Wachs’ Mayoral Bid Defeat May Spell the Final Chapter

The third time was no charm for Joel Wachs.

After a 21-month campaign--during which, the candidate boasted, he did not take a single day off--Wachs limped to an anemic finish in a mayoral race he was once expected to dominate.

The end came at a Holiday Inn in North Hollywood, as a handful of faithful supporters gathered around a big-screen television to watch election night parties that looked a lot more fun than the one they were attending. The cameras bounced from front-runner Antonio Villaraigosa’s joyful bash to those of James Hahn and Steve Soboroff.

“All of a sudden, this last couple weeks, it’s been three people, three people, three people,” Wachs griped. “It’s going to be a lot closer before this evening is over.”

But it wasn’t. As the clock crept toward midnight, the veteran city councilman lagged in fourth place, the gap between him and the top trio only widening. He finished with just 11% of the vote--failing even to win his own council district.

Wachs’ defeat--the third time he has lost a bid for the mayor’s office--may spell the final chapter in a Los Angeles political career that began when Richard Nixon was president. After 30 years on the City Council representing a shifting patchwork of Valley neighborhoods, Wachs is closing in on a 2003 term limit that did not exist when he took office.

Over the years, Wachs has cast himself as a common-sense champion of the people, taking on the real estate lobby to help win rent-control laws and fighting public subsidies for Staples Center and last year’s Democratic National Convention. A fine-arts aficionado, he created the city’s multimillion-dollar arts endowment. Wachs was also an early backer of neighborhood councils--a centerpiece of the new City Charter--and a civil rights advocate who wrote the city’s laws banning discrimination against gays and people with AIDS.

But his wide-ranging embrace of issues sprinkled across the political spectrum may have hurt him. After all, how many openly gay, Jewish fiscal watchdogs run for mayor?

“I think Joel’s problem was something that is actually very laudatory about him: He has an independent and maverick streak,” said Parke Skelton, a campaign consultant for Villaraigosa. “It’s very hard to pigeonhole him as left or right, liberal or conservative. Unfortunately for him, I don’t think . . . that Westside Jewish liberals and conservative Valley homeowners make for a very coherent base.”

A year ago many political observers predicted Hahn and Wachs, two longtime city leaders with sizable bases of support, would charge into the lead. But despite the advantages of name recognition and a longer political resume than his opponents, Wachs’ campaign never really took flight. It was more like a balloon steadily leaking air, punctured in recent weeks by poor showings in published polls and battered by a storm of money showered on his rivals.

There was no shortage of theories Wednesday to explain Wachs’ loss: His populist message--the fierce defense of the public purse--did not resonate with voters. Wachs, an independent, was buried by Democratic and Republican party money aimed at helping Villaraigosa and Soboroff. His Valley base was divided, a bloc of white conservatives more attracted to Soboroff than Wachs.

“Joel’s campaign was reaching out to tap the anger and frustration of the public,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who has worked with Wachs for eight years. “He’s brilliant at doing that and translating that. But perhaps there isn’t as much discontent . . . as one might have thought.”

Wachs’ footing was shaky even on his home turf. He finished fourth in the Valley, behind Soboroff, Villaraigosa and Hahn.

Remarkably, Wachs did not even carry his own East Valley council district. He placed third behind Villaraigosa, who claimed 27.4% of the 2nd District vote, and Soboroff, who nabbed 23.7%. Wachs racked up 21.7% of his district’s ballots.

Sylvia Gross, the former head of a Sunland-Tujunga homeowners’ group, said she likes Wachs personally, but did not think he was meant to be mayor. She voted for Hahn.

“I just knew Joel could not get elected mayor,” Gross said. “He doesn’t have the toughness that a real politician needs.”

The councilman’s fading prospects were clear as he stumped for votes last weekend, visiting a string of retirement homes in the belief that if anyone could save him, it would be elderly voters, known for beating a reliable path to the polls.

But when he dropped by one Sun Valley center, many of the residents seemed too old and frail to be of much help. Several had trouble remembering the candidate’s name.

At one point, a family of visitors rushed up to Wachs, sure that they recognized the dapper politician from a television spot. The trouble was, they thought he was Soboroff.

On election day, Wachs kicked off the morning with a City Hall news conference, attacking the influence of “secret special interest campaign money” on the mayoral race. He unveiled a proposed City Charter amendment that would bar elected officials from voting on issues that financially benefit their large donors. Then he trooped over the hill to the Valley to shake hands with more senior citizens.

It wasn’t enough.

“I think the party’s over,” Wachs said as he watched the returns late Tuesday.

“We just got overwhelmed by the money,” he said.

Campaign finance reports show that by April 4, Villaraigosa had raked in more than $3.5 million in contributions and matching funds while Hahn had collected $4.2 million. Soboroff, who refused matching funds and poured his own money into the campaign, raised $3.9 million. Wachs, in contrast, had taken in less than $2.5 million. The figures do not include cash shoveled into the race by political parties, which are not required to disclose their spending until after the election.

During the campaign, Wachs vowed to retire from politics if he lost. He has toyed with the possibility of a job at a nonprofit group or arts organization. But with defeat at hand, he seemed at a loss about what to do next.

“I still have two years left on the City Council,” he said, adding he had no interest in running for an Assembly or state Senate seat. “I can’t imagine retiring, but I also don’t want to ever ask anyone for money again.”

The priorities ahead, he said, include pushing for campaign finance reform, clean water, longer hours at city libraries and promoting the arts.

Wednesday morning, Wachs did not show up for a City Council meeting. An aide said he was busy tending to his 91-year-old mother--her caretaker was ill--and the councilman did not return calls.

Wachs may have to spend some time mending fences at City Hall. As a candidate, he often harshly criticized his colleagues as he sought to portray himself as an independent voice for taxpayers.

“He attacked some council members and that didn’t sit too well with some of us,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who has served alongside Wachs for 22 years and shares Wachs’ conservative views on many issues. “I like Joel, but I did question some of his tactics. I just don’t like the grandstanding he did.”

Mike Hernandez, another council colleague, put it more bluntly.

“He’s not building coalitions,” said Hernandez, who considers Wachs a friend. “There are many votes where Joel stands up by himself on this council.”

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Times staff writers Michael Finnegan, Patrick McGreevy and Doug Shuit contributed to this story.