Villaraigosa Under Fire for Florida Donations

After months of criticizing Mayor James K. Hahn for accepting questionable political donations, mayoral challenger Antonio Villaraigosa found himself answering questions Wednesday about $31,000 in donations to his campaign from workers at two affiliated Florida-based companies.

Although some employees said they supported Villaraigosa, others struggled to explain the donations, sounded confused when told of their donations or declined to answer questions.

The donations, which were first reported Wednesday in the Torrance-based Daily Breeze, prompted Hahn to urge city officials to investigate.

“There’s a lot of questions here and I think the Ethics Commission should do an immediate investigation of these contributions to see if there are any violations, any money laundering or any violations of our city’s ethics code,” Hahn said at a news conference in Hollywood.

Villaraigosa campaign manager Ace Smith, who was standing nearby, dismissed Hahn’s comments, noting that the mayor’s administration is under investigation for possible links between campaign donations and city contracts.

But Smith said the campaign would review the donations.

“We will take quick action to get to the bottom of any questions that may be raised,” he said.

Records show that at least 20 employees of a Miami company, Travel Traders LLC, and a related company, S.E. Florida Investments, gave individual donations to Villaraigosa’s campaign.

Travel Traders operates gift shops in major hotels. Its president, Sean Anderson, once headed W.H. Smith, which previously had the largest concessions contract for gift shops and newsstands at Los Angeles International Airport.

When Anderson was at W.H. Smith, the company and its employees contributed $22,000 to Hahn’s mayoral campaign in 2000. The company also gave $50,000 to Hahn’s campaign to defeat San Fernando Valley secession.

Anderson gave $2,000 to Hahn in the 2001 mayoral campaign, but has donated $2,000 to Villaraigosa in the current race.

Days after Anderson’s second contribution to Villaraigosa, the councilman and three others called for the City Council to review the Airport Commission’s decision to extend existing concessions contracts at LAX, rather than seek new bids.

Smith said any notion that Villaraigosa’s action was influenced by Anderson’s donation was “outrageous.”

Airport officials said they have not received any inquiries from Anderson or Travel Traders about concessions contracts at the airport.

On Wednesday, The Times tried to reach Anderson and his employees. Anderson and a dozen employees did not return calls. Four declined to discuss their donations.

Two did discuss their donations -- only one offered an explanation.

Amarfio D. Scott said he donated because former Lakers star Earvin “Magic” Johnson supported Villaraigosa. But records show that Scott gave $1,000 on Sept. 28, 2004, and $1,000 on April 1. Johnson did not endorse Villaraigosa until April 11.

The Daily Breeze reported that one employee, William Pineda, when asked about his involvement in the L.A. mayor’s race, said, “Are you sure you got the right number?”

The paper also reported that another employee expressed confusion about how her donation was recorded.

It is not illegal for multiple employees of one company to donate to a political candidate, but it is illegal for anyone to reimburse employees for their donations.

No employee of Travel Traders or S.E. Florida Investments told The Times that their donations were reimbursed.

At a news conference near downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, Villaraigosa was asked why employees of a Florida company would give him so much money.

“They think it’s time for a change,” he said. “People are supporting me because people have seen over the last four years we have an administration that’s adrift.”

Villaraigosa has battered Hahn on television and on the campaign trail for taking contributions from donors who have been accused of money laundering. Hahn has said he was unaware of the alleged improprieties.

On Wednesday, he returned fire, calling on the city Ethics Commission to investigate Villaraigosa’s donations from Florida. “They ought to do it fast before everybody has a chance to get their story straight,” he said. “Clearly, if somebody doesn’t even know if they made a contribution to somebody, that raises a lot of questions.”

Smith, who attended Hahn’s news conference, responded: “The fact of the matter is, this is a man who says repeatedly that he doesn’t know that there’s even any corruption in his own administration. It’s ludicrous. It’s desperate.”

Even if there was no wrongdoing in Miami, the issue could alter the race’s political dynamic, giving Hahn the kind of potent rhetorical ammunition that Villaraigosa has used against him.

Questions about political fundraising have complicated Hahn’s bid for a second term.

Federal and state investigators are still looking into his administration’s handling of city contracts. And Villaraigosa has repeatedly pointed out that donors to Hahn’s 2001 mayoral campaign have been accused of money laundering.

The Ethics Commission has fined Westside developer Mark Abrams and some associates for laundering contributions to Hahn’s campaign.

Last year, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged attorney Pierce O’Donnell with laundering $25,500 in donations to Hahn’s campaign by reimbursing employees and associates.

Officials at the district attorney’s office are aware of the Florida campaign donations to Villaraigosa, spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Wednesday. But she declined to comment further.

LeeAnn Pelham, the executive director of the Ethics Commission, also refused to comment.

Anderson, the former chief executive of W.H. Smith and now president of Travel Traders, has ties to both candidates.

On Dec. 13, 2001, Anderson, who was then with W.H. Smith, had a half-hour meeting scheduled with Hahn.

Anderson had a one-and-a-half-hour dinner meeting scheduled with Villaraigosa and City Hall lobbyist Art M. Gastelum on Sept. 27, 2004.

The next day, records show, Villaraigosa’s campaign received $8,000 in contributions from eight executives and employees of S.E. Florida Investments. That company has the same Miami address as Travel Traders.

Currently, the largest gift and news concession at the Los Angeles airport is held by New Jersey-based Hudson Group, which acquired the North American airport retail business of W.H. Smith in December 2003. Travel Traders took over the hotel shops business from W.H. Smith.

The LAX concessions contracts were due to expire at the end of May, but the Airport Commission voted April 4 to extend them for up to two years while the city’s airport agency reviewed airport concessions.

Eighteen Travel Traders employees donated $1,000 each to Villaraigosa and two have donated $2,000 each. Villaraigosa also received $9,000 from employees of S.E. Florida Investments, bringing the total to $31,000.

One Travel Traders employee said it was not unusual for the firm to be active in politics, adding that workers also contributed money in local races and that employees periodically attended informational meetings about candidates. “We just do stuff like that every so often,” said Christopher Askew, a general manager at Travel Traders. Askew said he contributed $1,000 to Villaraigosa at a fundraiser organized by his company.

When asked why employees gave money to a campaign 3,000 miles away, he replied, “I honestly don’t think I’m the right person to be asking that.”

He said he did not know who arranged the campaign to raise money for Villaraigosa and did not have any suggestions about who to contact for more information.

The Villaraigosa campaign Wednesday was also busy rebutting Hahn’s attacks on the councilman’s education and public safety records.

Hahn has cited Villaraigosa’s former role in the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in arguing that he is soft on crime, particularly on gang injunctions. Hahn, as city attorney, pursued such injunctions. The ACLU opposed them.

But the Villaraigosa campaign Wednesday charged that Hahn supported the ACLU with more than $1,000 in donations in 1989 and 1990. And it said Hahn took out an ad in a program book for an ACLU dinner.

“It was a dinner honoring Gregory Peck,” Hahn campaign strategist Kam Kuwata said. “We don’t think Gregory Peck is a threat to society.... Gangbangers, yes. Gregory Peck, no.”

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Times staff writers Daniel Hernandez, Susana Enriquez, Patrick McGreevy, Noam N. Levey and Jeffrey L. Rabin and Times researcher Maloy Moore contributed to this report.