Cash Rolls In for Bid to Add Police

Supporters of a ballot measure to boost the sales tax in Los Angeles County to pay for more police officers and sheriff’s deputies have raised almost $2 million, much of it from interest groups and businesses with a stake in the outcome.

Major donors include the union that represents Los Angeles Police Department officers, billionaire businessmen, companies that earn millions of dollars a year doing business with the Sheriff’s Department and card clubs that could add slot machines under another ballot measure that Sheriff Lee Baca is pushing.

Baca said he solicited some of the largest contributions, including those from a phone company that is seeking a new contract from the Sheriff’s Department and a developer seeking a city tax break.

The sheriff said he and LAPD Chief William J. Bratton, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Mayor James K. Hahn and City Council President Alex Padilla made a private pitch to billionaire Jerrold Perenchio, developer Steve Soboroff and other prominent businessmen. The gathering was held recently at the home of Tim Leiweke, president of AEG, the sports and entertainment group that owns Staples Center.

“We all explained what this measure would do,” Baca said. “They clearly see the need for more public safety.”

More than a quarter of the money raised for the Measure A campaign came in a single $500,000 contribution last week from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents LAPD officers.

“We would not be serving the interests of our police officers if we didn’t support this with everything we have,” said Bob Baker, president of the police union.

The LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would be the largest beneficiaries if two-thirds of the county’s voters agree to increase the sales tax from 8.25% to 8.75%. Other police agencies across the county would also share in the proceeds.

A dramatic television ad featuring a simulated home break-in hit the airwaves Tuesday with the message “more cops, safer streets.” The media campaign, which will cost half a million dollars in just this week, is expected to continue until the Nov. 2 election.

To finance that effort, Baca and other backers of the measure raised $1,974,512 through the end of September, according to the most recent campaign finance report. As of last Thursday, the campaign still had $612,755 in cash on hand.

Prominent on the list of donors is Perenchio, chairman and chief executive of Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications. The intensely private billionaire businessman, who wants to develop open land in the heart of Malibu, has donated $430,000.

AEG, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corp. that wants to build a $1-billion hotel and entertainment complex next to Staples Center, contributed $200,000. The company is holding a major fundraiser for the campaign tonight at Staples Center.

“We think that the police and sheriff presence in Los Angeles is the single biggest issue facing our city,” said AEG Vice President Michael Roth. “AEG believes the sheriff, police chief and the mayor have come up with a creative solution to help this very critical problem.”

The company is negotiating with city officials on possible tax breaks to finance construction of the high-rise hotel.

Billionaire Eli Broad, chairman of AIG Sun America, an insurance and financial services firm, gave $50,000 after an appeal from Baca.

Hollywood producer Stephen Bing also provided $50,000 to the campaign. Playa Capital, the company run by Soboroff that is developing the vast Playa Vista project near Marina del Rey, provided $38,000.

Support has also come from two companies that have current contracts with the Sheriff’s Department and could earn millions more from contracts to be awarded later this year and next year.

Compass Group North America, one of the world’s largest food service companies, contributed $99,500. A subsidiary of the company based in Charlotte, N.C., has contracts with the Sheriff’s Department to operate vending machines and the commissary, which sells snack foods and personal items to County Jail inmates. Those contracts expire next year.

SBC Communications, its California political action committee and subsidiary Pacific Telesis have given $75,000 to the campaign. San Antonio-based SBC has a lucrative contract with the Sheriff’s Department to provide inmates with the ability to make collect telephone calls from jail.

Bids on a new five-year contract worth tens of millions of dollars annually to the county and the winning phone company will be opened Nov. 19, little more than two weeks after the election.

Baca said he contacted the president of SBC to seek a contribution, saying that there is no prohibition on soliciting donations from county contractors for ballot measures. “I’m told it’s legally permitted.”

The sheriff said bids on the telephone contract would be evaluated by an independent panel in the Sheriff’s Department and submitted to the county Board of Supervisors, which will make the final decision.

Lt. Bob Hudson said the department has contracts with three companies -- SBC, Verizon, and AT&T; -- to provide telephone services to jail inmates. Those contracts will be combined into one.

The county expects to earn at least $22.5 million a year from 8.7 million calls made on up to 4,035 phones in jails.

Prisoners’ advocates have protested that the cost of the collect calls made from the jails is excessive, but Hudson said special equipment is needed to handle them.

In early stages of the campaign, four Los Angeles card clubs contributed $35,000 to support the sales tax increase for more law enforcement. The same casinos -- the Commerce Club in Commerce, Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens, Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood and the Normandie Club in Gardena -- have put millions into a Baca-led effort to pass Proposition 68.

The state initiative could allow 11 card clubs and five horse racing tracks to have 30,000 slot machines.