NOW Backs 4 Men, 4 Women in Primary

Yes, it’s the National Organization for Women, but that doesn’t mean the group’s endorsements always go to female candidates.

NOW’s Los Angeles chapter underscored that Thursday when its political action committee announced its picks in the Los Angeles municipal elections. Four of the eight people who got NOW’s backing for the April 10 primary are men, all in contests with at least one woman competitor.

In addition to its previously publicized choice of Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor, NOW is backing Councilman Mike Feuer for city attorney over Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino. (Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo and Deputy Dist. Atty. Frank Tavelman also are running for city attorney.)

NOW’s endorsements for five City Council seats include former state Sen. Tom Hayden for the 5th District, which includes parts of the Westside and San Fernando Valley, and public policy professor Eric Garcetti for the 13th District, which includes Hollywood and Echo Park.

“These guys are hard-core feminists,” said attorney Shelly Mandell, chairwoman of the NOW committee.

In three other council races, NOW is backing women, including longtime City Hall aide Jan Perry in the 9th District, which includes downtown and South-Central Los Angeles, and businesswoman Janice Hahn in the harbor area’s 15th District. The organization split its endorsement between two women--Tsilah Burman and Judith Hirshberg, both former City Council aides--in the San Fernando Valley’s 3rd District.

Earlier this week, the organization revealed its support for Villaraigosa, a former Assembly speaker, for mayor in a race that includes state Controller Kathleen Connell among its six major candidates.

The group’s endorsements went to candidates who have shown leadership skills and “have demonstrated a commitment to feminist ideals and issues,” according to a news release, including “full support for women’s reproductive rights and for strategies that increase women’s opportunities, strengthen our child care systems, reduce violence and advance the rights of gays and lesbians.”

Mandell acknowledged that the group believes it is important to have women in elected offices and other positions of power but said gender is not the determining factor in endorsement decisions.

“They’ve got to be feminists,” Mandell said of candidates who get the organization’s backing.

NOW made no endorsements for city controller or for the 1st, 7th and 11th Council Districts.