Council Candidates Raise Funds Far Beyond District Boundaries

If you win a spot on the Los Angeles City Council, are you beholden to the voters who elected you or the contributors who paid for your campaign?

Depends on whom you ask.

In the two wide-open races for the Eastside and northeast San Fernando Valley council seats, money is flowing into campaign war chests from all over the city, indeed the state and the country. Just a small portion is coming from the voters in these districts.

To the well-funded candidates, it’s just par for the course: You take money where you can get it, but your allegiances are to the voters.

To campaign reform advocates and others, it could be a troubling sign of contributors who are more interested in affecting the governmental process than in selecting individual candidates.

In the Eastside race, the best-funded candidates, Victor Griego and Nick Pacheco, have received most of their money from outside the district. Griego has received contributions and city matching funds totaling $160,172; $80,193 from Feb. 28 to March 27, according to reports filed with the city’s Ethics Commission. Pacheco has received a total of $157,627; $80,012 during the latest monthlong period, according to reports.

Both candidates, who are competing with 12 others for the seat being vacated by Councilman Richard Alatorre, list hundreds of contributions from lawyers, lobbyists, unions, business executives, even out of town relatives.

“I’m not that concerned if a relative gives $500 from New York,” said Robert M. Stern, co-director of the Center for Governmental Studies. “If a developer gives $500 and is in the district, I’m more concerned about that. If a developer outside the district gives $500, then I’m even more concerned. They really don’t care who wins, they want to have influence over whoever wins. That to me is the worst kind of contribution.”

It appears that many developers and lobbyists are hedging their bets by contributing to several candidates. The Central City Assn., for example, the powerful downtown business group, gave $200 to Luis Cetina, Griego, Pacheco and Sylvia Robledo. (The group did not make an endorsement but indicated it would support several candidates.)

Majestic Realty, which is involved in building the Staples Center sports arena, also gave to several candidates, as did Maureen Kindel, a top City Hall lobbyist.

“I’m not afraid to say I got money from this group or that group,” said Griego, a political and community organizer who has run several political campaigns. “ ‘Money is the mother’s milk of politics,’ Jesse Unruh said. How else do you rent a campaign office or pay the phone bill?”

In the Valley race, the two best-financed candidates, Alex Padilla and Corinne Sanchez, also are receiving most of their money from outside the district, the city and the state.

On the Eastside, Pacheco and Cetina--the latter having raised $43,889 to date, $24,308 in the last reporting period--appear to be using their money in traditional ways--mail, signs, office-related expenses and consultants. Griego, however, used a portion of his donations to pay for weekend cleanups he held throughout the district and to train precinct leaders who will help spread his name to neighbors and encourage people to vote next Tuesday.

Several of the candidates snub that approach, saying that they proudly have volunteers who will help get out the vote.

“We’ve had a great grass-roots effort,” said Alvin Parra, who has received donations totaling $28,811 but who did surprisingly well against Alatorre four years ago despite being vastly outspent. “I don’t have to put a lot of money into paying people and manpower.”

Pacheco said he is actively attempting to tap into young professional Latinos, regardless of where they live, to encourage them to become politically active.

“I think it’s important that the whole city, the young Latinos, come on board and participate in city life,” Pacheco said. “I think people know that we’re running a good, strong campaign, and they want to help out.”

To be sure, Pacheco also is cashing in on his endorsements from Mayor Richard Riordan and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles). Pacheco received five contributions from the mayor and attorneys with his law firm, Riordan & McKinzie. He also picked up two $500 donations from congressional candidates in Texas, made at the request of Becerra, Pacheco said.

Some view the City Hall donations with skepticism.

“I would rather have labor money coming in than the mayor’s money,” said Xandra Kayden, president of the League of Women Voters. “It’s an organization, it’s a major group with a genuine linkage to the district.”

Cetina’s campaign records also show the behind the scenes influence of Alatorre, who has yet to officially endorse Cetina. The councilman’s son, Darrell, gave $250, and his former deputy chief of staff, Luisa Acosta, gave $100, records show.

“There’s a misconception that the Eastside machine is running my campaign,” Cetina said. “Little by little, as the campaign picked up speed . . . other people started donating. You start receiving money from people you really never heard of. . . . I don’t owe anyone any favors.”

A pool of campaign consultants also believe that this race will not be won by the candidate with the most money.

Rick Taylor, a campaign consultant for Juan Jose Gutierrez, says that the candidates with the best, last-minute mail campaigns will be well-placed, and that they don’t necessarily need the most money for that. Taylor is working with another consultant, Richie Ross, to develop targeted mail, some written almost entirely in Spanish.

“This is the one race where money will not determine the outcome,” Taylor said.

Some candidates, however, are tapping into the district, raising small donations that sometimes are topping the over-$100 donations that must be reported. Cathy Molina, for example, reported raising $2,089 in donations under $100 and $2,950 in contributions over $100. Jim Beckham’s $1,620 in contributions under $100 exceeded his $775 in donations over $100.

But even the write-in candidate, Yolanda Gonzales, held a fund-raiser in Sacramento to try to reach potential donors in that city.