Medgar Evers’ Wife in L.A. Council Race

The growing power of women in Los Angeles city politics was evident Thursday.

Flanked by prominent women political leaders, Myrlie Evers, oil company executive and widow of assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers, announced her candidacy for the Los Angeles City Council. She will run in the predominantly black 10th District in Southwest Los Angeles in the April 14 municipal election.

The power of women in politics was also seen in the newly drawn 1st District, located in the heavily Latino area running from Echo Park to near the Santa Monica-Harbor Freeway junction.

There, Assemblywoman Gloria Molina (D-Los Angeles), also backed by several women political leaders, has emerged as a strong candidate in a special election for that seat Feb. 3.

Faced with the challenge of beating her, another major candidate, Larry Gonzalez, a member of the Los Angeles city school board, announced Thursday that he is supported by several police groups and made it clear that increasing the size of the Police Department will be a big plank in his platform.

The two press conferences pointed up an interesting feature of the current election.

Evers, who is black, and Molina, a Latina, are both running against opponents backed by powerful men with influential organizations.

One of Evers’ main opponents is supported by Mayor Tom Bradley, who once represented the district on the council. He is Homer Broome, a former police commander who is now a Board of Public Works member.

Gonzalez is supported by City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who has built a strong political organization on the Eastside while serving as a state assemblyman before his election to the council.

In her press conference, Evers, director of consumer affairs for Arco, made strong use of the women’s connection. Four women Los Angeles legislators--state Sen. Diane Watson and Assemblywomen Maxine Waters, Teresa Hughes and Gwen Moore--and Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees member Marguerite Archie-Hudson spoke for Evers at a press conference on the City Hall steps.

Waters said all the lawmakers had discussed the race before backing Evers.

“The miracle of it was we were able to agree,” she said.

Promising financial help to Evers, Waters said, “Together we can provide the financial resources necessary to compete in one of these races.”

Evers declined to get into a controversy with Bradley or with rival candidate Broome, saying, “I am not running against anyone, I am running for the seat. . . . I think I can win without the mayor’s support and I intend to.”

Evers’ husband, Mississippi field secretary for the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, was shot in the back in 1963 in front of his home in Jackson, Miss., as he returned from an integration rally. His murder became a focus and civil rights rallying point during the integration struggles in the South at that time.

Gonzalez took an indirect swipe at Molina at his press conference in the office of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. Apparently referring to Molina’s legislative post, he said, “This is not a state election, not a federal election, this is a local election. . . .”