Hayden Gets Enough Contributions to Get Public Funds, but Trails Riordan

In what could be a boon to his struggling campaign, state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) said Friday that he has finally collected enough small contributions to qualify for public matching funds, and expects to receive $105,000 in taxpayer money next week.

But Hayden’s aides do not plan to submit the checks until Monday, and the city has three days to make sure he qualifies before issuing the check, which could leave the underdog with dwindling coffers as he enters the home stretch to election day, April 8. Records filed with the city Ethics Commission this week show Hayden has less than $80,000 in the bank, compared with more than $600,000 for incumbent Mayor Richard J. Riordan.

Indeed, records show Riordan has paid his political consultant more than twice what Hayden has raised overall (not including the $100,000 Hayden gave his own campaign).

In just the past month, according to his report, the mayor has pumped $1.2 million into his television campaign, placing commercials--one touting his accomplishments, the other attacking his opponent--on nine channels.

Running against an incumbent who had amassed a nearly $2-million war chest before he even entered the race--and has a personal fortune estimated at $200 million to back it up--Hayden has worked hard over the past month to play catch-up. He has had several fund-raisers a week, collecting the proverbial nickels and dimes of a campaign through small house parties and interest group dinners. But the events have often fallen short of expectations. More than 50 artists donated work worth more than $30,000 for an auction last week; only 28 items sold, bringing in about $15,000, according to the campaign. The treadmill continues: Hayden went all the way to Orange County for a fund-raiser this week, and Monday is having a tea at the home of Riordan’s next-door neighbor, whose lush lawn boasts a “Hayden for Mayor” sign.

“We need somebody new,” said Noreen Lucille Pollack, who has squabbled with the mayor over property lines and loud parties. “I think every four years you should really have somebody new. It gets to be old hat.”

The other hotly contested elections in the city find the candidates far closer in fund-raising.

City Atty. James K. Hahn reported raising $93,000 over the past month, bringing his total over $1 million. He has $110,000 left to spend and is still raising funds, after spending $500,000 to buy television commercials that will air during the campaign’s last week.

Hahn’s opponent, lawyer-developer Ted Stein, has nearly $178,000 in cash on hand, after adding $200,000 of his own money and raising about $90,000 elsewhere. Stein has collected more overall, though, and spent more than $923,000 in the past month, including $800,000 on television ads.

In the 11th Council District, which includes parts of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, front-runners Cindy Miscikowski and Georgia Mercer were nearly neck and neck in terms of fund-raising and spending over the past month, according to campaign reports.

Times staff writers Ted Rohrlich and Jim Newton contributed to this story.