Irked by Romey Mailer, Women’s Caucus Retracts Its Endorsement

The San Fernando Valley chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus has withdrawn its endorsement of Barbara Romey, a candidate for the West Valley seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education.

Caucus leaders said last week that they were angered by one of Romey’s primary-election mailers.

But their endorsement retraction came too late to stop new Romey campaign mailers that feature the NWPC in a list of supporters. These brochures were delivered to thousands of West Valley residents Friday.

Romey will face Julie Korenstein in a June 2 runoff election for the West Valley school board seat.

The NWPC is one of the nation’s most influential women’s political organizations. Locally, it has provided money and personnel to a number of successful women candidates, including recently elected Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina.

Paul Clarke, who is now managing the Romey campaign, predicted it would not damage her bid for the board.

“Maybe they found out she was a Republican,” Clarke quipped.

Clarke said he was “quite happy” about NWPC withdrawing its endorsement of Romey. He said that if he had been in charge of Romey’s campaign when she first sought the NWPC endorsement, “I would have told her not to go to that bunch of crazies.”

It was a controversial primary-election mailer that local caucus leaders said they found offensive.

That flyer characterized state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), as “a prominent gay-rights supporter.” NWPC leaders said they were distressed by that description because their organization backed Davis’ support of legislation prohibiting employment discrimination against homosexuals.

Additionally, a caucus leader said, some were upset by the phrase “ultra-liberal political groups” to describe backers of Korenstein.

“Some people would put NWPC in that category,” said Judy Hirshberg, a board member of the Valley caucus.

NWPC members invited Romey to a meeting to discuss her campaign tactics and the possibility of rescinding their endorsement. Romey did not show up, and a majority of members at the meeting voted to withdraw their endorsement.

‘Done With Regret’

“It was done with regret,” Hirshberg said. “It was not an easy decision.”

During the primary, Romey received a $250 contribution from the Westside NWPC chapter. For the June runoff, Hirshberg said, the Valley group was ready to offer the Romey campaign money, volunteers and help with mailing costs.

Romey had used the NWPC endorsement to enhance her prestige in certain circles. She often mentioned it in campaign speeches. In a primary-election brochure mailed only to Democratic voters, the NWPC endorsement was one of two endorsements that Romey mentioned.

Frankee Greenberg, chair of the Valley caucus, said the group has no plans at present to endorse Korenstein for the board seat.

In the weekend before the April 14 election, Romey issued a campaign mailer that other candidates said violated a clean-campaign agreement. In the brochure, Romey mentioned three of her six competitors by their first names in violation of a March 24 agreement made by the candidates.

The three candidates named in the mailer said Romey distorted their views on year-round schools, violence on campus and mandatory busing.

Romey later said she never agreed to abide by the clean-campaign pledge.