Endorsements

Mike Feuer, by contrast, is as ethically unblemished as Delgadillo is ethically challenged. He will make a great city attorney.

MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL

3rd DISTRICT — JUDITH HIRSHBERG

Laura Chick is term-limited out of this southwest San Fernando Valley district, where voters now must choose between a candidate in the Chick moderate-Democratic mold and another who would signal a clear shift to the right on some fundamental city issues.

The candidate personifying this right-face is Dennis Zine, an LAPD sergeant and longtime stalwart of the Police Protective League. Zine opposes the consent decree between the LAPD and the federal government. In a city still struggling to assert civilian control over its police, his election would be a big step backward.

His opponent, Judith Hirshberg, was a longtime Valley staffer for both Tom Bradley and Marvin Braude. She’s also long been active in community groups, and as a leader in the National Women’s Political Caucus; she’s a strong proponent of greater gender equity in the LAPD. She’d be an excellent addition to the City Council.

5th DISTRICT — TOM HAYDEN

Voters in this Westside-to-mid-Valley district have a choice this June between two very able candidates — one a mainstream Democrat who’s just starting his career, the other a progressive Democrat who’s already won a page in the history books, but whose energy and commitment to social change remain undimmed.

Mainstream Democrat Jack Weiss, a federal prosecutor, is committed to expanding gun control and to the kinds of ethics-in-government initiatives that incumbent Mike Feuer has undertaken. In contradistinction to his opponent, he takes more of a “wait and see” position on the mega development at Playa Vista. On questions like living-wage policy and a host of other issues that matter greatly to less affluent Angelenos, Weiss admits to no special experience or expertise. And it happens that there’s another candidate in the race with a vast amount of experience, expertise and zeal on those and a host of other issues: Tom Hayden.

During his 18 years in the state Legislature, Hayden was an accomplished lawmaker with a constant priority of making L.A. more livable. With Antonio Villaraigosa, he ensured that last year’s state-parks bond would fund parks throughout the city. Responding to the Belmont debacle, he authored the “Parents Right To Know” Act, which mandates public disclosure of the condition of school sites. He’s been a consistent advocate for open space — at Playa Vista, on the banks of the L.A. River and all across town. Perhaps most notable has been his work with gang members and former gang members — helping to broker truces, and developing training and job programs to get them off the streets. Hayden will not be intimidated by the phobias that keep other elected officials from scrutinizing the war-on-gangs programs that have led us to the Rampart scandal. We strongly recommend his election.

9th DISTRICT — JAN PERRY

The more reliably progressive candidate in this downtown-to-South-Central district is probably Assembly Member Carl Washington, who is also, alas, one of the Legislature’s dimmest bulbs. (He once actually traded a vote on-mike — to repeal a smoking ban, no less — during a committee meeting.) His opponent, Jan Perry, has served as chief of staff for outgoing incumbent Rita Walters, and in the early ’90s was a planning deputy for Mike Woo. Though Perry espouses mainstream liberal positions, she was no fan of the living-wage ordinance when it was still before the council, and is often a staunch ally of downtown business interests. In the end, though, we think it will be easier to improve Jan Perry’s politics than raise Carl Washington’s intelligence.

13th DISTRICT — ERIC GARCETTI

Eric Garcetti

Incumbent Jackie Goldberg was elected to the state Assembly last November, and both candidates who emerged from the April primary to succeed her are exceptionally intelligent progressives in their own right.

Mike Woo ably and, at times, courageously represented this district on the council for eight years (1985 to 1993), then lost the ‘93 mayoral election to Richard Riordan. Woo authored the legislation legalizing street vendors and banning the LAPD from turning undocumented immigrants over to the INS. In the wake of the Rodney King beating, Woo was the one council member to call for Daryl Gates’ firing.

In the years since his loss to Riordan, Woo has run the regional office of Americorps and become director of the local office of LISC, a key funder for nonprofit housing developers. Organizers say Woo’s help was indispensable in starting up the campaign for an affordable-housing trust fund. But while we’re sure about Woo’s smarts, we’re not entirely sure about his backbone, and his willingness to play hardball with banks if they’re cool to the notion of imposing fees on developments to fund affordable housing.

Eric Garcetti is a novice at electoral politics. The son of former District Attorney Gil Garcetti is a 30-year-old Rhodes scholar who’s a political-science professor at Occidental College and USC, and a globetrotting activist in the cause of human rights, women’s rights and environmental preservation. On the cops, Garcetti endorses not just a civilian-review board, but an independent authority to take complaints at the station-house level. He can rattle off the 41 brown-field sites in the district, specify which ones can be rehabilitated as pocket parks, and outline how they could link up to form at least a quasi greenbelt.