By Matthew Sanderson

District 11 City Council candidate Tina Hess is one of several women vying for seats in Los Angeles government heading into the March 5 nominating primary election. She chose to run for the Westside seat because she saw a huge void, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Responding to the newspaper’s Feb. 27 article, the campaign of the Del Rey prosecutor added that in the last 100 years only 15 women have had say on the city council, with 12 of those coming after 1975.

“Women in Los Angeles deserve representation and a voice on city council,” Hess told Patch. “In an international class city, as diverse as L.A., it’s unimaginable that there could be no women on city council starting July 1. This takes women’s equality back to the 1950s.”

City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilwoman Jan Perry are waging battles to be L.A.’s next mayor. Women are also running in city council races in East Valley and west San Fernando Valley.

“While acknowledging that the lack of women candidates focused my attention on the race, it is my belief that I am the best qualified and best suited candidate that caused me to enter the race,” Hess added.

Los Angeles City Council District 11 is made up of Venice, Brentwood, Westchester, Mar Vista, Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey, Del Rey, Palms, Playa Vista and Marina del Rey.

http://marinadelrey.patch.com/articles/westside-s-tina-hess-says-it-s-unimaginable-no-women-might-serve-on-city-council

by Kate Linthicum and David Zahniser

Tina Hess says she never planned to be a Los Angeles City Council candidate.

But last November, when she turned her attention to local races after the presidential election, she was shocked to see not a single woman running to represent her Westside district. And in eight other council races across the city, only a handful of women were running, compared to dozens of men.

“I just saw this void,” said Hess, a city prosecutor who lives in Del Rey. She decided to enter the race when she realized the city could soon be without any women on its 15-member lawmaking body after mayoral candidate Jan Perry, the council’s lone female, departs on June 30 because of term limits.

Hess is one of several female candidates waging uphill battles against men who have raised considerably more money.

In the west San Fernando Valley, attorney Joyce Pearson and business owner Elizabeth Badger are in a six-person field looking to replace Councilman Dennis Zine. Pearson has raised nearly $90,000 for her campaign, according to the most recent reports. Her main opponent, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, collected nearly twice that amount during the same period.

In the east Valley, two women are running in a lopsided four-way race against former Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes. In the most recent fundraising reports, Fuentes had raised 10 times as much money as two of his opponents — actress and community volunteer Krystee Clark and education activist Nicole Chase.

In south Los Angeles, Ana Cubas is facing seven male candidates. In a news conference Wednesday, she urged voters not to let the council become a male-only outpost of city government. “Do we want to go back to 1933?” she asked, pointing to a picture from that era in which not a single woman sits at the council’s “horseshoe” of desks.

In the mayor’s race, City Controller Wendy Greuel makes frequent reference to the fact that she would be L.A.’s first female mayor. Perry, in turn, would be the first African American woman to hold the post, if elected.

But Cubas, a former aide to Councilman Jose Huizar, complained that City Hall leaders and the media haven’t brought enough attention to the dwindling number of women on the council. She pointed out that local newspapers, including The Times, have failed to endorse any female candidates in next week’s elections.

“I cannot believe that there wasn’t a single qualified female candidate,” she said.

Cubas said the current trend could have long-term consequences because the council often serves as a pipeline for other elected positions.

She has pledged, if elected, to form a women’s political caucus and groom a female candidate to run to replace her. She has also promised to make gender a major focus, vowing to ensure female and male employees are paid the same for equal work.

She was joined by Rita Walters, who previously served as the councilwoman in Perry’s district. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the city made great strides by electing women to the council, which at one point had five female members. The idea of a council without women in 2013, Walters said, “just pains me.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/la-city-council-tina-hess-ana-cubas.html

Find your polling place:

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Check your voter registration status:

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*Information taken from the Patch article authored by Sara Fay. Original Article can be found here:

http://marinadelrey.patch.com/articles/how-to-find-your-polling-place-in-l-a-county

That’s why I stand for Tina Hess.

Because Tina cares about issues that matter.

For over 25 years, as prosecutor in the City Attorney’s Office, Tina has been a champion for the little guy, or girl.

She has taken a stand:

1. Against big banks who would profit at the expense of the individual.

2. Against insurance companies who would deny coverage to the sick.

3. Against environmental polluters who would sooner destroy our city than help sustain it.
Tina takes action on issues that matter.

And that’s why it’s vital that she be elected to the Los Angeles City Council.

I looked up the Council’s history and discovered that the first woman, Estelle Lawton Lindsay, was elected to LA City Council in 1915. Which seems like it should have paved the way for dozens of women. Right? Well, in the 98 years since, there have been only 15 women elected to the LA City Council. Twelve of those women have served since 1975.

