Woo Calls Reelection Margin ‘Strong Mandate’

Los Angeles Councilman Michael Woo, easily winning reelection in Tuesday’s municipal primary, described his victory as a “strong mandate” for his programs in the 13th District, but his leading opponent attributed Woo’s showing to low voter turnout rather than voter satisfaction.

Woo, whose district extends from Silver Lake to Sherman Oaks and takes in Hollywood and much of the Hollywood Hills, said his win was an endorsement from voters of his efforts to control development, manage traffic and fight crime.

“I am very happy with the results,” said Woo, who won the seat in 1985 by beating then-Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson in a runoff election. “We ran a textbook campaign.”

Berndt Lohr-Schmidt, who emerged during the final weeks of the race as Woo’s No. 1 challenger, was clearly disappointed in his distant second-place finish. According to unofficial results, Woo collected roughly 70% of the votes--about 13,800--compared to 16%, or about 3,200, for Lohr-Schmidt.

Lohr-Schmidt had been predicting that he would force Woo into a runoff election, which is required when no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. Only one of the eight council members seeking reelection citywide--Councilman Ernani Bernardi from the San Fernando Valley--will face a runoff challenge in June.

“I expected more votes,” Lohr-Schmidt said. “Just from the people I talked to. I talked to more than 3,000 people.”

Woo spent election evening at his campaign headquarters in Hollywood, abandoning earlier plans to watch the late returns from the city clerk’s election center at City Hall. Lohr-Schmidt arrived at City Hall late Tuesday night after holding a campaign party in Hollywood with about 100 of his supporters.

First Race

Lohr-Schmidt, waging his first political campaign, said that during the race he detected “a growing base of opposition” to Woo that was not reflected in the election results. “If he interprets this as a mandate, he is missing the boat,” Lohr-Schmidt said. “What sort of mandate do you get from 13,000 votes out of 90,000 registered voters? He has managed to put everybody to sleep. It is our job to wake everybody up. We only had three months to do that. Now we have four years.”

Bennett Kayser, who finished third with about 9% of the vote, sounded a more conciliatory tone. Kayser, who also ran in 1985, said he was disappointed by the low voter turnout--23% citywide--but credited Woo with waging an effective campaign.

“If we are going to have success in the betterment of the 13th District, I think it is important that we all try to work together,” Kayser said.

He said he plans to contact Woo “and offer whatever I can to work with his office. . . . You can’t stay mad all of your life. At least I can’t stay mad all of my life.”

The other two challengers, Venus De Milo and Zahrina Machadah, polled about 3% and 1% of the vote, respectively.

‘Textbook Campaign’

Woo attributed his success to his “textbook campaign,” which identified likely voters and relied on extensive precinct walking, telephone banks, campaign coffees and targeted mailings. During the final week of the campaign, for example, he mailed a series of letters to various parts of his district, including a five-page piece to hillside residents discussing everything from his opposition to covering the Lake Hollywood reservoir to his views on Hollywood redevelopment.

Woo also made it difficult for his four opponents to get a piece of the action by largely ignoring them--he refused to debate them and didn’t even bother to place campaign placards in the district. He also was able to heavily outspend them. Woo collected about $275,000 in campaign contributions, and spent $225,000 of it through March 25. Lohr-Schmidt led the four challengers in fund raising with about $22,000.

“When someone is under-financed by 10 to 1 and is still able to win 16% of the vote, I think it says something to Mike Woo,” Lohr-Schmidt said. “It tells him to watch out. We will be watching him.”

Lohr-Schmidt, a Harvard-educated attorney who lives in the Hollywood Hills, first got interested in the council job after butting heads with Woo last year over the councilman’s proposed restrictions on hillside building. As a leader of the Hillside Property Owners Assn., Lohr-Schmidt testified against the restrictions at several City Hall hearings, arguing that they would unfairly punish owners of undeveloped lots. Lohr-Schmidt and his wife, Elaine Kohn, own several dozen hillside lots that would be affected by the restrictions.

Woo has argued that the restrictions, recently approved by the council’s Planning and Environment Committee, are necessary because overbuilding in the hills has created safety hazards. Woo’s stance won him praise from the city’s police, firefighter and paramedic unions, all of which endorsed his reelection bid. He also had strong support from several hillside homeowner groups that had been pushing for restrictions.