Candidate Lineup Complete : 16 File for Bartman’s Seat on School Board

The crowded field for the West Valley Board of Education seat being vacated by Tom Bartman grew even more crowded Monday, the deadline for candidates to file declarations of intent to run in the April 9 Los Angeles municipal election.

The question now is how many of the 16 candidates who filed the declarations to run for Bartman’s seat will actually qualify for the ballot. Candidates must file 1,000 signatures of voters or 500 signatures and a $300 filing fee with the city clerk’s office by Feb. 2.

In other Valley races, Councilwoman Joy Picus and Councilman Howard Finn each drew five opponents, Councilman Ernani Bernardi drew one and Councilman Marvin Braude’s lone opponent said she was dropping out. Roberta Weintraub, the Valley’s other representative on the Los Angeles school board, drew four challengers.

Prominent Residents Filing

However, none of the opponents appeared to have enough support to threaten the reelection of any of the incumbents.

Prominent Valley residents declaring their candidacy for other city offices included Studio City homeowner leader Dan Shapiro, who filed papers to run for city controller, and former Los Angeles school board member Julian Nava of Northridge, who filed to run for the Los Angeles Community College District board seat held by Arthur Bronson of Woodland Hills.

Bartman, who last week announced he would not seek a second Board of Education term, represents District 6, which covers the Valley west from Sepulveda Boulevard. If none of those competing for his seat gets 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will meet in a June runoff.

Although the school board is nonpartisan, the District 6 race has drawn a number of candidates with distinct partisan political ties. They include:

Daniel M. Chernow, a member of the state Board of Education, appointed in 1982 by former Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. Chernow, 38, of Van Nuys, is director of government and employee relations for a theater chain.

David Armor, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Tarzana) in 1980. Armor, 46, of Tarzana, is a former analyst for the Rand Corp. who now runs his own research firm examining, among other things, the effects of integration on school districts.

Claude Parrish, the losing GOP opponent of Beilenson last November. Parrish, 37, of Tarzana, is unemployed. He has hired former Los Angeles school board member Richard Ferraro to manage his campaign.

Judith Hirshberg, 51, of Encino, a member of the county Democratic Central Committee and state chairwoman for the National Women’s Political Caucus of California.

Marvin Feldman, a conservative Republican who led unsuccessful campaigns to recall California Chief Justice Rose Bird and Los Angeles school integration Judge Paul Egly. This is Feldman’s first try for public office. Feldman, 50, of Van Nuys, is a business consultant.

Jo Seidita, 60, of Northridge, a Democratic activist and leader of the nuclear freeze initiative on the 1982 state ballot.

The District 6 field also includes Eleanore Parker, who finished fourth in a field of nine candidates in the 1979 recall election of Los Angeles school board member Howard Miller. Weintraub was elected to replace Miller in what was then an at-large seat. Parker, 54, of Granada Hills, runs a film production company. On Monday, she announced formation of a group to raise funds for a campaign to establish a separate Valley school district.

Other District 6 candidates are:

Elizabeth Ginsburg, a government-history teacher from Woodland Hills who declined to give her age; Carie Vacar, 38, of Woodland Hills, a former Los Angeles school teacher who chairs the Valley Organization for Improved Childhood Education, which has been fighting school closings; Zeke Zeidler, 20, of Northridge, student body president at California State University, Northridge; Robert J. Worth, 34, of Northridge, administrator of a management training program for an insurance company; Tony Acampora, 60, of Sepulveda, a math teacher; Carolyn Brent, 61, of Panorama City, a retired elementary school teacher; Neale H. Siegel, 45, of Northridge, a salesman, and Betty Blake of Northridge, who listed her occupation for the ballot as “community education volunteer.”

Changed Her Mind

Pearl Fields, who had filed papers to run for Bartman’s seat, said Monday she had changed her mind about running. “I didn’t like asking for campaign funds,” she said.

Picus’ challengers in the 3rd Council District, which embraces Canoga Park, Reseda and Woodland Hills, include Gary Klein, 37, of Winnetka, a former aide to West Valley Councilman Hal Bernson; Matt Lynch, 49, a Winnetka lawyer, and Gilbert Eisner, 51, of Woodland Hills, a former field deputy for ex-County Supervisor Baxter Ward. Eisner and Klein work, separately, as consultants to land developers seeking help in winning city approval for their projects.

Picus other challengers are Jon Robert Lorenzen, 28, of Reseda, son of the late Councilman Donald Lorenzen whom Picus defeated to win her seat in 1977, and Jeanne Nemo, 55, a schoolteacher from Tarzana. Lorenzen works at the family’s Reseda mortuary.

Filing declarations to run against Finn in the 1st Council District, which includes the communities of Lake View Terrace, Pacoima, Sylmar, Sunland, Sun Valley and Tujunga, were:

Noel S. Horwin, 45, past president of the Shadow Hills Property Owners Assn.; Betty Rockwell, 55, a former president of the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn; Louis Cichelli, 65, a Sunland printer; Gene Swartz, a Pacoima resident who listed his occupation as government employee, and Elton (Skip) Michael, a Los Angeles police officer who finished fourth in a field of nine candidates in the 1981 council election won by Finn. Michael, 45, of Sunland, also was the losing Republican opponent of state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys).

Bernardi’s lone opponent, Paul Goldener, 57, of Van Nuys, is a former aide to Robbins who now works at General Motors’ Van Nuys assembly plant. Bernardi’s 7th District includes Sepulveda, Panorama City, Van Nuys and part of North Hollywood.

Opposing Weintraub are Mary Louise Longoria of Arleta, who is a consultant for the county Human Relations Commission; Gary Lipton, a counselor at Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley; Albert Dib, an Arleta businessman, and G.C. (Brodie) Broderson of Los Angeles, the student representative on the Los Angeles Community College District board.