CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS / 6TH DISTRICT : Galanter, Gray Exchange Pro-Developer Charges

Los Angeles City Council member Ruth Galanter came to the desolate El Segundo Dunes in Playa del Rey on a recent morning to spotlight what she says is a major contrast between her views and those of her opponent in Tuesday’s election, Mary Lee Gray.

As jets leaving Los Angeles International Airport roared overhead, the incumbent 6th District councilwoman noted that she had lobbied for and won a 200-acre dune preserve for the El Segundo blue butterfly and other threatened species.

Gray also favors a preserve, but one only half the size. She says her proposal still would give the butterfly plenty of fluttering room, while allowing for more recreation area to be developed on the dunes.

The Galanter press conference was one of a handful she has held at the beach since the April primary in an apparent attempt to set the council race’s agenda by drawing a line in the sand on the issue of the environment.

“I think my strategy should be to focus on the differences between us,” Galanter said.

Two months ago, Galanter had pinned her hopes on another strategy. That scenario had her quietly cruising to reelection in the April primary while ignoring the six candidates who were running against her in a district that covers Venice, Crenshaw, Westchester, Playa del Rey and Mar Vista.

It nearly worked. But when the votes were counted, Galanter was a few hundred votes shy of outright victory and facing a runoff against Gray, the second-place finisher who now is trying to build a coalition of Galanter foes from across the political spectrum.

Galanter has responded with a full-court press, amassing a large campaign treasury for a blitz of negative mailers attacking Gray.

Gray has some distinct disadvantages, especially her lack of money to blanket the district with mail and her Republican registration in a usually Democratic district. But she has sought to wage a grass-roots offense against Galanter’s professional campaign machine.

Despite Galanter’s strong ties with the environmental movement, Gray has not conceded that territory. Gray insists that she, too, is a strong environmentalist, but has her own opinion of where the line should be drawn in the campaign.

Gray says that Galanter has not delivered on her promise four years ago to slow down growth in the district. Instead, Gray asserts, Galanter has become cozy with big developers, allowing them too many concessions.

Another key Gray charge is that Galanter has failed to provide adequate constituent service. “She pays more attention to endangered species than to endangered constituents, who are unemployed or stuck in gridlock,” said Gray. “I think she has lost track that there has to be a balance between the people and their environs.”

Galanter brands Gray an anything-goes friend of developers because of her longtime association with Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, who generally has supported pro-development policies. Gray is on leave from her post as Dana’s senior deputy.

The Gray forces sought to counter the pro-development charge last week when, after weeks of silence, slow-growth community activist Salvatore Grammatico endorsed Gray.

Grammatico ran a strong third in the April primary. His strength was in Westchester and Playa del Rey, areas pressed by development. Grammatico said he was endorsing Gray because Galanter is out of touch with her constituents and a “double talker” on the development issue. “She says she’s slow growth and she’s not.”

It is the campaign’s overriding irony that Galanter’s slow-growth credentials should be questioned four years after her upset of then-Council President Pat Russell made her name synonymous with the movement. But Galanter insists her moderate views for managed growth were misinterpreted by some of her most fervent supporters in the 1987 campaign.

Gray is a clear underdog in the current race, having received only about 20% of the primary vote while Galanter was within a scant 250 votes of the 50% mark she needed to win outright.

Gray, however, said her telephone polling shows one-third of the voters have not made up their minds. If there are large blocs of voters left to woo, however, the bottom line on recently filed campaign statements may be Gray’s ultimate undoing.

The statements showed that since April 24, Galanter had raised $143,073, more than any other council candidate on Tuesday’s ballot.

Galanter’s contribution list is replete with big developers, contractors, trade unions, architects and engineers. It also includes concrete companies from all over the region. Gray has hammered away at this point during the campaign. “Let me tell you, the people who gave her money are really expecting big development,” said Gray.

But Galanter said her successful fund raising means the contributors can smell a winner. “If it signals anything, it signals they’re beginning to suspect who’s going to win the election,” she said.

Gray’s campaign statement showed that she had raised $43,342 since April 24. That included her own $9,000 contribution for office furniture and supplies.

Gray’s money came mostly in small amounts. Her large contributions came from some familiar Republican names, including Dana, county Supervisor Mike Antonovich and attorney Karl Samuelian, a former fund-raiser for ex-Gov. George Deukmejian.