ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Katz Dials for Cash, Publicity

Richard Katz is dialing for dollars. And the Los Angeles mayoral candidate is doing it with the speed and single-mindedness of a door-to-door salesman trying to win a bonus trip to the Bahamas.

From his Sherman Oaks headquarters, Katz makes one money call after another, pitching potential contributors and thanking backers who set up fund-raising events for him. Two young aides with phones punch up numbers in rapid succession, getting people on the line before handing them off to Katz.

The atmosphere is like the Home Shopping Club switchboard a week before Christmas.

“Brad! How you doin’?” asks Katz, a veteran Democratic assemblyman from Sylmar who is considered a top contender in the race. “I was looking at that invitation you guys did. Yeah, it’s great. It’s hot. . . . That’ll be a great event.”

As he gets people on the phone, Katz scans fact sheets prepared by his campaign listing their names, occupations, spouse’s names, home phone numbers, office phone numbers and fax numbers.

“We got everything but their shorts size,” cackles his chief fund-raiser, Jim Cunningham, a burly Kentuckian who likes to talk about bass fishing and barbecued raccoon when he is not leaning on Katz to make more calls.

In minutes, Katz, 42, chats up not only Brad but Penny, Dan, Bruce, Linda and several other actual and possible supporters. Katz has the flu and a sore throat and, between calls, gulps Diet Coke and Evian water.

Katz has been making calls like this for up to five hours a day recently. And it is paying off. In the first nine weeks of this year, he raised more money than Councilman Michael Woo, the race’s front-runner in early polls.

But Katz’s war chest still ranks third, behind those of multimillionaire lawyer Richard Riordan and Woo. And political observers wonder if Katz can raise enough money fast enough to survive the April 20 primary election, as he and other candidates launch a barrage of expensive TV ads in hopes of winning a spot in the June 8 runoff.

“I think you’re going to see a very active and aggressive campaign by Katz,” said political consultant Rick Taylor. “I just don’t know if it’s a too-little, too-late situation.”

*

For Katz, life on the campaign trail is an incessant, high-speed quest for money and publicity, punctuated by hasty trips back and forth to Sacramento to attend to state business.

On a recent campaign day, Katz returned to Los Angeles in midafternoon for a meeting with some dark-suited men trying to sell him, as a possible mayor, on letting private firms underwrite and run such traditionally city-owned facilities as sports arenas and airports.

One man is vice president of the Texas-based Brown & Root construction firm, known in political circles for its acumen in starting to funnel campaign cash in the late 1930s to an obscure young congressman named Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson, in turn, helped steer multimillion-dollar federal contracts to the company.

Jacket off and tie loosened, Katz is receptive to the idea but also sensitive to its political implications. He has support from organized labor, which views privatization with alarm, believing that it will destroy union jobs.

“If it was delivered correctly, if people understood it and didn’t jump to the idea of selling the crown jewels,” begins one of the Texans.

Katz nods. “There’s so many flags that go up. In working people’s minds . . . privatization automatically means throwing people out of work. In some instances around the country, it’s meant that. But there are a lot of instances where it hasn’t meant that,” he said.

*

As much as money, Katz needs publicity to boost his anemic name recognition. So, for two days, aides have been trying to set up an attention-grabbing media event: the assemblyman cruising mean streets in an LAPD black-and-white.

A TV crew and a Times reporter are interested in accompanying Katz--a potential PR home run for him. But there is a problem: He has not nailed down police permission for the ride-along.

*

After a brief, closed-door meeting with the Brown & Root vice president, Katz is back in his fund-raising boiler room, making more calls.

“Penny? Hi! I’ve been to Sacramento and back already since I saw you last night,” says the legislator. “I feel a little better. The antibiotics are kicking in. The throat’s actually working today.”

As two aides dial up more contributors, a third makes notes on those who pledged money. The notes are rushed out to other aides, who fire off faxes to the future donors, thanking them “for your commitment.”

Occasionally, Katz has to be reminded of a giver’s name. “Tom,” whispers an aide, as Katz falters momentarily. “Tom!” Katz booms into the receiver.

Sometimes, the assemblyman refers to biographical notes about supporters on the fact sheets. “Thank him for all the work he’s doing on the 3/25 entertainment event,” prompts one.

During a break, Katz tells Cunningham, his fund-raiser, about an event attended by Korean-Americans.

“A hundred and fifty people,” Katz says. “Raised good money.”

“That’s about the same number of Jewish people there is in Kentucky,” needles a grinning Cunningham, who, decked out in black sport coat, black pants and black cowboy boots, looks like an Appalachian trucker headed downtown on Saturday night.

*

After more calls, Katz and two aides jump into his Chevy Blazer and head for a candidate debate at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park. But en route, Katz--chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee--takes the wrong freeway.

As he heads back toward the museum, an assistant feeds him talking points for the debate, sponsored by local homeowners.

Like many other Katz campaign workers, assistant Alan Gould is young (31) and well-educated. A Harvard Law School graduate, he is among a group of youthful supporters who raised money for a Katz commercial on MTV and VH-1, two music video channels.

*

The police ride-along is not coming together as planned. And Marc O’Hara, Katz’s press secretary, is not pleased. The Los Angeles Police Department will let Katz go but refuses to let any media accompany him. Will Katz still do it? Maybe, O’Hara says.

*

At the debate, Katz warms up the audience by rattling off scary-sounding crime statistics. He promises to make law enforcement his top priority as mayor. A number of people look at companions and mouth the words: “Who is he?”

A moderate whose Assembly district is heavy with blue-collar Reagan Democrats, Katz supports the death penalty. He also was one of the few big-city Democrats to back the successful 1986 campaign to unseat state Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird.

When someone in the audience asks about widening traffic-clogged Glendale Boulevard, he pounces on the chance to trumpet his transportation expertise. He emphasizes his legislation forcing developers to pay for measures to ease extra traffic caused by their projects.

But the question also gives an opponent, Councilman Joel Wachs, an opening to ding Katz for his much-mocked idea to turn the Los Angeles River bed into a freeway.

Unfazed, Katz touts his endorsement by the League of Conservation Voters.

*

By 9:30 p.m., about the time he was to begin the ride-along, Katz is back at his headquarters. He sits cross-legged on the floor with a dozen youthful volunteers, happily stuffing envelopes for an upcoming fund-raiser at an ultra-hip West Hollywood hotel.

The ride-along? With no media allowed? It is off his schedule.