Candidates Have Spent Record $1.4 Million

The 11 candidates competing for the 5th District seat on the Los Angeles City Council reported Friday that they have spent $1.4 million so far, shattering the record for a council seat since the Los Angeles Ethics Commission began tracking campaign finances.

The previous spending mark for a council race, according to Ethics Commission records going back to 1989, was also in the 5th District, when a field of four candidates spent $1.1 million in the 1995 primary.

“Campaigns are just costing more and more all the time,” said Jill Barad, a Sherman Oaks political consultant running for the seat in Tuesday’s election. “The district has over 140,000 registered voters and the question is, how do you reach all of them?”

Some candidates in the race decried the amount of time and effort required to stay competitive financially in the contest and suggested the record should spark new consideration of reforms to reduce the role played by money.

The spending record in this year’s race appears to be a function of the unusually large field--the largest in a council race this year--and the fact that the 5th District, which extends from Westwood through Bel-Air to Van Nuys, is home to many of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods.

“Clearly the fact that there are a number of viable candidates is a factor,” said LeeAnn Pelham, executive director of the Ethics Commission. She also said a study by the panel in 1999 identified the 5th District as one of the biggest sources of campaign contributions in the city to all races.

“The district includes the Westside and the Westside is where the money is,” Barad said.

With incumbent Mike Feuer running for city attorney, the well-financed competitors had raised more than $1.5 million as of Wednesday, the end of the reporting period for campaign finance statements filed Friday with the Ethics Commission.

The pace for fund-raising has been set by former federal prosector Jack Weiss, who raised $330,000 in contributions and matching funds and spent $305,900 as of the close of the reporting period Wednesday.

Narrowing the gap was former state Sen. Tom Hayden, whose $171,000 loan to his campaign has allowed him to raise $305,600 and spend $295,000 as of Wednesday.

Other top fund-raisers in the race include Westwood businessman Steve Saltzman, who has raised $240,700 in contributions and matching funds and spent $258,100, including unpaid bills, and Laura Lake, who has raised $183,600 in contributions and matching funds and spent $131,400.

All of the candidates except Hayden accepted city matching funds in exchange for limiting spending to no more than $330,000; Hayden rejected matching funds but has said he would voluntarily abide by the spending limit.

So far, six of the candidates have received a combined $297,000 in city matching funds.

Spending in the race eclipses the previous, $1.1-million record set in 1995 when Barbara Yaroslavsky rejected matching funds and spent $464,400 in the primary against Feuer, then-school board member Roberta Weintraub and Sherman Oaks businessman Jeff Brain.