Child Star, Kennedy Family Member Vie For Powerful LA Post

[June 05, 2014]  By Sharon Bernstein
 
 SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - A touch of glamour could spice up a normally humdrum race for Los Angeles County supervisor next fall, as a former child star squares off against a member of the Kennedy family for a seat on the five-member board following a primary election.

Former Democratic state Senator Sheila Kuehl, a Harvard University graduate and longtime lawmaker who appeared on the TV show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" in the 1950s and 1960s, will face Bobby Shriver.

Shriver, a lawyer, former mayor and fellow Democrat, is the brother of former California first lady Maria Shriver and a nephew of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy. His father was Sargent Shriver, who worked in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and whose wife was Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Kuehl and Shriver were the top vote-getters in a field of eight candidates seeking to replace Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who is retiring after 20 years in the position.
 

Kuehl received 35 percent of the votes in the nonpartisan race in Tuesday's primary election, compared with 30 percent for Shriver.

Supervisors in Los Angeles wield considerable power, managing a $25 billion budget and often holding their offices for decades in a county that stretches 100 miles from end to end.

The district Shriver and Kuehl are seeking to represent includes West Los Angeles, Santa Monica and parts of the San Fernando Valley, and has more than 1 million registered voters, according to county records.

Kuehl, 73, now a well-known lawmaker and policy adviser, served in the legislature for 14 years and was a founding director of the Public Policy Institute at Santa Monica College, according to a biography posted on her website.

Shriver, 60, is a Yale University-educated lawyer and former mayor of Santa Monica. He has also served on the California State Park and Recreation Commission.

(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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