Stage Set for Lively Races for Council, School Panels

A flurry of last-minute filings Saturday by potentially formidable challengers set the stage for what promises to be a lively campaign season for candidates seeking seats on the Los Angeles school board and community college board.

There was also a flood of filings over the last 3 1/2 days among candidates entering races in seven of 15 City Council districts, but no surprises. Saturday was the deadline for candidates to sign up for both the elective school board positions and for even-numbered City Council districts in the April 14 municipal elections.

In the school board race, incumbent Larry Gonzalez announced shortly before the deadline that he will not seek reelection and instead will concentrate on winning a special election Feb. 3 in the City Council’s 1st District. With his announcement, two Eastside candidates for opposing political camps squared off as the likely favorites.

In addition, Mark Ridley-Thomas, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, announced his intention to run against Los Angeles school board President Rita Walters, who is seeking her third term as representative of the school district’s South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles region. And in the Hollywood-Wilshire Corridor area, a rematch took shape between school board incumbent Jackie Goldberg and challenger Tony Trias. Goldberg defeated Trias for that seat in 1983.

Russell Opposed

In the hottest City Council races, Council President Pat Russell drew potentially tough opposition, and 23 candidates lined up to fill the vacancy created by the resignation late last year of Councilman Dave Cunningham.

A total of 114 candidates filed declarations of intention to run for the seven City Council seats, five Board of Education seats and four Community College District board seats.

The field is expected to shrink considerably by Feb. 7 when would-be candidates, in order to qualify for the ballot, must gather 500 signatures of registered voters from the district in which they are running, and pay a $300 filing fee. Candidates may avoid paying the filing fee by gathering 1,000 signatures.

Five other City Council incumbents up for reelection, besides Russell, drew opposition, but do not appear in jeopardy. They are Councilmen Richard Alatorre, Hal Bernson, Robert Farrell, John Ferraro and Joel Wachs.

In other school board races, incumbent John Greenwood drew one opponent, while the race for the West San Fernando Valley school board slot that will be vacated by Tom Bartman drew a crowded field of 10 candidates. Bartman, who was twice elected to the board and was appointed last year to fill out the term of David Armor, said he will not seek the post again.

Year-round schooling, which the current board favors as a solution to the district’s school-crowding problem, appears to be a major issue that will divide the incumbents from their challengers.

In the college board races, three incumbents seeking reelection may face tough battles because of widespread dissatisfaction on the campuses about the board’s handling of recent layoffs and other serious financial troubles.

Gonzalez legally could have run for both the school board seat and the City Council vacancy because the elections are on separate dates. His last-minute withdrawal as a school board candidate sets up what promises to be the latest chapter in a continuing struggle for political power on the Eastside between competing Latino factions, one led by Gonzalez’s political ally, City Councilman Alatorre, and the other by Assemblywoman Gloria Molina.

Molina is opposing Gonzalez in the Feb. 3 race for the council seat.

Among those filing to run for Gonzalez’s school board seat were Leticia Quezada, a member of the community college district board, and Mike Hernandz, an insurance agent. Quezada has been a supporter of Gonzalez’s campaign for the City Council, while Hernandez is a Molina confidant who last year ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly seat won by the Alatorre-backed Richard Polanco.

Gonzalez’s announcement that he will not seek reelection to the school board set off a rush by candidates to file for the office.

Quezada, who was appointed to the college board in 1985 to fill out the term of Rick Tuttle, said she decided to seek election to the school board because she can help a larger number of Latino students there. Fourteen candidates filed to compete for her college board seat, including former Monterey Park Mayor Lily Lee Chen and former Board of Education member Richard E. Ferraro.

Russell drew the most opponents of the City Council incumbents--seven--including environmentalists and homeowners upset with her support of development in her Los Angeles International Airport-area district.

In light of Proposition U, a citywide growth-limitation measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in November, opponents believe that Russell is at the most vulnerable point in her 17-year political career. Russell was a leading foe of Proposition U.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the April 14 election, a runoff will be held between the top two finishers June 2. The elections are nonpartisan, with no candidates identified by party.

The most crowded field--23 candidates--is lined up to run for the 10th City Council District, the only council seat without an incumbent. The Southwest Los Angeles district was left unrepresented when Councilman Dave Cunningham resigned late last year to enter private business.

The race also promises to be a test of Mayor Tom Bradley’s political might. Bradley, who was the 10th District councilman before his election as mayor, has endorsed Homer Broome Jr., a city public works commissioner, for the seat. Broome also has Cunningham’s backing.

Others running are former state Sen. Nate Holden, now an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn; Myrlie Evers, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and Kenneth M. Orduna, chief deputy for Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton).