Katz Files to Start Raising Funds for ’93 Mayor’s Race : Campaigns: The Democratic assemblyman says his political experience in the Valley is relevant to improving the city’s depressed ethnic neighborhoods.

State Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) took the first step toward running for mayor of Los Angeles Wednesday by filing papers declaring his intent to raise money for the campaign.

The San Fernando Valley-based Democratic lawmaker is the second major local political figure--Councilman Nate Holden preceded him--to file campaign funding papers for the 1993 mayor’s race amid continuing questions about whether Mayor Tom Bradley will seek a sixth term.

From his Sacramento office, Katz said he looks forward to running for mayor. Although his political roots are in the Valley, he believes they are still relevant to a city that since April’s riots has focused increasingly on the desperate needs of its multiethnic urban neighborhoods.

Katz has been a state assemblyman since 1980 and is seeking election this November to a fourth term to a seat that has centered on the East Valley’s working class and increasingly Latino neighborhoods.

In Sacramento, Katz has been an ally of state Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and chairman of the Assembly’s powerful Transportation Committee.

The papers filed Wednesday with the Ethics Commission are mandated by the city’s campaign finance reform law and make it legal for Katz to raise money for a mayor’s race, an endeavor likely to require the assemblyman to solicit $1.5 million to $2 million, according to Katz’s advisers.

The declaration also identifies Peter Kelly, former state Democratic Party chairman and a longtime friend, as Katz’s chief campaign finance officer.

Kelly said Wednesday that no fund-raisers are now planned but will be soon.

A source close to Katz said the campaign is likely to take a novel approach to the sometimes controversial issue of campaign fund raising.

By law, candidates can have their campaigns subsidized with matching funds from the city if they also accept a cap on the total amount of their expenditures.

The current estimated cap for the mayor’s race is $2.4 million per candidate in the primary and, if no candidate receives a majority in the primary, $1.9 million per candidate in a runoff between the two top vote-getters, said Lee Ann Pelham, associate director of the Ethics Commission.

Katz, according to a source close to the assemblyman, is likely to take a “compromise position” on fund raising and abide by the cap but not accept the city’s matching funds. By not relying on tax dollars, Katz will be trying to make further points about his fiscal responsibility with voters, this source said.

In an interview, Katz said one of his advantages is that he is “not part of City Hall.”

Katz also said that as an East Valley legislator and resident he understands the problems of residents in less fortunate areas of the city who believe City Hall has not provided them with a “fair share” of the city’s economic growth in recent years.

“The economic opportunities that have been available downtown and on the Westside need to be expanded to everywhere else,” Katz said, sounding a theme he has embraced before.

“There are probably enough votes in the Valley to get elected mayor, but you can’t govern with that kind of mandate,” said Katz, reflecting on the fact that the Valley has one-third of the city’s population and is growing at a slightly faster pace than the rest of the city.

Meanwhile, Bradley had little to say about Katz’s step toward candidacy. “He has a right to file the papers to declare his intention to collect funds,” Bradley said. “I have no problem with that.” Bradley himself has said he will announce his 1993 plans in September.

But Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani had a harsh assessment.

“Katz is obviously fleeing Sacramento because of the term limits,” Fabiani said, referring to the 1991 measure that limits Sacramento legislators to two terms in office.

“It’s hard to believe that voters here will want to bring Katz and his Sacramento buddies and their budget mess to Los Angeles,” Fabiani said.

Vicky Rideout, an aide to Councilman Michael Woo, another likely contender in the 1993 mayor’s race, echoed some of the same feelings. “I think Sacramento is the last place we ought to turn to for ideas on how to run this city,” she said.

Times staff writer Alan C. Miller also contributed to this story.