L.A. Mayoral Candidates Shatter City's Fund-Raising Record With $16 Million

By JEFFREY L. RABIN

March 30, 2001 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Shattering the city’s previous record for campaign fund-raising, the six major candidates for mayor of Los Angeles reported Thursday that they had collected a total of more than $16 million by last weekend.

The latest campaign contribution reports show that commercial real estate broker Steve Soboroff and City Atty. James K. Hahn remain the top two fund-raisers in the crowded field of candidates whose names will appear on the April 10 ballot.

But a strong surge by former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa pushed him into the top tier of candidates in cash raised.

Those three led the funding competition in the race to succeed Mayor Richard Riordan. State Controller Kathleen Connell, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra and City Councilman Joel Wachs are the other leading candidates in the campaign, which is gathering intensity in its final days.

In addition, the reports on fund-raising and spending being filed with the city Ethics Commission no later than today show that Villaraigosa and others benefited from the raising of the city’s limit on contributions.

That was triggered by the decision of Soboroff and Connell to pump substantial amounts of their personal money into their campaigns earlier this month. Soboroff gave $667,000 to his campaign, on top of $20,000 donated early in the race.

Connell, following the same pattern of tapping her personal wealth that worked well in her first race for controller seven years ago, lent her mayoral campaign $100,000. Under the city’s campaign finance rules, the decisions by those two candidates raised the contribution limit from $1,000 to as much as $7,000 from each contributor to a candidate. No one, however, may give more than $7,000 to all candidates combined.

Villaraigosa and Hahn each demonstrated his strength in yet another way. At the end of the reporting period, which concluded Saturday, Villaraigosa led the pack with $1.16 million in cash on hand for the final push to election day. Hahn placed a close second, reporting $1 million in the bank.

Connell delivered another potent fund-raising performance in the most recent period. Her campaign reported $832,514 in cash on hand for the election’s final days.

If no candidate wins the election outright, a runoff is scheduled for June 5.

Soboroff, having outspent other candidates early on and now burning through cash to maintain an aggressive campaign of television advertising, slipped to fourth with $630,946 on hand. But the figures do not reflect the benefit of the independent expenditure being made on his behalf by Riordan or the efforts of the state Republican Party to propel the businessman to the mayor’s office.

Likewise, Villaraigosa’s drive to the finish is being aided by both the state Democratic Party and the work of the county Federation of Labor.

Wachs trailed those contenders in terms of cash on hand, with $331,210. But he said Thursday that his fund-raising has been going well since the period closed.

“The money is coming in nicely,” he said. “We’re going to have a good TV buy.”

He has raised a total of $1.8 million, not including matching funds.

Becerra Trails Pack in Money Collected

Becerra’s fund-raising continued to be weaker than the rest. He raised only $156,212 in the period from Feb. 25 through Saturday, pushing his total for the campaign to a little more than $1 million, not including matching funds. The congressman had just $292,189 in cash on hand and is relying on a large group of volunteers to help push him into contention.

Altogether, the six major candidates have raised more than $16 million, including matching funds supplied by the city. That far surpasses the old fund-raising record of $12.9 million set in the April 1993 primary election, when Riordan first ran for mayor and forced a June runoff with then-Councilman Michael Woo. In the first round of that hotly contested election, a large field of candidates joined the race, and Riordan tapped his own fortune to help bankroll his first run for public office.

This time around, an infusion of public matching money served to boost the campaigns of Hahn, Villaraigosa, Connell, Wachs and Becerra, all of whom pledged to comply with the city’s contribution limits in order to receive that money.

Soboroff declined to participate in the program and did not accept taxpayer money. Instead, he chose to give his campaign an amount equal to the maximum $667,000 in matching funds that the other candidates can receive.

As the candidates entered the home stretch, Soboroff had raised $3.8 million for his campaign, including his own money. He collected almost $1 million in the last month through Saturday, but spent it all. Altogether, Soboroff has spent about $3.3 million on the race.

Ace Smith, Soboroff’s campaign consultant, expressed pleasure at the candidate’s standing going into the final days of the race. “We have every confidence we’re going to be in the runoff,” he said.

Smith said Soboroff had no choice but to spend heavily to boost his name identification with voters. He was the first to go on television with ads. “We started a month earlier than everyone,” he said. “We don’t need as much on the back end.”

Villaraigosa was second in fund-raising during the past month, collecting $745,368, making it his most financially productive period of the campaign. With the higher contribution limits, he reported a number of large contributions, including $6,000 from Janet Burkle, wife of investor and onetime supermarket mogul Ron Burkle. Villaraigosa’s total raised, without matching funds, is $2.4 million.

“The fact that we have enough cash on hand to adequately communicate our message means we should be in pretty good shape,” said Villariagosa’s campaign consultant Parke Skelton. He said three candidates have a possibility of getting into a runoff--Soboroff, Hahn and Villaraigosa.

Hahn collected $622,632 during the latest reporting period, bringing his overall fund-raising for the campaign to $3.3 million, not including matching funds. With a heavy presence on television, he has spent $3 million so far.

“We’re ready for the close of the primary,” said Hahn spokesman Kam Kuwata. “Our goal is to get into the runoff. I’m not concerned about what other people raised.”

He said the Hahn campaign is buying enough advertising time and plans enough direct mail to win a place in a June 5 face-off between the top two vote-getters.

Connell Confident, Campaign Aide Says

Connell reported that she raised $363,005 in the last month, including the $100,000 personal loan. With those contributions, her total fund-raising reached $1.4 million without matching funds.

Campaign consultant John Shallman said Connell is enthusiastic about her ability to raise the resources needed to get her message out on television and in the mail.

Paige Richardson, Becerra’s campaign manager, acknowledged that the congressman was not raising money as quickly as his rivals. Because of the cost and his limited resources, Becerra will not begin advertising on network television until the final week of the campaign, although Richardson said the candidate’s ads have been appearing on Spanish-language television programs.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fund-Raising by Mayoral Candidates

The following figures are the total contributions, spending and cash on hand for the six major mayoral campaigns as of March 24, ranked in order of available cash.

Antonio Villaraigosa

Contributions - $2,440,752

Expenditures - $1,992,617

Matching Funds - $572,542

Cash on Hand - $1,167,043

James K. Hahn

Contributions - $3,336,726

Expenditures - $3,008,227

Matching Funds - $637,497

Cash on Hand - $1,038,791

Kathleen Connell

Contributions - $1,465,869