5th District City Council

With the city of Los Angeles expected to face a $400-million to $500-million deficit in the 2009-10 fiscal year as the national economy continues to sour, Times editors asked 5th District City Council candidates in the March 3 primary how they would handle negotiations with key public safety employees. Here are excerpts from their answers to this question: -- In June, the city's contracts with police and firefighters unions will expire.

Meet Avak Keotahian. It's OK if you do not immediately recognize the name. Until last week, Keotahian was just another obscure bureaucrat plying his trade at Los Angeles City Hall. These days, he still is an obscure bureaucrat, but one with a big--and controversial--responsibility. A City Hall bit player for 17 years, Keotahian, 46, took over Monday as day-to-day caretaker of the council district vacated when Zev Yaroslavsky left the post and moved to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The deadline for registering to vote in the April 11 election is March 13, Los Angeles County officials said Monday. To be eligible to vote, residents must be 18 by Election Day and live in Los Angeles County.

Lea Purwin D'Agostino, a top contender for the 5th District City Council seat, may have been disqualified Friday when election officials announced that she failed to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. All candidates are required to submit a nominating petition with the signatures of 500 registered voters who live within the Westside-San Fernando Valley district.

Barbara Yaroslavsky's absences from forums for 5th District City Council candidates--she has missed about a dozen of them--are a disservice to voters on two counts. She is denying them a chance to learn about her. And she appears to be trying to hide her shortcomings. At forums she has attended, Yaroslavsky would not take firm stands on important issues. Worse, she seemed unfamiliar with some big issues. A position on MCA expansion at Universal City?

In the first face-to-face debate of the runoff campaign for the 5th District City Council seat, candidate Mike Feuer said that if his opponent, Barbara Yaroslavsky, is elected, she will face a potential conflict of interest in dealing with her husband, a county supervisor. "It's going to happen a lot" because the city and county governments often sue each other over allocation of state funds, Feuer, former head of a free legal services clinic, said Thursday night.

Coming off a second-place showing in Tuesday's primary, 5th District City Council candidate Barbara Yaroslavsky replaced her Sacramento-based consultant Friday with a local campaign strategist who vowed to bring new energy to the campaign.

Mayor Richard Riordan is throwing his support behind Barbara Yaroslavsky in the race to fill Los Angeles' vacant 5th District City Council seat, sources said Monday. The endorsement by the mayor is expected to provide Yaroslavsky with a major boost in her efforts to win the seat left vacant when her husband, Zev Yaroslavsky, resigned to take a post on the county Board of Supervisors. "I think it lends a lot of credibility to her race," said political consultant Richard Lichtenstein.

With a campaign war chest of $312,000, Barbara Yaroslavsky continues to lead the fund-raising race among candidates for the 5th District City Council seat, according to campaign statements released Thursday. Her sizable contributions are the latest evidence that Yaroslavsky continues to be a leading candidate to fill the seat left vacant when her husband, Zev Yaroslavsky, resigned in December to become a member of the Board of Supervisors.

Monday is the deadline to register to vote in the May 19 special election -- which includes a package of statewide measures aimed at easing California's budget crisis. Voter registration forms are available at more than 1,240 locations throughout Los Angeles County, according to Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan. Those locations include DMV offices, public libraries, fire stations, post offices, welfare offices and city clerk's offices. An online registration form also is available at www.lavote.