Hahn Not the First L.A. Mayor to Use a PR Firm

Mayor James K. Hahn has taken heat for benefiting from public relations services provided by a firm that allegedly overbilled the city of Los Angeles, but city records show that he didn’t pioneer the use of PR firms to polish the image of the mayor.

Former Mayor Richard Riordan, now the state education secretary, issued $5.9 million in contracts with eight firms for public relations and communications work to promote his pet projects and make him look better.

Hahn banned PR contracts at City Hall after coming under criticism for using the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard for pro bono help while the company allegedly was overbilling the Department of Water and Power by up to $4.3 million.

Former Fleishman executive John Stodder Jr. has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged role in submitting at least $250,000 in phony bills to the city.

Records show that Stodder was the point person in 2001 for the public relations firm Edelman Public Relations Worldwide on a $75,000 contract with Riordan’s office to develop news releases, talking points and media outreach, as well as help the city determine the effect of potential film industry strikes on the city’s economy.

The former mayor’s office also paid $100,000 to a firm headed by Ace Smith, who is now the campaign manager for mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, to assist “in the preparation of mayor’s addresses” and “implement other communications projects.”

Kam Kuwata, a Hahn campaign spokesman, sought to highlight that Riordan’s record is in sharp contrast with Hahn’s.

“Mayor Hahn’s office had no public relations contracts, and he moved to cancel the contracts that began during the Riordan years,” Kuwata said.

A Riordan secretary referred calls to a former high-level staffer who didn’t want to be identified but said, “There is nothing fundamentally wrong with using professionals to get a job done as long as you are getting value for what you pay.”

Smith, whose current client has criticized Hahn for using public relations firms, jumped more strongly to Riordan’s defense.

“For Jim Hahn to have the gall to try to drag Dick Riordan through the mud to cover up his own corruption is shameful,” he said.

Governor’s Political, Film Careers Intersect

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s two worlds -- entertainment and politics -- loudly collided Tuesday night at the Sacramento premiere of the movie “Be Cool.”

While Schwarzenegger and movie stars Vince Vaughn and the Rock walked the red carpet, scores of protesters jeered the governor outside. Some carried posters showing pictures of a muscled Schwarzenegger over the caption “Kalifornia Kaiser.”

Nurses, union members, consumer activists and assorted other demonstrators booed the governor as he talked up the movie and thanked the producers for shooting in California.

Addressing the audience before the start of the movie, Schwarzenegger quipped that his political and film lives merged by attending the premiere as a governor.

“It reminds me of the good old days, walking down the red carpet with all the glitter and the excitement,” he said.

“This [premiere] is like going to a budget meeting,” he said sarcastically, poking fun at the dryness of budget meetings.

And: “California is really the place where we do the movies. It’s the best place, actually, to do movies, because we have the three essential things: We have the location, we have the talent, and we have Botox.”

Asked to rate Schwarzenegger’s performance -- in office -- one of the stars demurred. Said Harvey Keitel: “I wouldn’t know. We just got here an hour ago.”

Assemblyman Wants a Ban on Conjugal Visits

Violent felons incarcerated in California’s prisons still get some of the comforts of home, something that freshman Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) wants stopped.

He has introduced a bill to end conjugal visits for violent felons, including those convicted of rape, murder, assault with a deadly weapon and theft with a deadly weapon.

The state Department of Corrections already prohibits the delicately named “overnight family visits” for any inmate convicted of violence against a minor or a family member.

“The primary purpose of prison is punishment,” DeVore said. “Most Californians believe it’s inappropriate for violent convicts to enjoy overnight visits that may result in a pregnancy. It’s bad social policy, and it is unfair to the taxpayers of California, who would likely have to support the prisoner’s family.”

State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), one of the Legislature’s top prison reform advocates, scoffed that the proposal was meant to “grab headlines.”

“It’s one of those proposals that sounds like it’s tough on crime, but it isn’t smart on crime,” she said.

Romero said conjugal visits are already highly restricted and available to only violent felons who are part of a rehabilitation program. “It is a carrot approach,” she said.

Group to Push for GOP Woman in State Senate

What’s rarer than a Hummer at an environmental convention? A Republican woman in the California Senate.

There are none.

A group of Republican legislators wants to fix that, announcing the formation of California’s Future, a new political action committee with plans to raise at least $1 million.

The PAC will “recruit viable Republican women candidates, train them, seek endorsements for their candidacies among Republican leaders and win targeted elected offices by investing time and resources.”

Leaders of the PAC include Assembly members Lynn Daucher, Sharon Runner, Audra Strickland and Mimi Walters.

The group already has pledges of $200,000 toward electing one or more Republican women to the state Senate and increasing the number in the Assembly, where there are six GOP women.

“It’s up to us to support efforts that aim at increasing our number,” Runner said.

Points Taken

* Prominent attorney Neil Papiano has been a powerful force in Los Angeles politics, but his name soon will be associated with something a little more fun. On March 3, city officials will dedicate Neil Papiano Play Park at the Los Angeles Zoo. It was made possible by a $250,000 donation from the attorney.

* Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, the council’s leading proponent of shutting down Sunshine Canyon Landfill, will be the keynote speaker at a Feb. 24 conference co-sponsored by Browning-Ferris Industries, operator of Sunshine Canyon. Smith’s agreement to speak at the event is explained by its subject: recycling by businesses.

You Can Quote Me

“The scores going up is like one less hole in the Titanic. It’s ridiculous how bad the system is.”

-- Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, responding to a radio talk-show host’s assertion that an uptick in some school test scores might be an argument against Hertzberg’s plan to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Contributors this week were Times staff writers Peter Nicholas and Jean O. Pasco.