In This Race, She’s Not Just a Face in the Crowd

Nearly all 15 people seeking seats on the county Democratic Central Committee in the 41st Assembly District are household names--in their own households.

But one candidate seeking one of the seven seats in the Westside and San Fernando Valley district is familiar to just about anyone who has watched television since 1977.

Shelley Hack, an actress best known for replacing Farrah Fawcett-Majors on the action series “Charlie’s Angels,” is running for the non-paying board, which makes endorsements in nonpartisan races, conducts fund-raising, recruits candidates and handles other party functions.

Brad Pomerance, an Encino resident who practices law in Century City and is one of the other candidates in the race, said he believes that Hack’s fame from acting “will definitely help her” chances in the election to be decided in the June 7 primary.

“I think (her candidacy is) a good thing for the Democratic Party,” Pomerance said. “She’d be a great asset to the county committee. I think she wants to do the right things. She wants to get involved and feels like she can make a difference. It’s great that someone like that wants to get involved.”

Hack, who declined to be interviewed last week because of illness, recently appeared in the pilot of NBC’s “seaQuest DSV” and an episode of “L.A. Law.”

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ITCHING TO GET OUT: As the storm season draws to a close, we give you one more tale from the muddy trenches of Malibu.

First, a little background. The November wildfires apparently burned off all the poison ivy and poison oak, releasing the misery-inducing oils into the soil.

So when the mud came down from the hillsides after the recent storms, residents like Kent Knudsen did the natural thing: They got in the slop to dig out. In the muck were the oils. In pain was Knudsen, who along with some of his fellow Malibuites, came down with a nasty rash that his doctor believes came from the poison ivy and oak oils in the mud. (Knudsen got secondary infections from the septic flow that came down with the gook).

So is it any wonder that he is now looking for some mystical relief?

“I ordered a gargoyle from one of my wife’s mail-order catalogues,” said Knudsen. “It was made by a nun and it is a very famous gargoyle. I am putting it on top of my house to keep evil spirits away.”

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A MATTER OF DEGREE: Beverly Hills City Council candidate Les Bronte has come up with an explanation for the confusion over his academic record. At a recent candidates’ forum, Bronte was accused of fibbing about his education on his official ballot statement, which is mailed by the city clerk’s office to voters.

Bronte stated on the form that he went to UCLA and has a bachelor of arts degree in industrial management. Bronte now acknowledges that he dropped out of UCLA after two years and completed his degree at Cal State Los Angeles.

Bronte says he did not intend to deceive anyone. His staff said his campaign workers simply left off the reference to Cal State L.A. when they were typing up the document. Furthermore, he maintained, the city clerk’s office compounded the error when the ballot statement was printed by putting UCLA and his degree on the same line, according to a press release from his campaign office.