Council Candidate Hopes to Walk His Way Into Early Lead

Of all the candidates canvassing for votes recently, Ryan Snyder was probably the only one telling voters they should not support him Nov. 8.

That’s because Snyder, who is running for the 5th District seat on the Los Angeles City Council, won’t appear on the ballot for another 5 months.

By hitting the campaign trail so early, Snyder hoped to get a jump on the rest of the candidates in the race, even if it meant competing with the presidential campaign, legislative and congressional elections and about 35 ballot measures.

“I’ve been walking precincts since August,” Snyder said, “though I took a break at the end of the election because voters were getting confused.”

He has already spoken to about 3,000 of the district’s 120,000 voters and said he can get to another 17,000 before April 11, when as many as a dozen candidates are expected to vie for the seat held by Zev Yaroslavsky.

If Yaroslavsky vacates the post to run for mayor, as expected, Snyder wants to be the one to fill it. But the Westwood transportation planner knows he faces tough competition from better-known opponents, such as attorney Lisa Specht, political activist Steve Saltzman and slow-growth advocate Laura M. Lake.

Lacking their name recognition and fund-raising organization, the 33-year-old Snyder is relying on hard work and the ability to personally convey a lasting message to voters in the quarter-moon-shaped district that includes Fairfax, Century City, Bel-Air, Westwood, West Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks and parts of Van Nuys and North Hollywood.

“Initially, I was concerned about whether people would remember me in April if I walked in August,” Snyder said last week. “But now I’m convinced that they will, because it’s something special when someone comes to your door.”

Snyder’s campaign strategy may sound naive in an era of sound bites, slick advertising and pre-packaged candidates, but it’s also somewhat intriguing.

By demanding to be heard so early in the race, even above the roar of the presidential campaign, the blond, blue-eyed Snyder has already set himself apart from the crowded pack. And by supplying the media with constant updates on his fledgling campaign, Snyder has also gained name recognition.

What he hasn’t done is proven that his message has mass appeal, though Snyder claims 5th District voters are responding to his populist themes.

“The voters in the 5th District are tired of the influence of money,” Snyder said. “They want someone who’s sincere about helping the community.”

A self-employed planner with a master’s degree from UCLA, Snyder’s ideas mostly center on his field. The candidate advocates more carefully considered growth, more affordable housing and better transportation plans for the area that has been the setting for some of the city’s nastiest development battles.

He opposes slow growth, however, saying it unfairly shifts the development burden from one community to another. Snyder said good planning is the answer. “I’m for smart growth,” he said. “I’m the controlled-growth candidate.”

For nearly a decade, Snyder has championed an elevated “bicycle freeway” through Westwood and other parts of West Los Angeles. Snyder, who peppers his conversations with terms such as “pro-active,” said the Los Angeles Veloway is just one of the creative solutions for easing the city’s transportation problems.

He also advocates a vast network of high-occupancy vehicle lanes, expanded ride-sharing programs with financial incentives, improved bus and taxi service, and business plans that would allow more people to work out of their homes.

Snyder hopes to convey that message on a shoestring campaign budget of about $150,000, which is less than two of his competitors, Specht and Saltzman, have already accumulated. Kam Kuwata, a veteran Westside-based campaign consultant, said others have won on small budgets, including 13th District Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who spent about $200,000 on her 1987 campaign against incumbent Pat Russell.

But Kuwata said a candidate such as Snyder still faces some tough challenges.

“I don’t know how successful he’ll be because it’s very difficult to meet every person in a district and communicate with them personally,” Kuwata said. “You must demonstrate a certain amount of credibility. . . . You have to prove you’re better than the others who are running. You have to distinguish yourself. He must have something memorable to say to the voters.”

Started Too Early?

Snyder says his message will linger long after the last door has closed on his tour of 5th District homes. But the other candidates say Snyder may have left the starting gate too soon. While he walks, they are raising funds, organizing campaign staffs and lining up major endorsements.

Specht, a Westside attorney and television commentator, is generally seen as the front-runner in the race because of her widespread support from the area’s political Establishment. Among those already in Specht’s corner are Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), the leaders of the influential Berman-Waxman political organization.

Specht is also supported by state Atty. Gen. John Van De Kamp, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, Controller Rick Tuttle, Assemblymen Terry Friedman (D-Tarzana) and Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Council members Hal Bernson, Gloria Molina, Joy Picus and Gilbert Lindsay, among others.

Specht, 43, who lives in Century City, said she expects to have raised about $300,000 by the end of the year and have $400,000 by the April primary.

“I’d like for there not to be so many candidates because that means there might be a runoff,” Specht said. “But I’m not sure that any one of them is more difficult than the other.”

Saltzman, a veteran Westside political activist, started organizing his campaign last year. The 39-year-old candidate said he has raised about $150,000 and expects to accumulate about $500,000 before the race ends.

Saltzman, whose backers include former Sen. John Tunney and Jewish political activist Ed Sanders, charges that Specht is the candidate of special interest groups. Saltzman, the president of the nonprofit Greater Los Angeles Energy Coalition, said he will run an independent, issues-oriented campaign.

Several Issues

“I don’t think anybody in this race runs on one issue and reaches everybody,” Saltzman said. “Growth and development are big issues, but so is traffic, rent control, education and the feeling there’s a lack of leadership.”

Lake, the leader of Not Yet New York and Friends of Westwood, carries the strongest slow-growth credentials into the race. The 41-year-old UCLA adjunct professor has been at the forefront of many battles to slow the pace of development in the 5th District and has been critical of Yaroslavsky on that count.

Lake has taken a leave of absence from her job to campaign full time. She hopes to raise about $350,000, but says she will not accept contributions from developers. Lake said Galanter, who waged a highly successful grass-roots campaign, is her role model.

“It’s clear that you can be outspent and still win,” Lake said. “I don’t need to match Specht, Saltzman or anyone else dollar for dollar. There will be an army of volunteers out there working for me.”

The other announced candidate in the race is Doug Hart, a former deputy county counsel who specializes in real estate, tax law and municipal government. Hart said he is running because he has an avid interest in public service.

He plans to raise funds by soliciting contributions from lawyers, real estate firms and people he has worked with in the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

“I may be quite unknown, but I have some fairly good credentials through the chamber,” said Hart, 46. “I hope to raise at least enough to mail something to the voters. If I can do that, I will at least have a chance.”

Snyder says he is not intimidated by any of the other candidates, even if the conventional wisdom makes him a dark horse. He said that he will continue walking precincts, speaking before community groups and asking people for their support until primary day.

In the end, Snyder says voters will see that he is the one with the answers. “My ideology is problem solving,” he said. “Whatever works, that’s what I’m for.”