Candidates for Mayor Vow to Set Positive Tone in Runoff

Former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and City Atty. James K. Hahn, fresh from their electoral victories, promised Wednesday to hold a civil debate about the issues and signaled the ways in which they intend to expand the appeal of their candidacies.

A beaming Villaraigosa--his voice scratchy from dozens of public appearances in the final days before Tuesday’s election--proclaimed his first-place finish a vindication of a “campaign about hope and optimism.”

“I’d like to thank Los Angeles, a city with people so good and decent that somebody like me can dream about a day like this and have it come true,” the former assemblyman said during a morning news conference at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City.

Hahn, who also made his triumphant appearance in the Valley, thanked “people from all walks of life” who went to the polls for him. Hahn trumpeted his experience in city politics as his key asset going into the runoff.

“Now’s the time for leadership grown out of taking on the city’s toughest challenges and winning,” said the city attorney, standing outside the Van Nuys Civic Center. “That’s what I’ve done as city controller and city attorney, and that’s what I will do as mayor.”

Those themes--Villaraigosa’s evocation of his personal story and Hahn’s emphasis on his political depth--helped bring each to the threshold of the mayor’s office. In the crowded field from which they emerged, those messages had to compete with those of four other leading candidates. But with the field thinned to two, Hahn and Villaraigosa used their appearances Wednesday to set the stage for a 56-day campaign to the finish. The June 5 runoff election is being held because no candidate received a majority on Tuesday.

Hahn wasted no time staking his claim to the ideological right of Villaraigosa, questioning why the former assemblyman had failed to support legislation intended to toughen penalties against gang-related street crime.

On June 5, Los Angeles voters will choose between them in selecting the mayor to succeed Richard Riordan, who has held office since 1993.

In the final tally, Villaraigosa won 30.4% of the vote and Hahn got 25.2%. Businessman Steve Soboroff, Riordan’s choice for the job, came in third with 21.2%, while City Councilman Joel Wachs placed fourth with 11.1%. U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra and state Controller Kathleen Connell trailed badly with single-digit support.

About 480,000 Los Angeles residents voted Tuesday, 31.5% of the electorate and a drop from 35% in 1993, the last time there was a mayoral election without an incumbent.

Villaraigosa was the top vote-getter in every part of the city but the Valley, where he and Soboroff virtually tied, and South-Central, where Hahn won the bulk of the votes.

Despite the winning candidates’ sunny public demeanors Wednesday, many anticipate that the race will continue to feature the hard-edged tone it took in recent weeks as the two Democrats battle to define each other and win over the 44.4% of the electorate who voted for the other mayoral hopefuls.

In fact, even as Hahn thanked the electorate for putting him in the runoff, he also quickly turned to questions about Villaraigosa’s record on crime, saying Wednesday that the former assemblyman voted against extending the California Street Terrorism Act. Hahn helped write that law, which increased penalties for gang-related crimes.

“I think the people in the city are going to ask him to explain why he doesn’t support the tough laws against the scourge of gang violence,” the city attorney said.

Villaraigosa defended his record, saying he authored the “toughest” assault weapons ban in the nation, and cited his endorsements from Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, city Police Commission President Raquelle de la Rocha and several law enforcement groups.

“I voted on 12,000 bills,” he said. “You’ll be able to find a few of them you disagree with. So be it. . . . I think my track record is second to none, and I’ll put it next to Jim Hahn’s any day.”

Villaraigosa said he was proud of the tone he maintained in the first half of the race, and vowed to continue in that vein.

“I issue a challenge to Jim Hahn to do that: Let’s talk about our records,” Villaraigosa said. “Let’s not run negative attacks ads. Let’s focus on issues that are important to people.”

During his news conference, Hahn echoed those sentiments, saying, “I hope that what this campaign is about is about the facts, about the issues, and we don’t have innuendoes. We don’t have any of these sleazy phone calls being made by people who are misrepresenting who they are.”

With each candidate attempting to cast himself in broad terms, Villaraigosa’s challenge was evident at his news conference at Sportsmen’s Lodge. As he spoke, a group of Latino cooks and hotel staff lined up against the wall, watching him raptly. At one point, Villaraigosa turned and saluted them.

