7th District Rivals Hit Streets in Last-Minute Bid for Edge

It’s down to the wire.

After months of campaigning, miles of streets walked and thousands of telephone calls made, six contenders for the 7th District seat on the Los Angeles City Council are making a last, big weekend push for votes.

Flanked by armies of volunteers, the candidates fanned out through the northeast San Fernando Valley on a beautiful, clear Saturday as they began efforts to make sure their supporters go to the polls Tuesday.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support, but now we need to get people out to vote,” Alex Padilla told 60 charged-up volunteers Saturday at his storefront headquarters in Pacoima before he sent them into district neighborhoods.

Dressed in slacks, a white dress shirt and tie, Padilla, 26, told his young, boisterous supporters--many wearing purple “Team Padilla” T-shirts--that they have a chance to prove wrong those who have suggested he is too young to win the election.

Padilla has won key endorsements from Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), Mayor Richard Riordan and the county Federation of Labor, and has raised more than $200,000 for the race.

Another leading contender is Corinne Sanchez, an attorney who runs the health agency El Proyecto del Barrio. Sanchez has been endorsed by county Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina; City Council members Laura Chick, Cindy Miscikowski and Mike Feuer; and Richard Alarcon, whose election to the state Senate created the vacancy.

Sanchez, 52, also spent much of Saturday walking precincts with volunteers. After a week of on-and-off rain, volunteers were glad to have dry weather and were crossing their fingers that it would not rain Tuesday.

As volunteers picked up campaign literature and their precinct maps, campaign coordinator Michael Trujillo kept repeating: “There’s four days to go.”

Seeking to counter the perception that Padilla is the labor candidate, Sanchez had volunteers from the United Farm Workers and the Operating Engineers Union walking neighborhoods with her Saturday. Volunteers visited new neighborhoods but also went back to people who had already said they planned to vote for Sanchez.

“Now it’s getting the people who have committed to me out to the polls,” Sanchez said. “We’re really going full throttle.”

The other candidates--Ollie McCaulley, Raul Godinez II, Barbara Perkins and Tony Lopez--were all on the campaign stump this weekend. Each hoped to surprise political observers and win a spot in what many expect will be a June 3 runoff between Tuesday’s two top vote-getters.

Alarcon’s decision to leave the council seat for the state Senate in November triggered a rush of candidates that has divided the established political leadership in the San Fernando Valley and beyond.

Sanchez and Padilla are spending more than $200,000 each, a record for the district in a primary. The next closest in fund-raising is Godinez, who has $75,000.

“I think the die was cast early on, and what you’ve seen is a strengthening of a two-person race,” said Richard Lichtenstein, a political consultant not involved in the race.

Other candidates disagree that it’s a two-person race.

“I don’t care how much money they spend, that doesn’t mean people will vote for them,” Perkins said, predicting a backlash against the more expensive campaigns.

The result of all the cash has been a ton of mail from Padilla and Sanchez, including attack pieces in which Sanchez has charged that her opponent lacks experience. Padilla, in turn, has characterized Sanchez as an outsider who moved from Panorama City to inside the district in order to run.

“My message has been, I’m someone who was born and raised in the district,” Padilla said. “I worked and went to school and served the district. I’m the only one who can say that.”

Padilla said questions about his youth have not hurt him.

“I view it as a positive,” he said. “In talking to people, everybody believes we need a breath of fresh air in the City Council.”

Sanchez said the issue is not age but experience. She has been active in the northeast San Fernando Valley for more than two decades as head of a nonprofit group that has provided health care, drug rehabilitation and job placement for thousands of the Valley’s poor.

“I possess not just the age but the experience, and I have a broad base of support in the community,” Sanchez said. “There’s no one special interest supporting me.”

The candidates have all staked a claim to what has become the central question of the campaign: Who will be the most effective at getting City Hall to increase services to a working-class district that has traditionally been neglected by city government?

Sanchez has called for improved social services in the Valley and an expansion of basic city programs including street repairs, tree trimming and policing.

Padilla, an MIT graduate, also has emphasized the need for more basic city services, including after-school programs and a return of senior lead officers to provide a link between the LAPD and the public. Godinez has told audiences that his five years on the San Fernando City Council, the last two as mayor, give him the best experience to do the job on the Los Angeles City Council.

“My message from the very beginning has been that I’m the most qualified candidate,” said Godinez, a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles.

Godinez said the improved police response times and cleaner streets in San Fernando are evidence of what he can do for Los Angeles. He has also chastised the two front-runners for their record-breaking spending in the race, charging that special interests outside the district want to control the next council member.

McCaulley, a government affairs director for a nonprofit housing agency, has campaigned on the theme that he would be an independent council member who would work to expand the police force in the district by 30%.

He too has criticized Padilla for allowing outside interests to bankroll his campaign.

In particular, McCaulley and other candidates were outraged that the county Federation of Labor and its political action committee spent more than $57,000 to promote Padilla through their own mailers and phone banks. That’s separate from Padilla’s campaign fund--and more money then three of the other candidates spent themselves.

“In my opinion, they’ve taken this race away from the voters,” McCaulley said of Padilla’s financial backers. “They are shoving this puppet down the voters’ throats.”

Perkins, a former advisor to the president of Mission College, has said she would have regular community meetings where constituents could discuss important issues with city officials.

“We have to be a united community,” she said. “I will bring everybody to the table.”

Lopez, a former district director for the Boy Scouts of America, said he would push for more after-school programs and job training in schools so that graduates will be better prepared for good jobs.

“We can’t continue to have business as usual,” Lopez said. “Our kids are learning to fail because they are not getting the right education.”