Hayden Takes Heat for Turning Down City’s Match

Always the maverick, Tom Hayden is alone among 10 candidates for the Los Angeles City Council’s 5th District seat to reject city matching funds, indicating he plans to make big loans to his campaign.

Generally, however, Hayden endorses the idea of public matching funds. Unlike candidates in other races who say it is inappropriate to use taxpayer funds for political campaigns, Hayden of Sherman Oaks, a former state senator, said matching funds level the playing field.

“It allows underfunded candidates to participate,” Hayden said. “It allows candidates independent of special interest groups to participate.”

Candidates receive city funds as dollar-for-dollar matches for individual contributions, in exchange for agreeing to spend no more than $330,000 in the April 10 election.

Hayden said his late entry into the council race and a bad experience in trying to secure matching funds during his 1997 mayoral campaign led him to decide to jump-start his campaign with personal loans, so there is no uncertainty about paying campaign vendors.

“It was a nightmare to get matching funds turned around in time to pay for our mail in 1997,” Hayden said. “I didn’t want to go through that again.”

Candidates who accept matching funds cannot make personal loans to their campaign of more than $25,000. Hayden has already loaned his campaign $20,000.

Steve Saltzman, who ran up against a costly Hayden campaign 18 years ago for the Assembly and is up against him again, said he fears Hayden might use his personal wealth to fund a campaign in excess of the $330,000 limit.

“I hope he will agree not to try to buy the seat,” Saltzman said.

Jack Weiss, another candidate, also voiced concern.

“The voters passed campaign finance reform for a reason, to reduce the influence of money and special interests on elections,” Weiss said. “It’s clear Tom Hayden has decided to let his checkbook and not the voters do the talking.”

Hayden, an author who was once Jane Fonda’s mate, said he intends to voluntarily abide by spending limits, and will raise all of the money for his campaign from supporters, paying back any loans he makes.

“I wanted to show the seriousness of my candidacy by lending money to my campaign,” he said.

MOVE OVER, BRAD SHERMAN: The balding congressman has made a name for himself handing out colorful combs on the campaign trail over the years, ever since he ran for the state Board of Equalization in 1990.

But Sherman--who typically dispenses his combs with a joke about his thinning hair--isn’t the only pol working the personal hygiene angle these days.

Francine Oschin, a longtime aide to Councilman Hal Bernson, is doling out red, white and blue Emory boards emblazoned with her name as she stumps for the open seat in the 3rd Council District. Oschin, who gets her wine-colored fingernails done twice a month, said the rough little trinkets are a hit with men and women alike.

“Everybody needs a nail file,” she said. “Even when men say to me, ‘I don’t file my nails,’ I say, ‘Well, what about your toenails? You don’t chew them, do you?’ ”

As Sherman himself once stated so eloquently: “My goal, besides constant, shameless self-promotion, is a well-coiffed group of delegates.”

Oschin, who boasts a complete collection of Sherman combs, seems to agree. She’s convinced that deep down, even macho guys who disdain manicured nails could use a quick brush with an “Elect Francine Oschin” file.

“I mean, even if you don’t clip them,” she said, “you need to smooth them.”

FREE RIDE: One candidate who doesn’t have to worry about fund-raising is City Councilman Alex Padilla of Pacoima, the only Los Angeles city incumbent not facing a challenger in the April 10 election.

Political consultant Rick Taylor, who worked on Padilla’s campaign in 1999, said it is highly unusual for an incumbent to go unopposed, noting even veteran Council President John Ferraro always draws a crowd of challengers.

Padilla, who at 27 is the youngest council member, said he would like to think there are no challengers because he is doing a good job representing the northeast San Fernando Valley’s 7th Council District.

“I hope it’s a reflection of the success I’ve had in my first term and the faith and trust I’ve continued to build in my district,” Padilla said, citing his work to pave more streets, fix more sidewalks and start the ball rolling for a new police station and children’s museum in the northeast Valley.

Others say the lack of challengers might have something to do with fresh memories of the 1999 election, in which Padilla, backed by a massive union support, trounced a large field of contenders led by health agency director Corinne Sanchez. Padilla won the runoff with 67.2% of the vote.

“He certainly is very strong politically,” said Steve Gray-Barkan, the political strategist for Sanchez two years ago.

“We had a strong campaign and he was pretty much invincible,” Gray-Barkan said. “I don’t see anyone thinking they can beat him.”

Union activist and bus driver Benny Bernal had filed papers with the Ethics Commission to raise money for a challenge to Padilla, but Bernal did not file a required declaration of intent to run for office with the city clerk by Tuesday’s deadline.

Bernal said challenging Padilla would have been a “hard battle” but maintained his decision had nothing to do with being afraid of the incumbent.

“I thought it could be done,” he said. “It’s more of a personal decision for me. I’m a father of six, and my son kept asking me why I couldn’t be home.”

Bernal said no one else in the community was willing to step forward and challenge Padilla despite efforts by a group of dissatisfied activists to recruit challengers.

Padilla might have helped head off a challenge when he shelved a controversial redevelopment project in his district that had opponents foaming at the mouth.

Taylor said the lack of a challenger will be good for the district, because it means Padilla can focus on serving constituents instead of fund-raising.

But Valley political strategist Arnie Steinberg said it is always better for a council district to have a contested election where candidates can debate the future of the area.

“I don’t think it’s healthy for an incumbent to be unopposed,” he said.