Candidates Spar in 4th Council District Race

In an expensive contest featuring more jabs than a prizefight, a crowded field of political veterans, neighborhood activists and muckrakers is battling for the Los Angeles City Council seat left vacant by the death of John Ferraro.

Three of the 10 candidates have already banked more than $1.1 million combined for the Sept. 11 election.

“People in the district are very hungry for a leader to come in who they can work with,” said Joe Hooven, president of the North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Adding drama to the race is the backdrop of secession. The 4th Council District includes San Fernando Valley cityhood backers on one side and Hollywood secessionists on the other.

All of the candidates say they would prefer to fix Los Angeles rather than break apart the city.

The district extends from North Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Atwater and Studio City through the Cahuenga Pass to Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hancock Park and Koreatown.

The breakup threat has colored the fierce campaign for the seat, with candidates pledging to deliver basic city services to head off secession.

Leading the pack in fund-raising and endorsements is a trio of political veterans:

* Beth Garfield, a labor attorney and former board member of the Los Angeles Community College District. Her campaign coffers are bulging with $492,000--$350,000 of that in the form of a loan from herself. The wife of former state Assemblyman Wally Knox, Garfield has picked up key endorsements, including backing from the County Federation of Labor, which has spent $31,000 on an independent mail campaign on her behalf.

* Tom LaBonge, who worked for 15 years as chief field deputy for Ferraro, was an aide to former Mayor Richard Riordan and most recently was director of community relations for the city Department of Water and Power. He has been endorsed by Riordan and the Police Protective League. His campaign reported last week $450,000 in contributions and city matching funds.

* David Roberti, former state Senate president pro tem, who served in the Legislature for 27 years, much of it representing the council district. He left office in 1994 and serves on the state Integrated Waste Management Board. He has raised $229,000 in contributions and matching funds and has been endorsed by a host of Democratic legislators, including Senate President Pro Tem John Burton.

Rounding out the field are: Mike Schaefer, an attorney and former San Diego city councilman; Denise Munro Robb, a paralegal and environmental educator; Susan Fong, a teacher; Fares “Ferris” Wehbe, owner of the Hollywood Little Red School House; Richard MacMinn, who heads a neighborhood council organization; Larry Green, a tax accountant; and Linda Lockwood, a general contractor and community organizer.

Garfield went on the attack in a mailer last week against Roberti for his opposition to state funding of abortion. Roberti called the move a low blow, contending that the council has no jurisdiction to act on the issue.

And Lockwood has questioned how Wehbe can run for City Council after serving as president of Hollywood VOTE, the group that petitioned for a study of Hollywood autonomy from Los Angeles. Wehbe said he is running to reform city government so that secession would not be necessary.

LaBonge, 47, of Silver Lake said his 27 years in city government give him the experience necessary to make the city more responsive when residents call to get trees trimmed and potholes filled.

He proposed increasing the police force by 1,400 officers and doubling the senior lead officer program. He also has endorsed a proposal already in the works to create a system of advisory neighborhood councils.

Roberti, a 62-year-old Los Feliz resident, proposed creation of a borough system similar to that of New York City. Roberti said Los Angeles could be divided into at least five boroughs with elected representatives making decisions on local issues, and a central body deciding citywide matters.

“Neighborhood councils are fine, but they are not the permanent solution,” he said.

Roberti said the No. 1 concern in the district is traffic, and he proposed stricter control on development to make sure surrounding streets are not overwhelmed.

Garfield, a Windsor Square resident, said she supports decentralization of city government, including creation of neighborhood councils. She cited changes she oversaw at the college district as a model.

“I led reforms that enabled the college presidents to meet the needs of the neighborhoods,” said Garfield, 49.

Public safety is her top priority. Officers should be given longer assignments in the same neighborhoods, and the police force should be expanded to 10,000 officers from the current 8,900, she said.

Since serving two terms on the San Diego City Council, ending in 1971, Schaefer, 63, has run unsuccessfully for office more than a dozen times. He served three days in jail in the ‘80s because of substandard conditions in apartments he owned. In a civil case in 1986, a jury ordered Schaefer to pay tenants $1.86 million for allowing slum conditions to persist in a Los Angeles building.

Robb, a paralegal and an occasional stand-up comedian, is president of the Miracle Mile Action Committee. A Green Party member, Robb, 39, has campaigned against overdevelopment and said he supports giving neighborhood councils decision-making power over planning and land-use issues, not just the current advisory role.

Fong, 50, said the councils should be advisory bodies only.

“People elect a council member to represent them, and they make the hard decisions and can be held accountable,” said Fong, a teacher from Silver Lake who is divorced from former Councilman Mike Woo.

Fong also would link school-building and park-building projects.

MacMinn, 53, heads an organization promoting neighborhood councils as one way to head off secession.

Wehbe, 43, proposed expanding the police force by 1,400 officers, while implementing reforms called for in a court consent decree.

Also running is Green, a 50-year-old tax accountant and City Hall gadfly, who said he would reassign officers from desks to the street.

Lockwood, a 59-year-old Hollywood Hills resident, would expand the police force, take steps to improve officer morale and put monorails on freeways.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote this month, a runoff election will be held for the top two vote-getters on Oct. 23.