Corporate Cash Helping Police Reform Campaign : Charter: Big firms give backers of ballot measure a boost toward $1-million fund-raising goal. Opponents have barely gotten started.

The campaign to give City Hall greater control of the Los Angeles Police Department is being fueled in large part by contributions from a blue-chip roster of big corporations, banks, real estate developers and law firms, according to a financial report filed Monday.

The report shows that the proponents of the June 2 ballot measure that would curtail the police chief’s power through a charter amendment have raised more than $154,000. Most of it has come from contributions from such firms as Atlantic Richfield Co., First Interstate Bank of California, Lockheed Corp. and Southern California Edison Co. Campaign organizers have said they hope to raise $1 million.

While the finance report reflects fund-raising activity from Jan. 1 to March 17, the campaign was not officially launched until March 3, and most of the money has been raised in the last two weeks.

A spokesman for the campaign opposing the charter changes said formal fund raising had not gotten under way and that a financial report mailed Monday would show that less than $5,000 has been raised.

“We have not begun soliciting actively, and we have received only a few contributions from people who found out about us on their own and wanted to help out,” said Howard Ekerling, co-chairman of the group opposing charter change.

The campaign for charter change, besides receiving corporate donations, took in contributions from a number of individuals. The largest was $25,000 from investor Max Palevsky, a philanthropist and frequent supporter of liberal causes and candidates. The next-largest individual contribution, $5,000, came from film director Sydney Pollack, according to the report.

The corporate giving, in particular, represents a response to the efforts of Warren Christopher, the lawyer and former statesman who headed the Christopher Commission’s investigation of the Police Department after the beating of Rodney G. King one year ago. The commission recommended the charter changes that are on the June ballot.

Widely respected among the city’s business leaders, Christopher has sought to give the campaign for police reform an aura of respectability that would make it immune to charges that it is simply an effort by City Hall insiders to take over the Police Department.

Still, the campaign has a familiar ring, combining downtown financial muscle with an ethnically diverse campaign committee made up of civil rights and religious leaders from all over the city. It is much the same mix of corporate money and ethnic variety that has provided Mayor Tom Bradley with a winning edge over the past two decades.

The June ballot measure would amend the City Charter to grant the mayor, the City Council and the Police Commission greater authority over the Police Department and make it easier to remove the chief of police. The proposed changes would limit a chief’s tenure to two five-year terms. There is no limit now.

Major givers to the campaign for charter change include: Atlantic Richfield, $25,000; Maguire Thomas Partners real estate developers, $20,000; First Interstate Bank, $15,000; Lockheed Corp., $15,000; O’Melveny & Myers law firm, $20,000, and Southern California Edison, $10,000.

The finance report filed Monday also indicates that the campaign committee spent more than $117,000 since the first of the year, with the bulk of the money going to three political consulting firms.