Russell Raises 3 Times as Much Money as Her 5 Opponents in 6th District Contest

With contributions coming from a variety of influential businesses and political figures, City Council President Pat Russell has raised more than three times the amount of money collected by her five opponents in her race for reelection in the city’s 6th District, campaign reports disclosed Friday.

In the 10th District, in the southwestern part of the city, Homer Broome, Mayor Tom Bradley’s choice, held the fund-raising lead, reporting $149,159. Another candidate with prominent political backing, Nate Holden, deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, reported $113,330. Hahn, long a dominant political force on the Southside, is supporting Holden.

Holden, also a Southern California Rapid Transit District board member, received $500 from Leonard J. Russo Insurance Services Inc., a firm that has been part of a district attorney’s office investigation for alleged irregularities and possible payoffs in connection with the awarding of a multimillion dollar RTD contract.

Russo, whose firm is currently fighting to hold on to its RTD contracts, said he responded to a recent fund-raising solicitation from Holden’s campaign. Holden told The Times that he will return the contribution.

The 6th and the 10th are the districts with the most competitive contests in the April 14 primary election. In the other six districts, incumbents are expected to win easily.

Russell’s spending reports show that she has raised $164,232 during the 1987 campaign, compared to a little over $50,000 by her five opponents. Candidate Ruth Galanter, an urban planner with backing from environmental groups and members of the entertainment industry, ranks a distant second to Russell in raising money. According to Galanter’s report, she has raised just over $30,000.

Russell’s opponents accuse her of abandoning the interests of residents in her district and of allowing excessive commercial real estate development. The district includes the area around Los Angeles International Airport, a target of development, as well as such communities as Mar Vista, Palms, Crenshaw and Playa del Rey.

The councilwoman’s spending reports make it clear that Russell, an 18-year veteran on the council, is taking the race seriously despite the advantages of incumbency, such as money, name recognition and the political support of Bradley. Russell’s report shows that she has spent $232,000 on her campaign so far.

The reports indicate that none of the candidates in the 6th District race are going into the final days before the election with much money on hand. Russell has the most, with $17,168, staying out of the red by virtue of a surplus in campaign funds carried over from last year.

Galanter shows $3,375 in available cash. While the other candidates, journalist Patrick McCartney, realtor Salvatore Grammatico, businesswoman Virginia Taylor Hughes, and marine biologist Rimmon Fay, have among them less than $3,000 in cash, according to their statements.

Prominent contributors to Russell include Occidental Petroleum Corp.; the Los Angeles law firm of Charles Manatt, former national Democratic Party chairman; Rockwell International Corp., and Cadillac Fairview and Maguire Thomas partners, two large downtown real estate development firms. Russell also received contributions from several Los Angeles City Council members.

Galanter received contributions from television producer Norman Lear; attorney Mary Nichols, who managed Bradley’s unsuccessful campaign for governor last year; Joseph Edminston, who heads the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy; and Laura Lake and Sandy Brown, leaders of a Westside homeowners’ movement to limit commercial growth.

Bradley’s support of Broome, an old friend and former fellow Los Angeles Police Department officer, was a big help, the records showed.

Among his contributors were Ira Distenfield, a stockbroker who was a major contributor to the mayor’s gubernatorial campaign; Ronald Lushing, finance chairman for that campaign; several Bradley City Hall aides, including longtime budget expert Anton Calleia, executive secretary Wanda Moore and Bradley loyalist Sol Marcus.

Also on the Broome side is organized labor, with money coming from the Committee on Political Education of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and the building trades unions.

Times staff writer Rich Connell contributed to this story