Beverly Hills : Candidates Pay for Campaigns

Some candidates in Beverly Hills are relying heavily on their own money to pay for their campaigns, according to financial statements for the first two weeks of the city campaign season.

In the City Council race, Mary Levin Cutler, an investor, has dug the deepest into her own pocket so far, lending her campaign $30,000. She received $600 in donations.

Cutler, a political newcomer, has spent $26,540, including $8,579 on political consultants.

She is among 13 candidates, none of them incumbents, running for three at-large City Council seats in the April 12 municipal election. There are also three candidates seeking the job of city treasurer.

Bernard J. Hecht, a retired businessman, came in a close second to Cutler, lending his campaign $29,000. He received $2,000 in contributions. Hecht, who made two previous unsuccessful runs for City Council, has spent nearly $19,000, including $5,000 for a political consultant.

Other candidates who have made loans to their own campaigns are Allan L. Alexander, $7,000 of $11,705 raised; David L. Brady, $5,000 of $8,500 raised, and Robert M. Magid, $1,500 of $1,500 raised.

The major exception to the trend appears to be former school board President Vicki Reynolds, who has raised nearly $40,000 without using any of her own money.

She had 15 contributors who donated $1,000 each, including state Assemblyman Terry Friedman (D-Sherman Oaks), theater owner Bruce Corwin and Planning Commissioner Richard Carroll.

Reynolds has spent $27,487 so far, with the largest expenditure, $6,700, going to a political consultant. Her statement said the consultant is owed another $3,300 but had not been paid as of Feb. 27, the cutoff date for financial statements submitted to the city clerk.

Consumer advocate Ellen Stern Harris has also avoided spending her own money in the campaign. She has raised $7,085 so far, and spent $3,467. Steven M. Foonberg, an 18-year-old college student, has raised $3,275.

Candidates Michael J. Garris, Franklin J. Lamm, Cynthia Rose, Alan Schuchman and Lillian Worthing Wyshak submitted reports saying they expect to raise and spend less than $1,000 on the campaign.

In the city treasurer’s race, Chauncy C. Ferris loaned his campaign $250 to pay his filing and candidate statement fee, Benjamin F. Sanford has raised $5,095 in contributions, and Joan Seidel raised $12,650, including a $10,000 loan she and her husband made to the campaign.