

In a sometimes rambling interview that went on for over an hour, Pacheco avoided responding to specific questions about city policy.

This is not the first time Pacheco has run for the CD 14 seat, since losing his re-election bid in 2003. He ran for district attorney in 2004 and lost, and then ran for city council against José Huízar in 2005, also unsuccessfully.

In 2003 Pacheco returned to private law practice, but was disbarred in 2018 after failing to appear at a disciplinary hearing related to a lawsuit by former employees.

“I have the experience. I’ve done it. People know how I’ve done it, people know I’m committed to it. It’s not something I just talk about.”
Nick pacheco

When asked about how the leaked conversation scandal could affect incumbent Kevin de León’s chances of re-election, Pacheco said he believes voters should be the ones deciding what happens with the Councilmember.

“Personally I don’t think he has a prayer to get re-elected,” he said.

While he abstained from criticizing De León’s statements on the leaked audio, he said he was offended by former Council President Nury Martinez’s choice of words, particularly her repeated use of the “F” word.

“I didn’t realize that she still had a barrio mouth,” said Pacheco.

Pacheco was also dismissive about Assemblymember Wendy Carillo’s chances following her DUI arrest earlier this month.

“I don’t think she has a chance to win either,” said Pacheco. “At the bottom line, people are not going to reward her and give her a council office after that.”

Referring to fellow Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, Pacheco said he himself was better qualified for the city council seat than the legislators.

“You can’t see someone jump in the way I can, from day one and hit the ground running,” he said. “They can’t. And it’s not the same doing city council, local work, compared to policy work at state level. It’s not the same.”

Pacheco chose not to speak on the record in regards to his fundraising, which remained at zero dollars as of this writing. He’s hoping that touting his track record and appealing to community involvement will get him the votes he needs.

“Engaging the community is desperately needed,” said Pacheco. “And I have the experience. I’ve done it. People know how I’ve done it, people know I’m committed to it. It’s not something I just talk about.”