ELECTIONS / L.A. CITY COUNCIL : The Other Yaroslavsky Enters 5th District Fray

Barbara Yaroslavsky confirmed Thursday that she will run for the Los Angeles City Council seat now held by her husband, Zev, sparking a debate over whether her move constitutes dynasty building.

Zev Yaroslavsky will resign in December to assume new duties as a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was elected to the board in June.

Barbara Yaroslavsky’s decision, although widely anticipated recently, brings a new dynamic to the emerging battle over political succession in the affluent and politically active 5th District, which includes Westwood, Sherman Oaks and Bel-Air.

The entry of the 47-year-old Yaroslavsky makes her an instant front-runner, said political consultant Richard Lichtenstein. “She starts with phenomenal name ID that you couldn’t buy,” he said. “The challenge will be for her to create her own set of footprints and identity on issues.”

Others quickly predicted her name, while her biggest asset, will be the source of her biggest political headache in next spring’s special election to fill the last two years of her husband’s term.

“The opposition has to take her biggest asset and turn it into her biggest liability,” said political consultant Joe Cerrell. However, said the veteran strategist, pointing to the Kennedys of Massachusetts and the Browns of California, while people may disparage dynasty-building efforts “in American politics, they work more often than not.”

Yaroslavsky, who has been active in community affairs for years, said in an interview Thursday from the couple’s Fairfax District home that one of her biggest fears is that the media, searching for controversy, will cast her candidacy as a bid by the Yaroslavsky family to dominate Westside politics.

“My big fear isn’t that the candidates will say these things, but that the media will,” she said.

Meanwhile, Michael Feuer, executive director of Bet-Tzedek Legal Services and one of several candidates for the 5th District seat, said he intends to campaign on his record of running a successful and popular legal program for the disadvantaged.

But along with another announced candidate, former Los Angeles school board member Roberta Weintraub, Feuer refused to speculate about whether the exigencies of an arduous campaign might force the dynasty issue to the forefront.

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Weintraub, whose high public profile makes her nearly as much a household name as Yaroslavsky, said for the time being she feels comfortable running on her record of 14 years on the Board of Education. “I’m the only one with hands-on government experience,” Weintraub said. “I don’t think people will be voting to reelect Zev, and (Barbara) will have to stand on her own two feet. This is not an era when women can succeed their husbands in office and run simply on their coattails.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Leah Purwin D’Agostino, well known for her courtroom work and her run for district attorney several years ago, reacted to Yaroslavsky’s move by stopping just short of announcing her candidacy. “This is an interesting development,” she said. “I’ll have my own announcement shortly.”

But Police Protective League spokesman Danny Staggs was less coy. “We’ll be endorsing Leah,” he said. “She’s always been a strong supporter of the police. Barbara Yaroslavsky is a nice lady, but not qualified.”

Barbara Yaroslavsky confirmed that she was running just as she started making calls to three dozen political activists and community leaders about her decision. “I’m not prepared to comment on it now,” she said. “I’ve only just been making calls for the past two hours. I’d like for people to hear it from me, not read about it first in the newspaper.”

But later, she released a prepared statement. “That I’m running for City Council is the natural next step of a decades-long commitment to work in behalf of this community,” she said.

“I undertook these efforts not because I was looking for recognition or walking in the shadow of my husband. Rather I’m a committed community activist and I believe that the passionate actions of one individual can bring about change.”

Yaroslavsky emphasized that she would run on her record. “I don’t have to defend what Zev has done--actually, he’s done a wonderful job and in many respects, we’re not so different,” she said. “We’re both very committed to the quality of life and preservation of the environment and seeing that the district gets adequate funding.”

Yaroslavsky’s decision comes after weeks of speculation about her targeting the seat in the wake of her husband’s election to the Board of Supervisors.

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Her decision also sparked new speculation about the role her powerful husband will play in her campaign. Barbara Yaroslavsky said she has not talked to him about this, but she expects his help.

Although Feuer and Weintraub said they are in the race to the end, Lichtenstein, the political consultant, said that Feuer and Yaroslavsky’s constituencies of progressive Jewish Democrats are almost identical, and that one of them will have to give. “I don’t think there’s enough of that constituency for both of them,” he said.

Zev Yaroslavsky recently proposed that the City Council appoint an interim council member to fill his seat until his permanent successor is picked in a special election. Given the timing of his departure, it is likely that a special election will not be held until next spring to fill out the two years remaining in his term.

That could leave the 5th District without representation at City Hall for as long as seven months.