Hahn Finds a Friend in Washington

They are the ambitious sons of powerful political fathers, now unlikely allies working on opposite coasts.

But Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo became fast friends recently while working closely on controversial gun litigation.

From the first time they sat next to each other at a White House meeting last fall to their co-authorship of an opinion piece published last weekend, Hahn and Cuomo have developed a special kind of kinship.

Politically speaking, it is a relationship that can’t hurt.

“It becomes a mutual aid PAC,” said Joe Cerrell, a longtime political consultant who knows both men.

Hahn, a candidate for mayor, needs Democratic allies in Washington, both to show voters that he has connections there and also for possible fund-raising.

Cuomo, considered to be on the list of vice presidential nominees, as well as a potential candidate for governor of New York, could turn to Hahn for fund-raising as well. (The Golden State, after all, is known in some circles as “the ATM machine” of American politics.)

Further, Hahn’s support and advice in the gun litigation already has proved helpful to Cuomo. When Smith & Wesson announced last week that it had agreed to a series of safety and marketing restrictions, Cuomo scored a huge political victory.

It hasn’t hurt Hahn either. Los Angeles was among the first cities to sue gun manufacturers, attempting to hold them responsible for the bloodshed caused by weapons they produced. Hahn has been in the forefront of that movement and was widely respected by other members of the coalition of officials from cities and counties across the nation involved in the Smith & Wesson settlement.

Darren Dopp, spokesman for New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer, said Hahn’s contributions, including his office’s research and ideas, were valued by the group seeking settlement with the gun manufacturer.

“He really made a name for himself on this,” Dopp said. “He was extraordinary throughout the last year in bringing the coalition together. . . . He made a tremendous contribution [that helped] lay the foundation for the Smith & Wesson decision.”

On the political side, Bill Wardlaw, Hahn’s mayoral campaign chairman, said the relationship could be beneficial to both men, particularly to Hahn.

“It’s always good to have allies of the quality of Andrew Cuomo,” Wardlaw said.

The timing also works in Hahn’s favor, particularly if the Democrats win the presidential race in November, several political consultants said. (Cuomo is close to Vice President Al Gore, who will be the Democrats’ nominee.) By the time the mayoral campaign is heating up here, the thinking goes, bringing national Democrats to a few Hahn fund-raising events could prove extremely helpful, especially if his main opponent is Republican Steve Soboroff, a formidable fund-raiser.

While Hahn and Cuomo have been reluctant to discuss the potential political benefits of their alliance, they said that personally they hit it off immediately.

“In the end, I think people judge you on your record and your agenda, not on who your friends are,” Hahn said.

“Maybe it’s just as simple as, here are two people who are basically in the same line of work who share an interesting, somewhat unique family background, whom circumstances brought together to work on very difficult issues and accomplished something of possibly historic proportions and wound up developing a friendship in the process,” Cuomo said. “Maybe it was just that simple. . . . Maybe there was nothing else to it.”

Maybe.

Hahn described his newfound friend as “down to earth” and “a great guy.” He said Cuomo, who is married to Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, “obviously grew up around the trappings of power, but it’s clear he’s still impressed by it.”

“This is a super-talented guy,” Cuomo said of Hahn. “A nice, decent, attractive fellow.”

Each said he respects the legacy of the other’s father. Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn was a beloved politician with a keen ability to build diverse coalitions. Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, is one of his party’s leading personalities and orators.

Hahn said he considered the elder Cuomo a “brilliant governor” of New York, and still remembers the electrifying speech Cuomo made during the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Most speeches aren’t nearly that memorable, “especially mine,” Hahn said.

Andrew Cuomo said the two have talked about their fathers a bit. But, he said, “It’s not something that you necessarily need to talk about to understand. It’s very much a situation that each of us understands.”

Some said their backgrounds have given Hahn and Cuomo a leg up, providing them with good instincts in working with competing political interests.

“It’s just a big head start in understanding each other” in politics, Cuomo said.

Speaking in his 18th-floor City Hall office, where an old sign reading “Kenneth Hahn, Los Angeles County Supervisor” sits in a corner, Hahn agreed.

“Certainly, watching your father, you pick up a lot,” Hahn said.