Never Too Soon for Alumni Association to Seek Recruits

Members of UCLA’s Class of 1994 are ready to take on the world.

Or are they?

Hoping to gain new recruits, the UCLA Alumni Assn. flew a banner over Bruin Walk emblazoned with the words: “Are You Ready for Life After UCLA?” Then, below that: “We Can Help. Join Your UCLA Alumni Association.” Jeez, lighten up--the kids just tossed their mortarboards.

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QUICK OFF THE MARK: Less than 36 hours after Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky had been elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the June 7 balloting, candidate Michael Feuer said he had raised $21,500 to run for Yaroslavsky’s 5th District council seat.

That the executive director of Bet Tzedek, a legal services group, would be out of the gate raising money early was no surprise. Feuer had earlier asked the city Ethics Commission to issue a ruling about when the fund-raising stampede might begin in the yet-to-be-set special election to fill Yaroslavsky’s shoes.

The ruling: It could begin as soon as Yaroslavsky was elected and a candidate filed the necessary paperwork with the commission. At 9:08 a.m. on June 8, Feuer filed the paperwork.

Besides making a beeline for the cash, Feuer has put together a list of top-drawer supporters, including Bruce Corwin of Metropolitan Theatres, a confidant of former Mayor Tom Bradley; Rabbi Allen I. Freehling of University Synagogue; Heal the Bay leader Dorothy Green; Laurie Levinson, a Loyola University law professor; former U.S. Secretary of Education Shirley Hufstedler; former U.S. Atty. Andrea Ordin; Tom Quinn, president of a media company and a top aide to former Gov. Jerry Brown, and Tom Umberg, the Democratic Party’s nominee for state attorney general.

But Feuer, an attorney, is only one of many wanna-bes burning up calories to line up backers in the half-Westside, half-Valley 5th District, which includes Westwood, the Fairfax area, Bel-Air, Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys.

Others eyeing Yaroslavsky’s seat are former Los Angeles school board President Roberta Weintraub; Leah Purwin D’Agostino, a deputy district attorney who is assigned to the Van Nuys Courthouse, and possibly a few others, including Barbara Yaroslavsky, the councilman’s own wife.

By early this week, only Feuer and Ryan Snyder, a transportation consultant who ran against Yaroslavsky previously, had filed the requisite paperwork at City Hall to raise money.

The cash-strapped city is expected to consolidate the Yaroslavsky succession race with other Los Angeles races next spring. In April, 1995, seven City Council seats will be up for grabs.

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NEW DEMOCRAT: Roberta Weintraub, the former conservative Republican, has certainly changed since switching to the Democratic Party in 1991.

Weintraub’s name and photo appeared on political mail endorsing Sheila Kuehl, the Santa Monica progressive and former TV actress who won the Democratic nomination for the 41st Assembly District seat in last week’s balloting.

“Sheila has been a devoted educator both in our colleges and junior highs,” said the quote attributed to Weintraub in a mailer targeting Democratic voters in the Valley. “I trust her to be a strong voice for Valley schools and to fight to decentralize the LAUSD.”