“A Latino, imagine, representing us,” maintenance worker Jonathan Garnica, 21, said in awe, watching as a dozen television cameras crowded around Villaraigosa.

Meanwhile, next door in the Starlight Room, a group of well-coiffed women in business suits gathered for a meeting of the Encino Republican Women’s club, oblivious to the flurry of activity on the other side of the wall.

To win over those voters--Republicans left without a standard-bearer when Soboroff failed to make the runoff--both candidates hope to pick up the support and endorsements of people who previously backed their rivals, especially Riordan.

But on Wednesday, the mayor seemed skeptical that either remaining candidate would make a good mayor.

“They are not strong managers or CEOs,” said Riordan. “They are very good politicians, very good leaders, very good people. But when I took over there was no confidence in the city. . . . I think there’s farther to go.”

Riordan said he will decide in the next few weeks whom he will endorse, “if anybody.”

The backing of Soboroff, who won large shares of the vote in the Valley and on the Westside, also might give one of the candidates a claim to a share of the electorate there.

But on Wednesday, the commercial real estate broker said he too has not decided whether he will endorse either one.

“I’m going to step back like the average voter does,” he said. “I want to see which one of them would have more common threads [with me] and a chance to actually implement. We’re in a city long on idea people and short on implementers.”

Soboroff called the campaign “an incredible gift,” despite the 12,000-vote deficit that kept him out of the runoff.

“This is a wonderful city and it’s got these problems that need to be solved and I hope one of these two guys can do that,” Soboroff said. “Am I disappointed that I’m not going to be the one to solve those problems and continue to make good things happen? Yeah, I am. But so be it.”

The Republican millionaire said he will not seek public office in the future, but will return to his work with Big Brothers and explore opportunities in the entertainment and sports industries.

Meanwhile, Connell saluted both of her rivals who made it into the runoff, and said she was gratified by her participation in the campaign.

“We came into the race significantly later than the others,” she said. “When you run a race for only six months, it’s much more difficult to establish the broad reach with some of the groups that the other candidates have.

“I remain tremendously enthused by the campaign,” she added. “It was a good opportunity to talk about issues of importance to L.A., and I think we had an impact on the race in that regard.”

Connell said she will sit down with Hahn and Villaraigosa next week and consider whether to endorse one of them.

The other candidates could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But at his campaign party Tuesday night at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood, Wachs said he was overwhelmed by the flood of cash spent by political parties to boost rivals Villaraigosa and Soboroff. A quirk in state law allows parties to communicate with their members without disclosing how much they are spending until after the election.

“What really galled me was to pretend that they didn’t know anything about it,” Wachs said. “I mean, when’s the last time someone spent a million dollars on your behalf and you didn’t know who it was coming from?”

The longtime city councilman also blamed the media’s focus on three perceived front-runners for hampering his mayoral bid.

“But we did our best,” Wachs said. “Like my mother says, you did your best, it’s all you can do.”

Becerra, meanwhile, said he was blessed.

“We fought the fight; the future is still ahead of us,” he told supporters gathered at El Paseo Restaurant on Olvera Street late Tuesday night. “As I stand here, I stand with pride. . . . It’s not about if you don’t win, you lose. To me, I’ve won, and I hope that much of what I fought for will come to be, whoever’s going to be our next mayor.”

Becerra said he will give “serious thought” to the candidates before deciding to endorse anyone.

By Wednesday afternoon, the phone at his downtown campaign headquarters was disconnected.

*

Times staff writers Duke Helfand, Sue Fox, James Rainey and Megan Stack contributed to this story.

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Voting Patterns

The two maps below show the percentage of the vote for the two top finishers in Tuesday’s mayoral primary, broken down by Los Angeles City planning areas. The map at left shows that City Atty. James K. Hahn’s strength was concentrated in South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles. Former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa did best on the heavily Latino Eastside and in the northeast San Fernando Valley but had at least 15% of the vote in all areas. Hahn was weak on the Westside, as well as in heavily Latino areas.

Source: City of Los Angeles

Data analysis by DOUG SMITH /Los Angeles Times