Ballot takes shape for council, city attorney races
The March 3 Los Angeles city election campaign came into sharper focus Thursday, with the final list of candidates emerging in what will probably be the two most competitive races -- city attorney and the race to replace Councilman Jack Weiss.
Six people are running to replace Weiss, whose district stretches from Century City to Sherman Oaks. Meanwhile, five candidates -- including Weiss -- are vying to replace City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, who is being forced out by term limits.
Election officials are still reviewing petitions to determine whether 17 potential candidates for school board, community college board, City Council and citywide office have qualified for the ballot.
So far, two incumbents will run for reelection without an opponent on the ballot -- school board President Monica Garcia and Councilwoman Jan Perry. Garcia was elected in 2006 and is a close ally of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Perry was elected in 2001 and represents portions of downtown and South Los Angeles.
Although eight council seats are on the ballot, the only one with no incumbent is in the 5th District, which takes in such neighborhoods as Cheviot Hills, Carthay Circle, Bel-Air, Westwood, Encino and Valley Village.
The candidates for that race are Adeena Bleich, who recently headed the Los Angeles office of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; attorney Ron Galperin, former Assemblyman Paul Koretz, lawyer Robert Schwartz, businesswoman Robyn Ritter Simon, and neighborhood council member David Vahedi.
Five of the six candidates had already raised more than $120,000 by Sept. 30, according to the City Ethics Commission’s most recent campaign reporting records. Galperin, who lives in Coldwater Canyon, predicted that the campaign would be “a very expensive race.”
“Ultimately, one has to be able to reach out to as many voters as possible, and that takes money,” he said.
In the city attorney race, Weiss has raised $1.2 million for his bid, according to the most recent contribution reports.
Weiss’ opponents are former Deputy Dist. Atty. Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich, an environmental lawyer from Harbor City who has been endorsed by Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and had raised nearly $474,000 during the same period.
The other candidates are attorney Noel Weiss, who has spoken out on the city’s housing policies; Deputy Dist. Atty. David Berger; and Deputy City Atty. Michael Amerian, a Toluca Lake resident who promised to be a “strong voice” for the Valley.
Amerian said that, if elected, he would be the first Armenian American to hold citywide office.
“I have a lot of name recognition in our community and, as a result, the Armenian community is extremely excited about the opportunity to elect someone of Armenian descent,” he said.
Berger, who serves in the major fraud unit, said he decided to run after being encouraged by Walter Moore, an attorney who is one of seven people who have qualified to run for mayor so far, including incumbent Villaraigosa. Berger criticized Delgadillo’s tenure and vowed to improve what he described as poor morale in the city attorney’s office.
In the San Fernando Valley, Councilman Dennis Zine will face small business owner Jeff Bornstein. In the campaign to replace school board member Julie Korenstein, schoolteacher Louis Pugliese will face San Fernando Mayor Nury Martinez.
The list of candidates for six other council seats and one other school board seat will be finalized by city officials over the next week.
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maeve.reston@latimes.com
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