ELECTIONS / CITY COUNCIL : Yaroslavsky, Feuer Rely on Fund-Raising Experience

She is a longtime volunteer at a local free clinic and a mother of two who has been active in her children’s PTA and her Neighborhood Watch.

She also has raised more than $587,000 in her first bid for political office this year, besting every other Los Angeles candidate on the ballot, including longtime campaign veterans.

For anyone else the feat would have been unprecedented, but not for Barbara Yaroslavsky, the wife of County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a powerful and influential member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and former councilman.

Although Barbara Yaroslavsky attributes her fund-raising skills to her many years raising money for the Los Angeles Free Clinic and other nonprofit organizations, academics and political consultants say her husband plays a key role in her fund-raising success.

“If you have a close relative in public office and you run for public office, people will respond,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and senior associate at the Claremont Graduate School.

As is the case throughout the political world, relationships and connections are playing an instrumental part in raising money for the candidates in the 5th District City Council race where both candidates have raised extraordinary amounts, especially for novice politicians.

Mike Feuer, Yaroslavsky’s opponent in the race, has also built a sizable war chest by taking advantage of contributions and other assistance from lawyers who have volunteered or currently work at Bet Tzedek, the nonprofit legal aid clinic that he directed for eight years before resigning to seek the council post.

So far, Yaroslavsky has held the upper hand in fund raising, collecting $412,000 in the primary campaign and $175,000 so far in the runoff. Feuer raised $308,000 in the primary, including $100,000 in city matching funds, and $180,900, including $73,400 in matching funds in the runoff. Yaroslavsky has declined to accept matching funds.

Despite an almost $100,000 lead in fund raising, Yaroslavsky drew 26% of the vote in the April 11 primary, a distant second to Feuer, who had 39%.

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Political consultants and academics say Barbara Yaroslavsky may be benefiting from businesses and individuals who contribute to her campaign because they believe they can win points with her husband, Zev Yaroslavsky.

“It is a really unusual election because she is a novice but she is running with the reputation of an insider,” said Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton.

A former insider at the MTA, where Zev Yaroslavsky is a member of the board’s influential construction committee, said he has heard many firms that are considering doing business with the agency talk about contributing to Barbara Yaroslavsky’s campaign.

“There is the belief that it’s a twofer,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.

Under a new lobbying restriction, Zev Yaroslavsky and the other members of the construction committee are prohibited from taking any contributions from companies that have a contract pending before the MTA. But during the past six months, at least 11 companies that sought an MTA contract contributed at least $500 each to Barbara Yaroslavsky’s campaign.

For example, Martin & Huang International donated $500 to her campaign in December and came before the MTA in February seeking an architectural and engineering job, which the firm eventually won.

King Huang, a partner in the firm, said his company contributed to Yaroslavsky on the suggestion of an architect who has worked with his firm in the past. But he said there was never a suggestion that the donation would improve his chances of getting the contract.

“We have a good reputation,” he said, explaining why his firm has won several MTA contracts. “We do good work.”

Other firms that have sought contracts with the MTA and have contributed to Barbara Yaroslavsky’s campaign also reject suggestions that the money was used to win points with Zev Yaroslavsky.

Zev Yaroslavsky conceded that his wife may be getting contributions from firms and individuals who believe they can curry his favor with their money. But he said: “I think they are mistaken.”

He added that he has examined her campaign statements and found that most of her donations are from friends and supporters who, he said, simply believe she will make a good council member.

“She’s got her own circle of friends and people she’s worked with,” he said. “She has not asked me nor have I helped her raise funds.”

For her part, Barbara Yaroslavsky attributes her flush campaign coffers, in large part, to her fund-raising skills and contacts she has made as a regular volunteer at the Los Angeles Free Clinic. The clinic’s annual budget was $4 million last year, and Yaroslavsky organized some of the biggest fund-raisers.

“I have been fund-raising for at least 20 years,” she said.

But she concedes that some of her contributors are from firms and individuals that she has met through her husband. Some contributors, she said, may even believe they will win points with Zev Yaroslavsky by giving to her campaign.

“I’ve gotten money from people who have all sorts of reasons to give money,” she said. “But if you give me $500 and a hundred other people also give me $500, do you think I’m going to remember you?”

Feuer, for his part, also attributed part of his fund-raising success to the skills he honed as director of the nonprofit legal clinic. As head of the organization, he said he was part of a team that sought grants and organized dinners and other fund-raising events to meet Bet Tzedek’s annual $3-million budget.

At least 35% of his contributions thus far have come from attorneys, including at least 43 individual donations from lawyers who have volunteered at the legal clinic in the past year, according to campaign statements.

In addition, Joseph Kornwasser, a lawyer who contributed last year to Bet Tzedek, also provided Feuer’s campaign $460 worth of free rent for the campaign’s previous offices on Fairfax Avenue. David Lash, the current director of Bet Tzedek, is opening up his home next month to host a “meet and greet” event where Feuer can talk to voters.

Also benefiting both candidates is the fact that the district, which stretches from the San Fernando Valley to West Los Angeles, is largely affluent and politically active.

In addition, both candidates are Jewish Democrats who are vying for a seat in a jurisdiction where liberal Jewish voters represent a significant portion of the constituency. Feuer, for example, has used campaign mailers and stump speeches to repeatedly emphasize the work Bet Tzedek does for the Jewish community.

The runoff election is June 6.