Anti-Villaraigosa Phone Calls Shake Up Campaign

An inflammatory phone message intended to derail the mayoral candidacy of former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa charged the atmosphere in the Los Angeles mayor’s race Sunday, infuriating the candidate’s supporters even as his opponents denied any knowledge of who was behind it.

The phone call, in which the caller suggests that Villaraigosa opposed increased penalties for rapists and child pornographers, follows a week in which the initially friendly tone among the top six candidates has given way to a series of pointed accusations and counterattacks.

In the recorded message widely disseminated throughout the city over the weekend, a woman impersonating County Supervisor Gloria Molina says, “Please don’t hang up. This is an emergency call.

“It’s time the silence be broken about mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa,” says the caller, who identifies herself as “Gloria Morina” and has a voice similar to that of the well-known supervisor.

The message goes on to say that Villaraigosa was one of four legislators to oppose increased penalties for rapists. The caller also claims that Villaraigosa twice opposed legislation to increase penalties for child pornography and voted against the monitoring of repeat child sex offenders.

“Please, on April 10th, say no to Antonio Villaraigosa,” the message concludes. “The safety of women and children in our community depends on it.”

Molina, who has endorsed Villaraigosa, heard the message Sunday and said the similarity of the caller’s voice to her own was “shocking.”

“It’s unbelievably disgusting that anyone would stoop this low to do this kind of campaign,” she said. “It misrepresents me, and misrepresents him, as well. What disturbs me is they use these titillating issues that make people angry. . . . Obviously, whoever is doing it is very nervous about him and trying to shoot him down.”

Molina’s office complained about the phone call Sunday to Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who said the new Public Integrity Division will investigate.

Villaraigosa’s campaign said it could not respond directly to the charges in the phone call without knowing the bills the caller referred to, but his advisors expressed outrage at the form of the attack.

“There’s a number of reasons he might have voted against a bill,” said Parke Skelton, a consultant for Villaraigosa. “I can show you numerous bills he has voted for to stop violent crime.”

Skelton said the campaign received many reports of the call from residents on the Eastside and Westside and in the San Fernando Valley, adding that it apparently went mostly to white Democratic women.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this happening,” he said. “It’s about as low as it goes: to misappropriate the name of one of our endorsers for an anonymous hit message.”

All of Villaraigosa’s opponents vigorously denied having any part in the phone call, which comes amid some signs that Villaraigosa’s campaign is gaining steam. The former assemblyman has amassed a slew of powerful endorsements--the latest from La Opinion, the city’s largest Spanish-language newspaper--and has stepped up his fund-raising as he has fared well in several recent polls.

“We did not do it,” said Kam Kuwata, a consultant for City Atty. James K. Hahn, who has engaged in an increasingly testy exchange with Villaraigosa in recent days. “We are not afraid to point out things where we disagree with Antonio. We say it directly. Whoever has done this should be drummed out of the race.”

Added John Shallman, a consultant for state Controller Kathleen Connell: “This is the kind of thing that turns people off of politics, and it creates such cynicism and apathy because of this dirty, negative campaigning. Kathleen has run a very forthright, on-the-issues campaign attacking problems rather than the other candidates.”

Paige Richardson, Rep. Xavier Becerra’s campaign manager, denied involvement with the call, but was less vehement in her criticism of the tactic.

“If it’s true, he’s running on his record and people should know what his record is,” she said. “If it’s not true, it’s despicable.”

Meanwhile, in a sign of the mounting friction between the campaigns, Becerra wrote a letter to Villaraigosa on Friday saying he was “appalled” by a report that at least one Democratic Party volunteer calling union households on behalf of the former Assembly speaker accused Becerra of not being in favor of poor people.

Villaraigosa’s campaign denied any knowledge of the call.

The charged back-and-forth between the candidates was in marked contrast to the moderate tone of their public appearance together Sunday at a mayoral forum sponsored by KMEX--TV, Channel 34, and the Organization of Los Angeles Workers.

During the hourlong forum at Los Angeles Trade-Technical School, the six candidates politely discussed their positions on housing, immigration and police reform.

But after the live televised event, Hahn stepped off the stage and told a group of reporters that Villaraigosa and businessman Steve Soboroff, another mayoral rival, need to ask the Democratic and Republican parties to disclose who is helping pay for mailers and phone-banking on their behalf. Under a new state law, political parties and other groups such as unions are not required to reveal their spending or contributors until after Los Angeles voters go to the polls.

“We still want to know who all these secret campaign contributors are funding the Republican and Democratic party apparatus, trying to take our nonpartisan politics and politicize them,” Hahn said.

Phil Paule, a spokesman for Soboroff, said the parties are following the law.

“Hahn is claiming something shady is going on here, and I don’t believe they’re in violation of the law,” he said.

Villaraigosa dismissed Hahn’s criticism, accusing him of “the politics of attack.” Hahn is also benefiting from a union mailing effort on his behalf that does not have to reveal the source of its funding, Villaraigosa’s campaign noted.

Meanwhile, Soboroff received the endorsement of the Daily News on Sunday, a boost to his efforts to shore up support in the Valley.

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Times staff writers David Lauter and James Rainey contributed to this story.