Women make up 50% of the population of Los Angeles. There is only one woman on the LA City Council right now. And she’s running for Mayor.

Which means…. Without Tina Hess, 2013 may be the first time in 38 years that there will be no woman on the city council. Which means Los Angeles will, effectively, be thrown back to 1956, the last time the Council became all male–for a nineteen year stretch!

According to Katherine Spiller, Vice President of the Feminist Majority, “Women’s representation in politics at the national and local level is critical.”

Why?

Because “women are often more acutely aware of needs in the education system, and they have a different understanding of needs in healthcare and transportation. Having those perspectives represented when tens of millions of dollars of a city budget are being allocated – that matters.”

According to Kimberly Ellis, Executive Director of Emerge California, “When more women are involved in crafting public policy, the resulting laws are more equitable. It’s not just women for the sake of women,” she said. “It’s women for the sake of the whole society.”

For the sake of District 11, for the sake of our city, for the sake of our society, let’s support Tina Hess and her bid for city council, not just with our words, not just with our hearts, but with all our available resources. Now. Before its too late.”

– Diane Namm-Writer/Director-Lady of the Canyon

Tina Hess is a 25 year veteran in the City Attorney’s office, currently serving as Deputy Chief of the Complex and Special Litigation Division of the Criminal Branch. She oversees cases against large corporate banks for failing to maintain their vacant foreclosed properties spreading blight and nuisances in our neighborhoods; against insurance companies for illegal rescissions targeting women with breast cancer and other costly diagnoses; and, against billboard companies for illegal billboards and supergraphics.

Previously she served as a Supervisor in the Safe Neighborhoods and Gang Division where she supervised the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program, the Citywide Nuisance Abatement Program, the Problem Property Resolution Team, the Slum Housing Task Force, the Narcotics Enforcement Surveillance Team, and other programs dedicated to protecting and improving the quality of life for residents of the City. In the early 90s she was a part of the task force that stopped the drug war in Oakwood and sent many gang members/drug dealers to prison.

Tina is committed to enforcing City ordinances to improve public safety and the quality of life in Venice. She lives in Del Rey and previously lived in Mar Vista and Pacific Palisades. She has been endorsed by the Daily News and Daily Breeze.

Sincerely,

Mark Ryavec, Venice community activist
Richard Myers, former Communications Officer, Venice Neighborhood Council
Stewart Oscars, former Community Officer, Venice Neighborhood Council
Bill Farhood, former Director, Marina Peninsula Neighborhood Association, and current MPNA public safety advocate

In 2013, the City of Los Angeles faces the reality that no women could be elected to serve on the 15-person council board. Tina Hess is the only woman running in the 11th district and one of the most qualified women running citywide.

All those interested in attending are invited to join us Saturday. Please RSVP to the contact information below.

Women for Tina!

What:     Event in support of our Endorsed Candidate Tina Hess
                Sponsored by us: NWPC LA Westside
Where:   At the home of Carol Cole and Sue Orloff
4349 Lyceum Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90066
When:   Saturday February 23, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
RSVP: Tim Fucci   (310) 938-2685       or email info@HessForCouncil.com
Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served.

VP to the contact information below

Citing Tina’s two and half decades of experience working in the City Attorney’s Office, the Daily News said Tina “showed a firm grasp of the city’s challenges when she met with the editorial board.”

Read the full endorsement here:

“It may be hard for anybody to defeat Mike Bonin, currently chief of staff to Bill Rosendahl, the Westside councilman who announced last year that he would not seek re-election while fighting cancer. Like all council staffers who seek to step up to elective office, Bonin is knowledgeable and well-funded and has his boss’s backing.

But these shouldn’t be automatic successions, so District 11 residents should try to at least force Bonin into a runoff by voting for Tina Hess, the strongest of Bonin’s three opponents.

Hess, a prosecutor for 25 years in the L.A. city attorney’s office, showed a firm grasp of the city’s challenges when she met with the editorial board. She wants to see the City Council implement recommendations from city controller audits, and vows to live up to her history of standing up to special interests as a prosecutor on consumer and environmental cases. She wants to improve the coordination of government agencies’ response to problems.”

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_22601061/endorsements-5-recommendations-l-city-council

Meet and Greet with City Council Candidate Tina Hess
Hosted by Peg Brewer & Paula Teske
February 17^th, 2013, 2:00pm to 4:00pm
2114 Glyndon Ave. Venice Beach, 90291
* Hors d’oeuvres and wine will be served.
Donations Welcome

Please R.S.V.P. to Tim Fucci at 310-938-2685, or email info@hessforcouncil.com