Donations Soar on Eve of Vote on City Charter

The battle over reforming Los Angeles’ City Charter ended Monday with a financial bang and a campaign whimper, as both sides drew on controversial contributors to make a last-minute reach for voters likely to cast ballot’s in today’s election.

Because a low turnout is expected, most observers declined to venture a prediction on the race. Rick Taylor, one of the city’s most experienced campaign consultants, said it was too close for him to guess, a sentiment widely echoed in Los Angeles’ political circles.

Opponents have waged a more modestly financed effort, but their campaign received a jolt late Friday, when council President John Ferraro kicked in an additional $50,000 within hours of presiding over a heated debate on the propriety of individuals giving large amounts to city ballot measures.

Ferraro’s latest contribution--technically a loan from his officeholder account--made him by far the largest donor to the anti-charter effort. All told, Ferraro has contributed $110,000 to the anti-charter campaign and is responsible for about half the money given to defeat the measure.

The other side has raised about $1 million, much of it from wealthy executives and big Los Angeles companies, including Arco and The Times’ parent company. As a result, both sides have weathered some criticism for their sources of support: Charter supporters say the effort to defeat the document is dominated by the City Council and its allies, while charter opponents say their rivals represent big money and big business.

During council debate over a $200,000 contribution to the pro-charter campaign from a corporation controlled by billionaire Rupert Murdoch, many council members argued that donations to city ballot measures should be limited legally--an idea long rejected by the United State Supreme Court. Councilman Mike Hernandez, who has contributed $15,000 to the anti-charter effort, argued that “these elections are being bought by corporate America, by big bucks.”

After acrimonious debate, the council unanimously voted to ask the Ethics Commission to prepare a report on the possibility of letting city voters consider a measure to cap contributions to future initiative campaigns. Ferraro voted with his colleagues in support of that motion on the same day that he contributed $50,000 to the campaign.

Meanwhile, charter supporters reached out to some potentially controversial donors, as well. Michael Milken, a friend of Mayor Richard Riordan and financial wizard who pleaded guilty a decade ago to criminal charges, donated $25,000; Riordan gave $100,000, while Arco and Times Mirror Co., parent company of the Los Angeles Times, each contributed $50,000.

A spokesman for Times Mirror said it rarely contributes to local campaigns but does so “two or three times every 10 years” when there are issues of significant citywide interest.

Despite the huge sums of money changing hands, the grass-roots campaign was conspicuously quiet on Monday.

After trumpeting the charter vote as one of the most important in recent Los Angeles history, Riordan held no public events Monday or over the weekend in support of the measure. Other charter supporters were inconspicuous as well.

Opponents were similarly quiet, although they benefited from a news conference by a group of local unions whose leaders denounced accusations that they were pressured into opposing the charter by the City Council. Some of the city’s unions initially supported the charter, then reassessed their position after a majority of council members announced that they were opposed.

But Brian D’Arcy, the outspoken leader of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the only pressure he has been subjected to has come from the mayor’s office. D’Arcy said Riordan’s chief of staff, Kelly Martin, demanded that he sign the ballot argument supporting the charter. D’Arcy said he refused and subsequently has been concerned that the Water and Power Commission, which is appointed by the mayor, is reneging on deals with his union because of his refusal to back the charter.

“That’s more than arm-twisting,” D’Arcy said.

Martin was not immediately available for comment. Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez denied D’Arcy’s charge.

“It’s the eleventh hour of the campaign, and people are beginning to get not only desperate but creative,” she said.

Although the charter proposal is the only one that appears on ballots citywide today, three City Council seats and one spot on the school board are the subject of runoff elections. On Monday, those candidates made their final pitches for votes.

Council candidates Victor Griego and Nick Pacheco spent the dwindling hours before today’s election walking door to door and calling 14th District residents, trying to shore up votes and convince people to go to the polls.

Griego enjoys the backing of top political leaders such as Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), as well as the support of organized labor, which by last week had spent more than $95,000 on an independent expenditure campaign to support him.

Pacheco, a deputy district attorney and elected City Charter reform commission member who has Riordan’s endorsement, is counting on his strong community support to get elected.

His most ardent advocates are a group of Boyle Heights women who started a campaign called “Mothers for Nick.”

Many of them are friends of Pacheco’s mother who have known him since he was a child. They raised about $3,000 for T-shirts and fliers by selling tamales, and are walking door to door to advocate for “nuestro hijo.”

In the city’s 10th Council District, competing candidates were focused on the same issue--how to turn out their supporters.

After weeks of visiting voters at their homes and asking for their votes over the telephone, the campaigns of Councilman Nate Holden and challenger Madison Shockley said they intended to spend their final hours calling or visiting voters who have committed to them, offering rides to polling places or simply reminding them to get to their voting sites.

In the northeast San Fernando Valley’s 7th Council District, candidates Alex Padilla and Corinne Sanchez spent much of Monday walking precincts.

Padilla, a legislative aide, was also getting help from volunteers for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who were operating phone banks in support of his campaign. Sanchez, who heads a social service agency, also had a large group of volunteers walking door to door Monday to get out the vote for today.

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Times staff writers Matea Gold and Peter Hong contributed to this report.

Election returns on the City Charter measure and other races will be available tonight on The Times’ World Wide Web site: https://www.latimes.com/laelection

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Top Contributors

These have been the top contributors in the Los Angeles City Charter campaign:

Reform L.A. (pro-charter)

* DLO Corp. (Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Dodgers and Fox television and studios): $200,000

* Mayor Richard Riordan: $107,385

* Jerry Perenchio (Spanish-language television executive): $100,000

* Arco: $50,000

* Los Angeles Business Advisors (corporate CEO group): $50,000

* Times Mirror Co. (owner of the Los Angeles Times): $50,000

Los Angeles Taxpayers for Good Government (anti-charter)

* City Council President John Ferraro: $110,000

* Council member Ruth Galanter: $15,000

* Council member Jackie Goldberg: $15,000

* Council member Mike Hernandez: $15,000

* Various contributors at the $10,000 level, including public employee unions, two private companies and one lobbyist

Source: Disclosure statements filed with city Ethics Commission