Villaraigosa Attacks Hahn Over PR Billing

Stepping up his efforts to link Mayor James K. Hahn to alleged corruption, mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday accused Hahn of complicity in work a public relations firm did for a councilman’s campaign but charged to the city.

Billing records released by the city controller show that in 2002 Fleishman-Hillard billed the Department of Water and Power $787.50 for work on a fundraiser for then-14th District Councilman Nick Pacheco, a Hahn ally whom Villaraigosa defeated that year.

Fleishman, which is being sued by the city attorney for inflating its bills to the city, had a series of multimillion-dollar contracts to do public relations work for the DWP until this year.

A Hahn campaign spokesman said the mayor had nothing to do with Fleishman’s contributions to Pacheco’s 2002 fundraiser, which were first reported Thursday in the Torrance-based Daily Breeze.

Richard Kline, who runs Fleishman’s Los Angeles office, said that the firm’s work on the Pacheco fundraiser was done for a private client, but later added to a DWP bill. Pacheco said Thursday that he could not remember the event.

Villaraigosa laid blame for the apparent fraud at the feet of the mayor, who supported Pacheco in his run against Villaraigosa.

“Given the direct relationship between Fleishman and the mayor’s office, it makes his response that ‘I know nothing’ sound like an old, tired story,” Villaraigosa said.

Hahn spokesman Yusef Robb dismissed Villaraigosa’s charges. as a ploy. “This is a candidate with no plan or vision for Los Angeles once again resorting to baseless attacks,” he said.