Soboroff Tops Spending Limit, Freeing Others of the Restriction

Mayoral candidate Steve Soboroff announced Thursday that he already has spent more than $2.2 million, releasing other candidates from that spending limit and opening the door to a free-spending, record-setting fight to the finish in the mayor’s race.

Soboroff’s campaign sent a one-sentence letter advising the city Ethics Commission that he had exceeded the $2.2-million spending level as of Thursday.

The five other major candidates in the race had all pledged not to spend more than that amount in order to receive partial public financing for their own campaigns.

Soboroff, a commercial real estate broker, was the only one of the leading contenders who refused to take the matching money from taxpayers. As a result, he was not bound by the spending limit.

The moment he crossed that expenditure threshold, the others were freed to spend whatever they can on their campaigns and still receive public financing.

The rapid spending pace by Soboroff deals a partial blow to the city’s voter-approved campaign reform law, because it puts pressure on rivals to step up their own fund-raising and spending.

“One of the purposes of the [matching] program is to reduce overall campaign spending,” said Ethics Commission spokeswoman Barbara Freeman. “The program participants voluntarily agree to do that so long as everybody in the race abides by that limit. If their opponent chooses not to, then the participants are no longer bound by the limit.”

Soboroff campaign consultant Ace Smith said his candidate, a former Recreation and Parks Department commissioner but the only contender who has not held elective office, has no choice but to spend more to become known to the voters.

Soboroff has stepped up his campaign spending in recent weeks, becoming the first candidate to buy expensive television advertising. He has spent more than $900,000 since the beginning of the year, with more than $700,000 of that going to TV ads through this weekend.

Soboroff broke through the spending barrier nearly three weeks sooner than his mentor and political role model, Mayor Richard Riordan, did in 1993 when he came from obscurity to win election.

The move drew immediate criticism from some rival campaigns.

“I think that says [Soboroff] is a wealthy businessman who is making an unprecedented effort to buy an election in Los Angeles,” said Parke Skelton, campaign consultant to former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa.

“He has decided to reject the will of the voters and the spirit of the campaign reform law to spend virtually unlimited sums of money in this election,” Skelton added.

Rival campaigns said they were surprised at the amount Soboroff is spending. He has bought television ads for nearly a month, but at a level that his opponents said might not be penetrating the public’s psyche.

“We expected this,” said Kam Kuwata, a strategist and spokesman for City Atty. James K. Hahn. “The only surprising thing or question is: Has he gotten the bang for the buck? That is an awful lot of money to be spent so soon.”

Soboroff’s action does not trigger the other provision that campaign observers have been watching for: the infusion of more of his personal wealth. If Soboroff exceeds $30,000 in personal contributions to his own campaign, that would lift the city’s contribution limit of $1,000 per supporter for others in the race.

His rivals then would be free to go back to their contributors and raise up to $7,000 from each source.

The rule is designed to let candidates compete with others who have great personal wealth.

“In $1,000 increments there is no way to be competitive with this kind of money,” Skelton said. “But with the higher limits, we will be able to exceed the $2.2-million cap by some measure. I don’t know how much yet.”

All of the other major candidates in the race--Hahn, Villaraigosa, Councilman Joel Wachs, state Controller Kathleen Connell and Rep. Xavier Becerra--plan to collect public matching funds to augment their own fund-raising.