The Money Race

With the final countdown to the March 7 primary underway, money is pouring into local campaign coffers, highlighting the importance of some area races.

Amanda Susskind, running for the Assembly, reported more than $100,000 in contributions from Native American tribes in her latest campaign finance report.

Susskind’s 42nd Assembly District Democratic primary race is already one of the most expensive primaries of its kind in California history. Susskind narrowly leads West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz in fundraising, $547,633 to $535,000.

The $100,000 contribution to Susskind from the Native Americans and Peace Officers Political Action Committee based in Sacramento may be the biggest single check ever cut to a candidate by a nonrelative in a state primary election, experts said.

One campaign finance authority said the contribution is all the more noteworthy because Susskind is not an incumbent, or a candidate who already holds political office.

“That is an extraordinary contribution for a legislative race,” said Robert Stern, an expert on campaign finance who formerly worked for the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Koretz supporters say the contribution proves Susskind is being bought, but Susskind’s political consultant, Larry Levine, said she is simply sympathetic to the self-reliance message of Proposition 1A, the measure that would allow casino-style gambling on California tribal lands.

Levine said Koretz didn’t get the money because he opposed a Native American ballot measure two years ago.

Koretz said the money is less for Susskind, than against him.

“I’ve opposed gaming,” Koretz said, who as a West Hollywood City Council member was outspoken against the initiative. “They know that.”

Stern agreed.

“I assume they are trying to make him an example,” Stern said. “That they [the Native Americans] are saying, don’t cross us.”

It was also payback time in the race for the GOP nomination in a safely Republican state Senate district that straddles Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Ventura County Supervisor Judy Mikels’ campaign against Assemblyman Tom McClintock got two big boosts Wednesday, as incumbent Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) chipped in another $26,000 to defeat McClintock, a longtime rival. Mikels also got the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

Mikels’ uphill campaign against McClintock (R-Northridge) has shifted into a higher gear over the last six weeks, raising $112,000, including more than $50,000 from Wright, who is retiring from the sprawling 19th District because of term limits.

Wright’s money alone has paid for four Mikels mailers over the last 10 days, according to the campaign.

In the 41st Assembly District Democratic primary race, David Freeman, former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power with powerful connections across the country, received at least $56,000 in late contributions over the last week, including a $40,000 loan from Angelo Tsakopoulos. Tsakopoulos, who heads AKT Development Corp. in Sacramento, gave $10,000 in December.

One of Freeman’s opponents--Agoura Hills mayor, environmentalist and schoolteacher Fran Pavley, who is about $100,000 behind in fund-raising, went on the offensive at forums, questioning how Freeman can call himself an environmentalist when he takes money from developers.

“Many people have asked me how he can call himself an environmentalist and conservationist when he is receiving such large sums of money from development and utility interests,” Pavley said Wednesday.

Freeman said Tsakopoulos is merely a friend who believes in him, and loaned him the money for the election. Freeman is using his money to inundate voters with mail, including a mailbox-sized 56-page paperback about his life that he said he wrote himself.

In the 44th Assembly District Democrat Carol Liu, who had already loaned herself $300,000 by the end of the final reporting period that ended Feb. 19, received an additional $237,000 in loans from herself and her husband, campaign records show.

In the 43rd state Assembly District, Latino attorney Dario Frommer reported receiving close to $60,000 in late contributions, including $13,000 from a Latino political action committee.

And in the hard-fought race to succeed state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) have continued to pull in a flurry of hefty contributions of more than $1,000 since the end of the last reporting period. The two candidates had already raised more than $2 million in what observers say is one of the most expensive state Senate primary races in California history.

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Times staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.