Angel: United States President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as his ambassador to India. Garcetti, 50, will replace Kenneth Juster if confirmed by the Senate.
Earlier this week, Juster was named a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Who is Eric Garcetti?
- According to a White House press release, Garcetti has been mayor of Los Angeles since 2013, after 12 years on the city council, including six as council president.
- Garcetti has extensive administrative experience, being the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere, the nation’s largest municipal utility, and one of the busiest airports. For the first time in three decades, he led the city’s successful quest to bring the Summer Olympic Games back to American soil. He also presides over the LA Metro, America’s second-busiest transit agency, which is building or expanding 15 new transit lines, and moving to an all-electric fleet.
- Climate change advocacy: Garcetti co-founded Climate Mayors and oversaw the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement by more than 400 US mayors. He is the current President of C40 Cities, a global network of 97 of the world’s most populous cities, committed to taking ambitious climate action, and oversees the organization’s engagement and expansion in India. In addition, he was in charge of C40’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic through best practices and resource sharing.
- Garcetti served as an Intelligence Officer in the United States Navy Reserve Component for 12 years. Garcetti served for the Commander, US Pacific Fleet and the Defense Intelligence Agency until retiring as a lieutenant in 2017.
- He studied at Queen’s College, Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Science as a Rhodes Scholar. Garcetti taught in Occidental College’s Department of Diplomacy and World Affairs as well as the University of Southern California’s School of International Relations, and was named the Asia Society’s inaugural Asia 21 Fellow.
In Southeast Asia and Northeast Africa, he did fieldwork on nationalism, ethnicity and human rights. According to the White House, he is the founder of the Latino Coalition of Mayors at the Conference of Mayors of the United States, serves on the board of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and speaks fluent Spanish.
According to The Washington Post, Garcetti has recently been embroiled in controversy in Los Angeles. A Los Angeles police officer has filed a lawsuit against the city, saying Garcetti’s former top aide Rick Jacobs harassed her and that Garcetti did not stop the behavior. Jacobs has denied the allegations, and Garcetti has said he saw no inappropriate behavior. In addition, Garcetti’s chief of staff, Ana Guerrero, was suspended in June after mocking labor icon Dolores Huerta.
As the AP reports, one of Garcetti’s former deputy mayors was indicted on corruption charges in an ongoing federal investigation at City Hall.
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