The Los Angeles City Elections : Bradley-Ferraro Mayoral Race Tops the Ballot but City Attorney Contest Provides All the Fire

Mayor Tom Bradley led a strong get-out-the-vote drive in predominantly black neighborhoods Saturday while backers of his main rival, Councilman John Ferraro, used telephones to spark San Fernando Valley voter interest in the final weekend of campaigning for Tuesday’s Los Angeles primary election.

Polls predicted victory for Bradley and possible runoffs for two other citywide offices: city controller and city attorney.

The city attorney’s race went into its last days in tumult, with the withdrawal of three candidates--Murray Kane, Charles Zinger and Betsy Mogul--in favor of City Controller James Kenneth Hahn, who leads in the polls. Still, Hahn is not certain of victory Tuesday over Lisa Specht, the choice of influential Westside Democrats, who has been driving hard in the last few weeks.

Needs 50% Plus

If a front-runner does not receive more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the election will be settled in the June 4 runoff.

Public opinion surveys indicate there will be a low turnout. As a result, candidates are spending large amounts to make sure the voters that favor them get to the polls.

Ferraro was greeted at the beginning of the last week of his uphill campaign with a KCBS-TV poll showing him behind the mayor 69% to 21%. If the survey is correct, it means that the veteran councilman has not moved up since a Times Poll in March showed him trailing 62% to 22%.

Saturday, Ferraro campaign workers manned telephone banks in his mid-Wilshire office and in a Granada Hills office, calling voters that surveys have shown are most likely to vote for the councilman. Targeted was the San Fernando Valley, the middle-class, predominantly white, conservative area of the city that Ferraro has sought to carry. In addition, said campaign worker Scott Adam son, calls were made to voters in Ferraro’s own mid-Wilshire district.

In addition, a mailed advertisement, directed to Republicans and targeted at GOP voters, compared Ferraro to President Reagan and Gov. George Deukmejian. “Like President Reagan, he’s strong and decisive,” the advertisement said. “Like Gov. Deukmejian, he’s tough on crime and frugal with tax money.” The ad also carried endorsements of Ferraro by several Republican lawmakers.

The Bradley campaign, fearing a low turnout, concentrated on phone banks, door-to-door visits, sound trucks and an intense commercial blitz on black-oriented radio stations to build the vote in the black community, traditionally the mayor’s most loyal constituency.

Fear Overconfidence

“Just because of the disparity in the polls showing Tom Bradley far ahead, we don’t want people to think it’s a cakewalk,” said Bradley campaign manager Mike Gage.

Bradley’s activities Saturday centered on a get-out-the-vote effort, from shaking hands in the Sherman Oaks Galleria to a rally in Watts that attracted several celebrities and hundreds of residents. All of the celebrities--including pop star Jermaine Jackson--exhorted residents to go to the polls Tuesday and support Bradley.

Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who helped organize the rally at the Martin Luther King Jr. Shopping Center, urged the crowd to vote, adding: “A man wants to take Tom Bradley’s job. We don’t let anybody take anything away from us in Watts.”

The rally concluded with a Bradley motorcade taking a serpentine route through major segments of the black community.

Other Candidates

The other candidates for mayor, underfinanced and little known, have been overshadowed by Bradley and Ferraro. They are: Eileen Anderson, who sings at campaign appearances; Sal Genovese, community adviser; James E. Harris, auto worker; Judy L. Huffman, consultant; William Loska, baker; Walter (Buck) Buchanan, political activist, and Venus DeMilo, part-time clerk.

In the city attorney race, Hahn has a substantial polling lead but, in the view of aides, is not assured of moving above the 50% mark. Specht, attorney and former television commentator, has waged a vigorous campaign with the backing of the Waxman-Berman political organization and the endorsement of popular Democratic officeholders, including state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

The withdrawal of Kane, a redevelopment attorney, and Zinger and Mogul, both deputy city attorneys, has made the result even more uncertain. The actions of all three came too late for their names to be removed from the ballot, and none of the campaigners are certain just how many votes they will get.

Promoting an Image

Each of the candidates has sought to project an image as a tough prosecutor and crime fighter.

Polls have shown most voters are undecided about city controller, and this race seems destined for a runoff. As in the city attorney contest, the candidates are relying on mailed advertisements, targeted to likely supporters, and television commercials to attract attention to a race that has been overshadowed by the mayoral and city attorney contests.

Dan Shapiro, a Studio City lawyer, held the lead in The Times Poll, but it was small. The other candidates are Celes King III, a bail bondsman and Republican activist; Alice Travis, a former city commissioner who unsuccessfully ran for controller four years ago, and Rick Tuttle, a community college trustee.

Generally a low-profile post, the city controller’s job has attracted somewhat more interest in recent years, ever since Ira Reiner used the seat to castigate big spenders and propel himself to a higher office.

The controller does not set fiscal policy, a task reserved for the mayor and City Council and carried out by the chief administrative officer. The controller is the chief accounting officer of the city and exercises general supervision over all receipts and spending.