Mayor’s School Candidates Far Ahead of Foes in Funding

With hundreds of thousands of dollars in television ads and mailings, three of the four school board candidates backed by Mayor Richard Riordan are pulling well ahead of their opponents in the critical ability to get their names and messages out to voters, campaign donation reports released Friday show.

Riordan’s committee, the Coalition for Kids, reported receiving about $330,000 in the month ending March 27, bringing its total to just under $1.8 million. The committee’s spending, only a trickle last period, has grown to more than $1 million.

Most of it went to helping Caprice Young and Mike Lansing, the two challengers on Riordan’s slate who have the least political experience.

A breakdown of the expenditures on their reports showed that about $400,000 was spent on behalf of each. Lansing reported about $310,000 in television advertising expenses and Young about $260,000. The remainder went for mailers and telephone banks.

Young is challenging board member Jeff Horton in the district that includes Los Feliz, Hollywood and the east San Fernando Valley. Lansing is opposing incumbent George Kiriyama in the district that runs from Watts to San Pedro. Other than the mayor’s contributions, Young reported raising about $11,800 and Lansing about $22,000.

Many of the donations received by Riordan’s committee have come in amounts of $10,000 or more from a variety of business interests, including housing magnate Eli Broad, who gave $250,000. Broad is an investor in plans to bring a new National Football League team to the Coliseum.

Horton campaign consultant Parke Skelton criticized the mayor’s fund-raising as “an astonishing conflict of interest.”

If elected, Young would answer to “one single political action committee of gigantic business people,” Skelton said. “She obviously will not be an independent voice on the school board.”

Young said she will owe the mayor “the same thing I’ve promised to everyone, and that is that every student in Los Angeles should have a quality education, and that’s what I will be working for.”

Horton continued to cultivate a wide fund-raising base, receiving $70,000 from about 300 donors, mostly in the range of $125 to $250. He received $3,000 from the Los Angeles Police Assn. and $1,250 from a Los Angeles Unified School District administrator, one of dozens of district employees who gave to him.

Kiriyama bounced back moderately from a poor showing in February. He had $39,000 in new donations, mostly in small amounts and many from L.A. Unified employees.

In the other two races, incumbent David Tokofsky and challenger Genethia Hayes both received more modest assistance from Riordan combined with their own fund-raising. Advertising expenditures for the Hayes effort--$85,000--far surpassed those of her opponent. Tokofsky had no television or radio advertising, but still outspent his challenger.

Tokofsky received about $44,000 worth of mailers and phone banks from the Coalition for Kids. He reported raising nearly $46,000 on his own. Most of Tokofsky’s donations were in amounts of $100 to $500. He received $2,000 from the Norman Lear Trust and $1,000 from O’Brien Kreitzberg, a partner in the group that manages the district’s $2.4-billion bond project.

Tokofsky’s opponent in the district stretching from Lincoln Heights to San Fernando, Yolie Flores Aguilar, had about $40,000 in new donations.

In the district covering South and Southwest Los Angeles, incumbent Barbara Boudreaux reported more than $63,000 in new donations. She received $10,000 from businesswoman Barbara Butler, $5,000 from the School Police Assn., $1,250 from the Council of Mexican American Administrators and $2,500 from Leonard Fuller, a district consultant.

Hayes reported more than $144,000, of which about $85,000 was contributed by the Coalition for Kids.

She received $2,500 from the Southern California District Council of Carpenters and $2,000 from the Norman Lear Trust, in addition to several $1,000 donations, many from lawyers.