Candidates Rely on Funds From Afar

The two best-financed candidates in the race for the 7th Los Angeles City Council District have received the vast majority of their campaign contributions from outside the northeast San Fernando Valley district, according to political campaign disclosure records.

Alex Padilla and Corinne Sanchez, who have each raised more than $200,000 in contributions and city matching funds for the April 13 election, have both campaigned hard on their ties to the district.

But only about 7% of donations to Padilla were from people and businesses inside the district, with much of the rest coming from downtown, West and East Los Angeles and Sacramento, where Padilla’s work as a legislative aide has allowed him to develop a network of financial supporters.

Just 10% of the money to Sanchez came from individuals, firms or groups in the 7th District.

The analysis covered nearly 800 contributions to both candidates in which the identity of the giver was disclosed to the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

Campaign reform advocates say it is not unusual for candidates to get most of their money from outside the district they seek to represent, but many say the practice is cause for concern.

“The concern is whether the candidates are accountable to their constituents or to their campaign contributors,” said Jim Knox, chairman of California Common Cause. “There’s a basic conflict there.”

The nonpartisan California Public Interest Research Group tried unsuccessfully in 1996 to pass a measure requiring candidates to receive at least 75% of their money from within the district they are seeking to represent.

“The problem is you stop having candidates responsible to the people in the district. They have a divided loyalty,” said Wendy Wendlandt, a director of CALPIRG.

The practice is not unusual. A study done in the 1980s found that state legislators, on average, received 92% of their money from donors outside their district.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political science instructor at Claremont Graduate University, said it is not surprising that many more contributions come from outside the working-class 7th District, which has many residents less likely to be able to write large campaign checks.

Former San Fernando Mayor Raul Godinez II, who received nearly a third of his contributions from within the district, has raised the issue in a recent mailer, warning of special interests “from outside the district . . . that want to control what happens in our communities.”

Godinez said the issue is important to voters, but Rick Taylor, a spokesman for Padilla, downplayed its significance.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking money from someone doing business downtown or in West Los Angeles or the northeast Valley,” Taylor said. “Alex Padilla has only one group of people who he owes the election to--the people of the 7th District.”

Outside contributions received by Padilla include $500 each from Mayor Richard Riordan, who lives in Brentwood, New York investor Frederick Terrell and developer Gerald Katell of West Los Angeles.

Companies that have contributed to Padilla include Host Marriott Services of Atlanta, which has concessions at LAX, and Browning Ferris Industries of San Jose, which wants to expand Sunshine Canyon Landfill into Los Angeles.

An aide to Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), Padilla has also received several contributions from other legislative deputies working in Sacramento.

Padilla and Sanchez both listed contributions from the Central City Assn. and other downtown-based groups and businesses. Developers from West Los Angeles and outside the city have also given to both candidates.

Sanchez, an attorney who runs the health agency El Proyecto del Barrio, has attracted dozens of contributions from attorneys and health professionals from outside the district, as well as women in politics, including state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente) and Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica).

Outside contributions to Sanchez also include $500 each from landfill operator BKK Corp. of West Covina, the Riverside law firm of Grech and Belter and a Fresno letter carrier.

Some contributors with addresses outside the district still have ties to the 7th District.

For instance, Sanchez received seven contributions from employees of El Proyecto who live outside the district.

Many of the unions giving to Padilla are headquartered out of the district but have large numbers of members within the district.

Steve Gray-Barkan, a campaign consultant for Sanchez, also downplayed the role of outside money.

“When you look at what voters are most concerned with, money isn’t the important thing. It’s the people involved in the campaign,” Gray-Barkan said. “This is a locally based campaign.”

Taylor said Sanchez has misled voters by accusing Padilla of being the candidate of outside special interests, when 90% of her money comes from outside the district.

“It just shows the hypocrisy of her campaign,” Taylor said. “We haven’t tried to claim that Alex isn’t reaching out [beyond the district]. But she has made it an issue.”