Hahn, Soboroff Lead in Fund-Raising for Mayor’s Race

Led by City Atty. James K. Hahn, the candidates for mayor of Los Angeles enter the campaign’s home stretch with widely varying resources--in some cases aided by aggressive fund-raising and in others held back by profligate spending.

Campaign disclosure reports for the second half of 2000 show that Hahn and businessman Steve Soboroff each had raised about $2.5 million by the end of last year, far outpacing the four other major candidates in the mayoral race.

But the same reports show that Hahn conserved his cash and still had $2 million on hand, while Soboroff burned through his money, leaving him with $1.3 million in his campaign coffers as the new year began. Despite his fund-raising in the second half of the year, Soboroff finished 2000 with barely more money to spend than he had at midyear. Hahn, by contrast, increased his treasury by about $300,000 during the most recent period.

Two other candidates, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman Joel Wachs, also entered the new year with more than $1 million in their campaign accounts.

Unlike Soboroff, a multimillionaire who has said he may spend his own money on the race and has turned down public matching funds, the other candidates are counting on the public money to supplement their own fund-raising.

Hahn’s reports on last year’s fund-raising make clear that he appears already to have qualified for the full amount of public money available, which would bolster his overall bank account by $667,000 in the coming weeks.

Hahn’s combination of raising money and spending it carefully clearly set him apart from the pack, while other candidates produced mixed results.

Villaraigosa, for instance, reported that he had $1.2 million in his mayoral campaign bank account at the end of December. That was an increase of about $300,000 last June.

Like Villaraigosa, Wachs spent little of the campaign money he raised. He ended the year with $1.1 million, well behind Hahn but up nearly $300,000 from the midpoint of 2000.

State Controller Kathleen Connell and U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, the last candidates to enter the race, trailed far behind the other contenders, both in terms of money raised and cash on hand. Connell and Becerra had collected about $750,000 apiece, but the controller, who entered the race last fall after all five of her leading rivals, had more cash on hand than the congressman.

Connell’s reports demonstrate that she managed to run an extraordinarily frugal campaign last year, even considering that she only was in the race for a few months. Her total expenditures for the second half of the year came to under $64,000, less than half that of her nearest rival. Most campaigns are forced to spend considerable money just to raise more--such as using direct mail and renting rooms for fund-raisers--but Connell’s performance in the second half of the year suggests she managed to defy the conventional wisdom in that regard.

Although officials from each of the campaigns sought to put the best face on the documents released Wednesday, the reports show unmistakably that in the last half of 2000, Hahn was the most potent fund-raiser. The city attorney collected $772,244, especially notable because the last half of 2000 was overshadowed by the prolonged presidential election and then the holiday season, which made it a hard time to raise political cash.

Connell, however, made the most of those challenges. Although she remains far behind the leaders, she managed to solicit contributions of three-quarters of a million dollars, second only to Hahn for the period.

Soboroff was third at just over half a million dollars, although his fund-raising pace slowed during the second half of the year. Wachs raised $473,795 in the final six months, outdistancing Villaraigosa, whose fund-raising slowed appreciably as he lost his seat in the Legislature.

Villaraigosa gave up his speakership last spring and then left the Assembly later in the year because of state term-limit laws, leaving him without an office from which to campaign for mayor.

Villaraigosa raised $445,503 during the second half of the year.

Tapping Into Their Political Bases

Of the leading candidates, Becerra seemed most noticeably to struggle in the latter half of 2000. He collected just $181,479 for the mayoral race in the latest reporting period, down sharply from the $587,851 raised in the first half of last year.

His poor showing in the quest to raise money is sure to redouble questions about the viability of his candidacy.

In addition to offering an indication of how well the candidates are poised to tackle the key stretch of the campaign, the reports reveal differences in where the candidates raised the money that is fueling their efforts.

Hahn aggressively sought contributions from a long list of law firms, contractors, lobbyists and others who do business at City Hall or the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where the mayor is the most influential board member.

Soboroff tapped many sources, including real estate and development interests, private investors, construction companies as well as Hollywood executives, particularly at Disney.

Villaraigosa used his base in Sacramento to raise funds from Capitol lobbyists and special interests. But he also extended his reach to the entertainment industry and labor unions. He drew support from such long-time backers of Mayor Richard Riordan as billionaire Eli Broad and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.

Those leading civic and philanthropic players, who have helped Riordan deliver on some of his most important initiatives, are backing Villaraigosa despite the mayor’s endorsement of Soboroff.

Connell reached beyond the conventional sources of cash in Los Angeles political campaigns, tapping the Silicon Valley and the state’s troubled energy industry, including several executives of Southern California Edison who made donations to her campaign even as their company was running into dire financial straits.

Becerra’s campaign supplied The Times with copies of his reports relating to his congressional committee, not those documenting the mayor’s race. As a result, it was not immediately possible to analyze the sources of his campaign money in the second half of the year.

In early 2000, Becerra received contributions from Latino professionals, businesses and officials, including other members of Congress, as well as Washington lobbyists.

He generally received smaller checks than other contenders in the mayor’s race.

Wachs similarly failed to provide updates on his most recent donors. During the first half of 2000, the longtime city councilman tapped real estate firms and brokers for a portion of his treasury, which also included a number of contributions from representatives of the arts and design communities, as well as people who work on the creative side of the entertainment industry.

Of the six major candidates, only Soboroff declined to accept public matching money.

Depending on how much a candidate raises, he or she can receive up to $667,000 during the primary campaign.

The city’s voter-approved campaign finance system allows candidates to match dollar-for-dollar individual contributions up to $500 if they were made within a year of the election.

The infusion of those matching funds will provide a major boost to Hahn and, to a lesser degree, the other candidates with the exception of Soboroff.

Still looming is the question of whether Soboroff will contribute more than $30,000 in personal funds to his campaign, a move that would temporarily lift the $1,000 contribution limit for other candidates in the race.

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Fund-Raising by Mayoral Candidates

The following figures show the total contributions, spending and cash on hand for the six major mayoral candidates as of Dec. 31, 2000.

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Candidate Contributions Expenditures Cash on Hand James K. Hahn $2,479,989 $499,031 $2,069,585 Steve Soboroff $2,521,813 $1,278,369 $1,364,786 Antonio Villaraigosa $1,507,148 $301,310 $1,223,646 Joel Wachs $1,326,232 $278,687 $1,080,734 Kathleen Connell $749,346 $63,984 $700,338 Xavier Becerra $757,830 $148,590 $610,453

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Note: Figures do not include campaign debts.

Source: Campaign contribution reports