Hahn Leads Foes in Ready Funds for Mayor’s Race

Buoyed by the combination of strong fund-raising and an infusion of public matching money, City Atty. James K. Hahn holds a solid lead in campaign resources as the race for mayor of Los Angeles enters its final six weeks.

The latest campaign contribution reports filed Thursday or provided to The Times show that Hahn had $2.2 million in his campaign treasury at the end of the period that ended Feb. 24. That is significantly more than any of his rivals reported.

Hahn and commercial real estate broker Steve Soboroff remain the leading fund-raisers in the race, but Soboroff has spent more than $1 million since the beginning of the year, mostly on costly television ads. State Controller Kathleen Connell, the last major candidate to enter the race, raised more than any of her rivals during the first two months of the year, but she remains well behind Hahn in terms of the money she has available to spend between now and election day, April 10.

Overall, the reports filed Thursday demonstrate that, while the leading mayoral candidates have enjoyed a range of success, all are tapping significant contributor bases. The result is a mayor’s race in which four of the six leading candidates have more than $1 million on hand at the moment, and five have raised at least that amount. If no candidate wins a majority in April, a runoff election will be held June 5.

The numbers are particularly significant as the election draws closer because money is a key measure of a candidate’s ability to communicate with voters through advertising, direct mail, phone banks and other means.

The only one of the six major candidates who has never held elective office, Soboroff had to introduce himself to the voters via television to boost his name recognition. And despite his own successful fund-raising this year, which netted $334,107, his television buy put a dent in his campaign coffers going into the crucial weeks before the election.

Ace Smith, campaign consultant to Soboroff, said he was not concerned with the steep drop in his candidate’s available cash because of the amount of television advertising already aired. “We’re extremely comfortable,” he said of the campaign, its resources and active supporters. “Money is important, but it’s not everything.”

Soboroff is a millionaire who has declined to accept public matching funds under the city’s election rules. He is expected to put significant sums of his own fortune into the campaign.

Hahn, whose 20-year career at City Hall makes him much better known, followed Soboroff onto the airwaves, beginning last weekend, with ads emphasizing his long record. The timing of the television buy--so close to the end of the reporting period--served to maximize the amount of cash Hahn had on hand in the latest reports.

Spokesman Kam Kuwata said the city attorney’s strategy to conserve funds for a final push is paying off. “It gives us the opportunity to communicate with the voters of Los Angeles,” he said. “In order to be really competitive you need to reach and talk with hundreds of thousands of people every single day. We are able to do that.”

So far, Soboroff and Hahn are the only candidates to launch television advertising, traditionally the most expensive element for any campaign for a major office in the vast Los Angeles media market.

Although Soboroff has decided not to receive public money, that source of cash is clearly bolstering his rivals in the race. The city’s voter-approved public financing system matches individual contributions of as much as $500 made within a year of the election.

With the infusion of public matching funds, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa had built a $1.6-million war chest as of last weekend. Villaraigosa added $188,294 in new contributions. “We’re in excellent shape,” said Villaraigosa consultant Parke Skelton.

City Councilman Joel Wachs followed with more than $1.3 million after the public funds were added to his campaign fund-raising of $170,135. Wachs campaign manager Daniel Sena said the councilman is “happy with the progress we’ve made” in fund-raising.

Connell had slightly less than $1.3 million on hand after receiving matching funds on top of the contributions she received since early January. She collected $353,518 in contributions from the beginning of the year through last Sunday, demonstrating her ability to quickly join the upper tier of mayoral candidate fund-raisers.

John Shallman, campaign consultant to Connell, said the results demonstrate that the controller will have the resources necessary to begin broadcast advertising soon. “We expect to be able to fully fund our campaign,” he said.

Trailing the group both in fund-raising and available cash was Rep. Xavier Becerra, who had $586,555 on hand when some of his matching funds were included. Becerra continued to lag behind the others, having raised $106,390 so far this year.

Paige Richardson, Becerra’s campaign manager, said the congressman plans to run a grass-roots campaign. “We came into

this knowing that we would not have the most money and probably would have the least money,” she said. So Becerra structured his campaign to reach out to voters in neighborhoods across the city.

Because he turned down matching money, Soboroff was not bound by a $2.2-million spending limit for the primary campaign.

When Soboroff broke through that ceiling last month, he automatically freed the other five major candidates from having to live within the $2.2-million spending limit. Those candidates had agreed to limit their spending to that level as one element in a series of commitments that allows them to receive public matching money.

Soboroff’s heavy expenditures, which had been expected, ignited a record-setting, free-spending race.

Villaraigosa campaign consultant Skelton said he still expects that Soboroff will have to pump some of his personal wealth into his campaign. “He doesn’t have enough cash on hand to sustain his campaign at this point,” Skelton said.

If and when Soboroff exceeds $30,000 in contributions to his own effort, the city’s $1,000 limit on contributions to the other candidates can increase as much as $7,000.

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Fund-Raising by Mayoral Candidates

The following figures are the total contributions, spending and cash on hand for the six major mayoral campaigns as of Feb. 24, ranked in order of available cash.

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Candidate Contributions Expenditures Cash on Hand James K. Hahn $2,714,094 $1,115,656 $2,210,127 Antonio Villaraigosa $1,695,383 $400,007 $1,643,903 Joel Wachs $1,496,366 $399,652 $1,353,231 Kathleen Connell $1,102,864 $165,009 $1,288,217 Steve Soboroff $2,855,918 $2,358,544 $623,911 Xavier Becerra $875,720 $416,883 $586,555

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Note: Cash on hand figures for all candidates except Soboroff include public matching funds.

Figures do not include campaign debts.

Sources: City Ethics Commission, campaign finance reports