How the city’s biggest Ford dealer became an influential force in the LAPD
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- The City Council voted Wednesday to approve the nomination of Jeffrey Skobin, a vice president at Galpin Motors in the San Fernando Valley, to the Board of Police Commissioners.
- Skobin’s father, Alan Skobin, a lawyer for Galpin Motors, also served on the commission, as did former Galpin owner Herbert ‘Bert’ Boeckmann.
- The company’s deep ties to the LAPD have led to questions about whether Skobin can be an effective police watchdog.
At a car lot just off the 405 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley, there is more than meets the eye.
Galpin Motors sells new and used Fords — touting itself as one of the largest dealerships in the world. But next door, it also displays exotic rides: Shelby Cobras. A vintage purple Rolls-Royce. Sylvester Stallone’s Harley from “The Expendables.”
And then there’s the on-site diner, the Horseless Carriage, where the vinyl-covered booths have hosted generations of Valley power brokers and men who have shaped the policies of the Los Angeles Police Department for decades.
Former Galpin boss Herbert “Bert” Boeckmann was an influential figure in local politics and a member of the city’s Board of Police Commissioners, the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD. A longtime lawyer for the car dealer, Alan Skobin, also served on the commission.
Now, another member of the Galpin Motors family is carrying on that legacy.
The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the nomination of Jeffrey Skobin, a vice president at Galpin and the son of Alan Skobin, to the commission.
Appointed by Mayor Karen Bass, the younger Skobin, 45, already serves on an advisory board that gives the mayor input on issues facing the Valley. He declined an interview request from The Times.
Appearing before the council Wednesday, Skobin said he wouldn’t take the role of commissioner lightly. The five-member panel acts like a corporate board of directors, setting LAPD policies, approving its budget and scrutinizing police shootings.
Skobin told council members that he met with both officers and community members in preparation for his new role.
He listed the most pressing issues facing the department: recruiting challenges, low officer morale, a rise in police shootings and fractured community trust after recent immigration raids.
Last week, Galpin told the council’s public safety committee that his upbringing led him to the police commission.
“I recognize the seriousness of this role and the gravity of this responsibility,” Skobin told the committee. “My story is deeply tied to Los Angeles.”
A mega-dealership with five franchises, Galpin has long wielded influence as a source of jobs and tax revenue for the city. It was Boeckmann who established the business as a powerful player in local politics.
Boeckmann was a self-made millionaire who started out as a car salesman in 1953, seven years after Galpin opened. He eventually bought out the company’s founder, Frank Galpin.
In the decades that followed, he amassed a large corporate empire in the Valley that also included vast land holdings and a film production company.
Boeckmann and his wife, Jane, longtime publisher of the Valley magazine, backed George W. Bush for president, Gray Davis for governor and Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor.
Galpin’s website features a picture of Boeckmann and his wife meeting California Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1974. “When I think about what’s right in America, I will always think of men like Bert Boeckmann,” said the future president, according to the company.
Samantha Stevens, a Los Angeles political consultant and former legislative staffer, said candidates routinely made pilgrimages to the Galpin lot on Roscoe Boulevard to court Boeckmann.
“Everybody would go and ask for their support, not just the money,” Stevens said. “You wanted the name on the endorsement list.”
Although Boeckmann leaned conservative, she said, he was also a force behind the scenes in L.A.’s left-leaning City Hall and seemed to put aside politics when he found causes or candidates that he believed in — including a failed push for the Valley to break away and form its own city.
“I remember sending my liberal Democrat candidates to meet with them, and they would get donations,” Stevens said.
First appointed to the Board of Police Commissioners by then-Mayor Tom Bradley in 1983, Boeckmann served two stints under three mayors.
During his 17 combined years on the panel, Boeckmann gained a reputation as its most conservative member — with critics calling him an apologist for former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates.
He sat on the commission during two of the darkest chapters in LAPD history: The fallout of the 1991 beating of Black motorist Rodney King, and the Rampart corruption scandal, which uncovered officers planting evidence, dealing drugs and committing other crimes.
Boeckmann died in 2023 at age 93, but the company still maintains close ties with both the LAPD and City Hall.
Campaign finance records show that Galpin and its employees, including Jeffrey Skobin, have made contributions to numerous local and state politicians, though not to Bass’ mayoral campaign.
Yet when Bass announced the possibility of laying off city workers earlier this year, she chose the North Hills dealership as the backdrop of her news conference to rally support.
Last November, less than a week after taking over as LAPD chief, Jim McDonnell held a meet-and-greet at the company’s gleaming showroom of exotic cars across the street.
Galpin twice supported McDonnell’s campaigns for Los Angeles County sheriff, with records showing tens of thousands of dollars in donations during his successful run in 2014 and his failed reelection bid four years later.
In years’ past, the company came under scrutiny after it was revealed that Boeckmann leased city land and sold cars to the city. A controversy arose when the City Council spent $2.4 million to help buy a 239-acre parcel from Boeckmann in Mandeville Canyon. For a time, the LAPD stored some undercover vehicles on Galpin properties.
Those deep ties have led to questions about whether Skobin can be an effective police watchdog. The mayor’s office scrutinized Skobin’s business for any conflicts of interest before putting forward his nomination, city officials said.
LAPD Capt. Johnny Smith said Galpin has given to countless charitable causes and regularly provides meeting space for community groups.
“Their support has always come from a place of partnership, grounded in the belief that together, we can do better for this city we all love,” said Smith, who said he has known the Skobin family for years.
Alan Skobin, 74, told The Times his work on the police commission, on which he served from 2003 to 2012, gave his son a unique window into how the department functions — and what it takes to provide police oversight.
“Number one, don’t take things that are brought to you at face value. Look beyond the surface,” he said. “Always remember you are a representative of the public, and keep that perspective. Continue to be a good listener of various views.”
The elder Skobin recalled how his teenage son once came home upset over a traffic stop that occurred while he was driving to school with a friend, who was Black. The teens felt they were pulled over for no reason — and the incident left a lasting impression about discrimination by law enforcement, Skobin said.
“One thing I know about LAPD is things slip,” he said. “And Jeff is the kind of person that will look into those things.”
The only vote against the younger Skobin when he appeared before the council’s public safety committee last week came from Hugo Soto-Martinez, who peppered him with questions about his reaction to the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration raids.
“Heartbreaking,” Skobin said, noting that roughly half of Galpin’s employees are of Mexican descent. He is also married to a Mexican American woman.
Soto-Martinez also pressed him on how he would respond if he discovered that local law enforcement shares license plate reader data with federal authorities. The license plate data allows law enforcement to track the movements of Angelenos in their vehicles without court orders, and some worry that they could potentially be used for deportation.
Skobin demurred, saying he would need to “seek to understand the legality of that.”
On Wednesday, Soto-Martinez said that he was changing his vote to approve Skobin’s nomination, saying he was impressed by the new commissioner’s willingness to dig into the issues.
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