Los Angeles harbor commission appointments begin to roll in

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard speaks during a press conference announcing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) testing technology designed to detect, track and identify drones around LAX on Thursday, August 25, 2022 at Los Angeles Airport Police. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has tapped two political and labor union veterans to succeed Lucia Moreno-Linares and Anthony Pirozzi on the city’s harbor commission — one of whom is fresh off a long tenure in Congress.

Letters for the appointments have gone out to former U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, who has also served in the state Assembly, and Michael Muñoz, the research director for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy who has worked as a union organizer and fought truck driver misclassification.

Both nominees require City Council confirmation.

Representatives from the mayor’s office and the office of Councilmember Tim McOsker, whose 15th District includes the Port of Los Angeles, could not be reached for comment.

Commissioners must be residents of the city of Los Angeles.

As the city’s new mayor, Bass has the prerogative to replace any or all of the five-member panel that oversees the Port of Los Angeles. So far, these are the only two appointments listed in City Council documents.

Roybal-Allard would take the place of Moreno-Linares, a Wilmington native and resident who has been active in the community for many years and advocated for the area during her six-year tenure on the harbor commission. Moreno-Linares’s term ends June 30, but would be removed from the commission on May 1, subject to Roybal-Allard being confirmed.

Muñoz would replace Pirozzi, a San Pedro resident who has served since 2013 and was one of the three Harbor Area residents — with Moreno-Linares and Diane Middleton — on the panel. Pirozzi’s term ends on June 30, 2025, but he would be removed May 5, pending Muñoz’s confirmation.

Appointments to the commission in recent years have focused on providing a strong local-area voice from those who are from the surrounding area.

Roybal-Allard lives in the central Los Angeles City Council district — District 14 — and served in the House of Representatives for three decades.

From from 2013 to Jan. 3 this year, she represented District 40; she did not seek reelection last year. From 2003 to 2013, she represented District 34. And from 1992 to 2023, she represented District 33.

Roybal-Allard began her political career in the state Assembly, serving from 1987 to 1992.

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Muñoz, meanwhile, also lives in Distirct 14, in East Los Angeles. He is the research director for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for a clean environment, among other issues. Muñoz, in a resume attached to Bass’s nomination to the City Council, also lists his work history as one that demonstrates his “commitment to issues of social and economic justice.”

During his tenure with the New Economy nonprofit, Muñoz said, he has “developed an understanding of the Port of Los Angeles, how it operates as landlord port, how it generates money, its relationship with the city of Los Angeles and the economic impact the ports have on the Southern California economy.”

His resume also states he “has worked extensively to combat truck driver misclassification.”

Before joining New Economy, he worked at the Warehouse Resource Center, organizing for the Teamsters, and also worked for the Service Employees International Union, Local 399, organizing several hundred janitors from various L.A. regions during a contract negotiation.

Muñoz was also a field coordinator for the National Immigration Law Center.

He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara.