ELECTIONS / L.A. CITY COUNCIL : Incumbent Picus Gains Ground in Fund-Raising Race

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, engaged in a tough reelection fight, has gained momentum in her battle to catch up with her two top foes in political fund raising, although she still lags behind them.

Financial disclosure documents filed Thursday show Picus raised $53,200 in private contributions during the past month to finance her campaign for a fifth term representing the 3rd Council District in the southwestern San Fernando Valley.

Meanwhile, reports filed with the city’s Ethics Commission show Picus challengers Laura Chick, Picus’ former field deputy, raised $29,630 and Dennis Zine, a Los Angeles police sergeant, raised $11,886 during the same period, March 7 through April 3.

Despite her surge during the past month, Picus is still being collectively outspent by her foes. Chick and Zine together have raised nearly $175,000 for the race while Picus has raised about $165,000.

In her last reelection campaign in 1989, Picus won 52% of the vote after outspending her challengers 4 to 1.

Picus faces five challengers in the April 20 election. They also include businessmen Mort Diamond and Charles Nixon III, and Robert Gross, former president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization. Their financial reports had not been filed with the city’s Ethics Commission by late Thursday.

The most important factor for Picus in the reports filed Thursday was that for the first time she collected more in campaign donations than her rivals. She trailed in all previous reports.

Bill Carrick, Picus’ campaign consultant, said, “Joy has done a good job of buckling down and hitting the phones” to raise money in the past month.

Carrick also speculated that the fund-raising momentum of Picus’ opponents, especially Chick, has stalled because contributors are being “turned off by Laura’s negative campaign and the fact that she’s not turned into as vigorous a challenger as some had thought she would be.”

But Harvey Englander, Chick’s campaign consultant, contended that “it is not a good sign for the incumbent that she is only now finally equal” to Chick in fund raising and denied that his candidate is having money troubles.

“We have a fund-raiser scheduled for almost every day up to the election,” he said.

The reports filed Thursday also showed the total amounts raised by the candidates during the campaign.

The Picus campaign, the reports show, has raised a total of nearly $165,000, including $122,000 in private contributions and $42,000 in public matching funds. The public funds are provided to candidates under the city’s ethics law.

The Chick campaign has raised nearly $150,000, including $110,000 in private contributions and nearly $40,000 in matching funds.

The Zine campaign has raised $28,000 in private contributions.

Although the bulk of her contributions during the reporting period came from attorneys and business executives, the report filed Thursday showed Picus picking up fund-raising support from feminists, including the National Women’s Political Caucus, and from officers in Jewish organizations, including the directors of the Hebrew Union College and Bar-Ilan University.

Picus has been active in feminist causes and was instrumental in fighting for pay equity for female city employees. She also formerly worked for the city’s Jewish Federation Council.