Activist Is Backing Villaraigosa, Not Connell, for L.A. Mayor

A Westside community leader whom state Controller Kathleen Connell listed as a backer of her mayoral bid is actually supporting former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa.

Cindy Horn, an environmentalist and wife of Warner Bros. President Alan Horn, said Thursday that she was “surprised” to read a Jan. 22 article in The Times in which Connell’s campaign cited her as someone endorsing the controller.

Horn, who was reached by phone Thursday during a trip to New York, was reluctant to criticize Connell, but confirmed that she told Connell in the fall that she was backing Villaraigosa, with whom she has worked on environmental issues. She never gave Connell permission to use her name publicly as a supporter, Horn said.

During a phone conversation last year, she said, Connell told Horn about a list of people endorsing her candidacy and Horn said she agreed to consider a double endorsement. But “that was never confirmed,” she added Thursday.

She did contribute $1,000 to both campaigns last year.

Julie Buckner, Connell’s campaign manager, said the campaign believed that Horn was supporting both candidates.

“It was clearly a misunderstanding,” Buckner said. “What we understood was that she was a supporter and had been a contributor.”

Connell’s endorsements include the Los Angeles chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Political Committee and developer Alan Casdan.