Soboroff to Begin TV Ads in Run for Mayor

Attempting to move from relative obscurity and into a contender’s role in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, businessman Steve Soboroff will launch two television ads next week that introduce him as “a bighearted tough guy who gets results.”

Soboroff is beginning his television campaign before five other top contenders, who lead him in early polls. He is trying to retrace the political path of his mentor and biggest backer, Mayor Richard Riordan, another private-sector Republican who advertised heavily in 1993 to overcome his lack of name recognition.

Soboroff’s 30-second advertisements appeal to a moderate and conservative voter base, with a pro-cop and anti-L.A. Unified School District message. But the spots also suggest the candidate is no hard-liner. They depict a bespectacled and sweater-clad Soboroff, a 30-year participant in the Big Brother mentoring program, as someone who wants to work with kids, senior citizens and others.

Both of the ads conclude: “Steve Soboroff, a problem solver, not a politician.”

Soboroff’s opponents questioned whether the commercials will be shown often enough to make an impression on voters. The advertisements will run on network affiliates alongside morning and evening news programs and during a variety of programs that air on cable stations.

Soboroff campaign consultant Ace Smith said that about $200,000 in advertising in the first week will be enough to “give us good repetition so this message will have plenty of time to seep into voters’ minds.”

Soboroff has registered in the low single digits in early polls in the mayor’s race, not unlike Riordan in 1993. But opponents have questioned whether the wealthy commercial real estate broker can spend as much on advertising as Riordan, a venture capitalist whose fortune was estimated at more than $100 million.

That question remains unanswered, as does the puzzle of whether an overwhelmingly Democratic city is once again prepared to buck tradition and elect a Republican mayor.

Soboroff’s first television advertisement tries to strike a balance, appealing to a conservative base of voters and reaching out to others he will need to win the mayor’s office.

The commercial mentions Soboroff’s ties, both to business and to the Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles, where he served as a volunteer mentor for years and now holds the title of chairman emeritus.

An excerpt from a Los Angeles Magazine article appears on the screen. The article calls Soboroff: “A bighearted tough guy who takes a project by the horns and gets it done.” The voice-over echoes that message.

Not included in the ad was another line from the magazine article on the most powerful people in Los Angeles. It describes Soboroff’s “downside”: “Notoriously short temper.”

After the short introduction, the candidate’s ad features Soboroff in his library, saying: “It’s time to stop fighting cops and get back to fighting crime.”

That message pointedly addresses one aspect of the city’s law enforcement problems, an uptick in crime, while suggesting that another aspect, police abuses and civilian oversight, have been overblown.

During campaign appearances, Soboroff puts his concern even more succinctly, saying that things have gotten so bad that LAPD officers who pull motorists over are forced to hand them a card that says: “Tell me if I was rude to you.”

Actually, LAPD officers hand out business cards with only their names on them, said a Police Department spokesman.

But Smith said Soboroff’s point is that “officers are not being allowed to do their jobs because so many groups have put them in a state of siege.”

Expected to appeal to many of the same conservative voters is Soboroff’s call in the ad to “make neighborhood school districts, by breaking up the downtown bureaucracy at LAUSD.”

The second advertisement has Soboroff on camera, talking tough about gangs and crime, interspersed with a female voice-over and a softer message about the candidate’s involvement with the Big Brother program and his plan to “recruit kids at risk” into anti-gang programs.

Soboroff will provide details of the gang program later. Essentially it would be designed to get the most troubled kids into new and existing programs to “recruit” them away from gangs, Soboroff said.

He believes that, too often, only children with responsible parents or guardians get such attention and that those most in danger get left by the wayside.

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Ad Watch: A Look at the Candidates’ Commercials

Steve Soboroff plans to launch the first two television advertisements of the Los Angeles mayoral campaign next week. The initial run will include limited broadcast spots around morning and evening news shows and a more extensive airing on cable stations.

Steve Soboroff

Ad No. 1

Text:

Woman’s voice-over: A leader in business and Big Brothers of L.A., Steve Soboroff has volunteered his unique experience to tackle tough city problems. Called the bighearted tough guy who gets results, now Steve Soboroff is a common-sense candidate for mayor.

Soboroff: It’s time to stop fighting cops and get back to fighting crime. And to improve education, make neighborhood school districts by breaking up the downtown bureaucracy at LAUSD.

Voice-over: Steve Soboroff, a problem solver, not a politician.

Ad No. 2

Text:

Soboroff: Something’s got to be done when gang members outnumber cops 7 to 1.

Woman’s voice-over: A leader in Big Brothers for 30 years, Steve Soboroff understands mentors make a difference.

Soboroff: We need aggressive prosecution of gangs, drugs and illegal guns.

Voice-over: And as mayor, Steve Soboroff’s new crime prevention plan will battle the growth of gangs by recruiting kids at risk.

Soboroff: Before the gangs get them first.

Voice-over: Steve Soboroff, a problem solver, not a politician.

Analysis

The two 30-second spots introduce the commercial real estate broker from Pacific Palisades to viewers who have probably never heard of him. They depict him with children and senior citizens in parks, at a school with a young girl and with a multiethnic group in front of a map of Los Angeles.

The ads attempt to portray Soboroff as a tough, no-nonsense leader, but one sensitive enough to work with young people and care about their futures. His stress on supporting police, rather than reforming the Police Department, is expected to appeal to moderate and conservative voters, as is his appeal for breaking up the school district.

The “bighearted tough guy” line comes from a Los Angeles Magazine story. The TV spot does not include the magazine’s description of Soboroff’s “notoriously short temper.”