Independent Spending on Race for Mayor Sets L.A. Record
By Jeffrey L. Rabin and Daniel Hernandez
Times Staff Writers
May 5, 2005
The record for independent spending in a Los Angeles mayor's race was
shattered Wednesday when the state teachers union said it would spend
$500,000 on TV ads to help elect Antonio Villaraigosa, and other unions
indicated they would spend hundreds of thousands more to help incumbent
James K. Hahn.
The financial commitment by the state teachers union pushed the amount
of independent expenditures in the mayor's race to more than $2.3
million, brushing past the previous record, $1.5 million spent on
behalf of the two men in their 2001 runoff. The independent spending is
on top of the millions of dollars being raised and spent by
Villaraigosa and Hahn for their campaigns.
The teachers union and other pro-Villaraigosa organizations appeared to
be trying to blunt a last flurry of advertising by Hahn before the May
17 runoff much as earlier spending by pro-Hahn groups was meant to
bolster the mayor's lagging fundraising.
By law, spending by outside groups cannot be coordinated with the
candidates or their campaigns.
With the most recent infusion, independent spending for Villaraigosa
has now reached $1.2 million. Independent expenditures for Hahn passed
$1.1 million Wednesday.
The California Teachers Assn.'s pledge is in itself a record
independent expenditure for an L.A. mayor's race.
A CTA official said the group decided to pledge the money because of
its familiarity with the Los Angeles city councilman. A former Assembly
speaker and former United Teachers Los Angeles organizer, he is a
favorite of teachers union leaders.
"To have someone who is a real advocate for every student and every
teacher in the state as mayor of the largest city ... is a tremendous
asset," said Bob Cherry, a CTA spokesman.
Hahn has received a major boost from unions since the Los Angeles
County Federation of Labor endorsed his reelection. The largest source
of independent spending on his side $310,866 has come from the Service
Employees International Union, Local 434B, which represents home-care
workers. The president of that local is Tyrone Freeman, a Hahn
appointee to the city Fire Commission. The union that represents Los
Angeles firefighters has reported that it plans to spend $270,000 to
support Hahn's reelection.
Yet in the last three days, Villaraigosa has overtaken Hahn in
independent spending as the CTA and United Teachers Los Angeles have
promised $685,000 for television and radio ads. With their previous
commitments, the two teachers unions have now pledged a total of
$800,395 to support Villaraigosa. The International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers union Local 18, which represents 8,000 employees at
the city Department of Water and Power, said Monday that it would spend
$200,000 on radio ads for Villaraigosa. The local has also spent $7,583
on T-shirts and banners supporting Villaraigosa.
The amount of independent spending outside the city's system of partial
public financing of election campaigns has been growing rapidly in
recent elections, raising concerns among campaign finance watchdogs.
The city has a $1,000 contribution limit on donations to candidates,
but the independent donations are unlimited.
"Obviously, it undercuts the contribution limits to a great degree,"
said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies.
In their public appearances Wednesday, Hahn and Villaraigosa sparred
over alleged improprieties in their fundraising, echoing the scathing
television ads that each has aired to spark voter doubts about the
other's integrity.
After touting his plan to cut the cost of prescription drugs at Good
Samaritan Hospital near MacArthur Park, Villaraigosa fended off
questions from reporters about campaign donations from Florida that
Hahn has made the central focus of his first ad.
"I want to talk about my vision for Los Angeles; I don't want to
respond every single day to Jim Hahn," Villaraigosa said.
He said there was nothing "questionable," as a reporter had suggested,
about the $47,000 in Florida donations that Villaraigosa pledged last
week to return.
"I gave it back because I wanted to absolutely establish that there was
no issue there," he said. "It was not questionable. I decided I'm going
to separate myself from Jim Hahn, accept responsibility. If someone has
a question, or an issue, then so be it."
Villaraigosa vowed to return the money to employees of two Florida
companies and their family members after the news media reported that
some of them seemed confused about the donations or had trouble
explaining them and that the companies could be interested in
concession business at Los Angeles International Airport.
Earlier, Villaraigosa stepped up his appeals to black voters as he
gained the endorsement of the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American
newspaper, at its South Los Angeles headquarters.
"I'd like to remind you, the first 44 settlers that founded Los
Angeles, they may have been Mexican settlers, but let me share
something with you: They were of African heritage," Villaraigosa said.
"They were mulatto. They were mestizo. We need to talk about that."
As for Hahn, he continued to question Villaraigosa's statement that he
did not discuss potential airport business at a dinner with Sean
Anderson, the president of one of the Florida companies.
"For him to say he never discussed the airport, and never discussed
concessions, if that's the story he's saying, you know, let him answer
that to [the] district attorney," said Hahn, referring to a preliminary
inquiry into the donations by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve
Cooley.
Speaking at a Valley Glen campaign stop, Hahn faced questions on
fundraising involving his last campaign. He reiterated his contention
that he cannot return money that was raised for him by Mark Abrams, a
Westside developer who was fined $270,000 by the city Ethics Commission
for laundering political donations, most of them to Hahn's 2001
campaign.
Villaraigosa has called on Hahn to return the money, but the mayor said
that was impossible because the campaign accounts were closed.
"Those matters were investigated fully," Hahn said. "There was no one
in my campaign, or anyone connected to my campaign, who was found to
have done anything wrong."
The main focus of Hahn's news conference was crime. A group of crime
victims praised the mayor's public safety record, and Hahn portrayed
Villaraigosa as beholden to the American Civil Liberties Union and too
deferential to criminals' rights.
"Time and time again, Mr. Villaraigosa and I find ourselves on opposite
sides," Hahn said.
"Whether it's victims' rights, whether it's tougher laws against gang
members, whether it's gang injunctions, whether it's our fight to put
more police on the streets of Los Angeles, there's a clear difference
between us," Hahn said.
Villaraigosa opposed gang injunctions when he was a leader of the
ACLU's Southern California chapter, but supports them now.
Like Hahn, Villaraigosa has pledged to add officers to the city police
force. Villaraigosa also has criticized the mayor for falling short of
his pledge in 2001 to expand the police force by 1,000 officers.
Times staff writers Richard Fausset and Michael Finnegan
contributed to this report.
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