Running for Supervisor: Cash Over Qualifications : Politics: In one supervisorial race, few can afford to run against the incumbent; in the other, money is buying the tools needed for victory.

This year’s Los Angeles County supervisorial election shows what money can buy in politics.

In one of the two races on the June 5 ballot, Ed Edelman, in office since 1974, is running for another four-year term in a district that includes Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, East Los Angeles and part of the San Fernando Valley. In the other contest, 10 people want to replace Supervisor Pete Schabarum, retiring after almost two decades of representing the San Gabriel Valley and southeastern Los Angeles County.

The winner may not have a job for long. The U.S. Justice Department and two civil-rights organizations have challenged the way district boundaries were drawn, charging that they discriminate against Latinos. With the trial completed, U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon is now working on a decision. He could either uphold the lines or order new boundaries, forcing the winner to run in a new, potentially unfriendly, district. Another possibility is that Kenyon will throw out these election results and order another election in new districts,

Meanwhile, the election goes ahead. And it’s not much work for Edelman. Money has bought him security.

His only opposition is Gonzalo Molina, a punching-bag of a foe who’s gone up against Edelman before. No better challenger has emerged, because Edelman has stashed away $964,000 in political funds, much of it donated by those with business before county government. It would take at least $500,000 to mount a respectable campaign against him, and much more to have a chance of winning.

And with no strong opposition, there will be no interest among the voters, no tough examination of Edelman’s record, no debate on the serious issues facing county government. The supervisor will be able to continue in blessed obscurity--a condition he’s doing little to change. “We probably will put some ads in some local papers just reminding people of the election,” Edelman said.

By not spending now, Edelman will be well-financed in case Kenyon decides to change district lines, forcing the supervisor to run in unfriendly territory.

In the race for Schabarum’s seat, money is buying the tools needed for victory. The geography and political arithmetic of the district explain why.

Having to cover a huge area, extending from West Covina to Downey, it’s impossible for the candidates to walk door-to-door and shake every hand. Nor does the promise of a hot supervisorial race bring many people out at night or on weekends to political meetings.

Although there are about 660,000 registered voters in Schabarum’s 1st District, campaign managers, after studying past voting patterns, expect less than half to vote. These voters, the campaign targets, tend to live in middle-class and high-end areas. Thus in southeastern Los Angeles County, middle-class Downey has more high-turnout precincts than poorer Huntington Park, with its large population of non-citizen immigrants.

The best way to reach these voters is through the mail, and that’s expensive. Mailings are only sent to those in potentially high-turnout neighborhoods. Still, it costs about $100,000 to distribute a mailed advertisement.

The best-financed candidate, Superior Court Judge Greg O’Brien, had already sent out two by last week, and is mailing more. “As many as it takes,” said Mike Lewis, one of O’Brien’s campaign advisers.

The next-most-prosperous candidate is Sarah Flores, Schabarum’s longtime assistant. The third candidate with money is former Rep. Jim Lloyd of West Covina, but he doesn’t have much. Rather, Lloyd is banking on the hope that residents will remember his three terms representing the eastern San Gabriel Valley in Congress almost a decade ago. And, he’s counting on that to put some money in his hands for mailings.

Good political connections give Flores and O’Brien the most money.

O’Brien is Schabarum’s choice. They met when O’Brien was trying to win Schabarum’s support for expansion of courtroom space in West Covina. Schabarum thinks judges are lazy, and if they worked harder, they wouldn’t need more courtrooms. Over several breakfasts at the Holiday Inn in West Covina, O’Brien convinced Schabarum of the West Covina judges’ work ethic. Schabarum supported the courthouse improvements, and took a liking to O’Brien.

After graduating from USC in journalism, O’Brien worked for a Republican congressman as a press aide, went to law school, served as a deputy Los Angeles city attorney and then moved over to Southern California Edison Co. Meanwhile, he was active in San Gabriel Valley Republican politics. That activity, plus his legal experience, helped win him a judicial appointment from Gov. George Deukmejian.

His mailings have a law-and-order tone, emphasizing his experience as a judge and a Los Angeles deputy city attorney.

He couldn’t do it without financial help from Schabarum. The supervisor is the board’s fund-raising champion. Like Edelman, Schabarum knows how to tap businesses involved with county government. They helped him put almost $600,000 in his two political-action committees, the Schabarum Fund for California’s Future and the Alliance for Representative Government.

Schabarum uses this money for ballot measures promoting favorite conservative issues; state law forbids him from giving to candidates. That prevents him from donating PAC money to O’Brien, although Flores’ campaign manager, Ron Smith, has charged that Schabarum will try to sneak some of it illegally into the campaign just before Election Day. The O’Brien camp strongly denies that charge.

But even without PAC funds, Schabarum is a big help, raising money from the sources that have been supporting his political efforts over the years. In addition, O’Brien’s years of GOP grass-roots work has connected him to the network of affluent Republican contributors in Glendora, Arcadia and other northern San Gabriel Valley communities.

Schabarum refused to endorse Flores, even though she was one of his top deputies. But she had other friends. Schabarum has been feuding with his conservative colleagues on the board, Deane Dana and Mike Antonovich. The two supervisors immediately endorsed Flores, as did Sheriff Sherman Block.

Block and the two supervisors have been tapping their sources--also including plenty of businesses dependent on the county. Campaign manager Smith hopes to almost equal O’Brien’s spending for a strong mail campaign.

Smith has identified areas where more than 55,000 high-voting Latinos live, and hopes they’ll respond with votes for fellow Latino Flores. If she wins, she would be the board’s first Latino--and the first woman since Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who lost to Dana in 1980.

It looks like O’Brien and Flores will be the top finishers, unless Lloyd comes on strong with an advertising campaign at the end. But nobody expects to get a majority in June. That means there will be a runoff in November.

There are other promising candidates. Bob Bartlett is the articulate, issues-oriented mayor of Monrovia. Nell Soto is a Pomona city councilwoman, well-known in her part of the San Gabriel Valley. The others are strictly in the mold of Don Quixote. But whether they’re well-known local politicians or quixotic, none in the bottom tier have much of a chance.

Their qualifications are irrelevant--they don’t have money. And the only way you can play in this game is to buy your way in.