Villaraigosa Ad Attacks Hahn’s Police Proposal

Amplifying his attacks against his rival in the race for mayor of Los Angeles, former Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa launched a television advertisement Friday that accuses City Atty. James K. Hahn of backing a compressed police work schedule that would “threaten public safety by taking police off our streets.”

The advertisement aired for the first time on a day when Villaraigosa also criticized Hahn for not doing more to limit city liability costs that the city controller’s office has projected at up to $1 billion.

The new attacks on Hahn came less than two weeks after Villaraigosa, the former Assembly speaker, asked Hahn to pledge that both men speak only about their own records and plans for the city. The Hahn campaign volleyed back Friday that Villaraigosa was distorting and misleading the public.

The brickbats flew on a day of several other developments, including the state Democratic Party’s agreement to voluntarily report the previously secret source of huge donations that have been helping to fuel Villaraigosa’s mayoral bid. Hahn and others have fiercely criticized those contributions for undermining the city’s campaign finance rules.

It is Villaraigosa’s 30-second ad, however, that is likely to reach the widest audience of voters in the near term, with slightly more than three weeks before the June 5 election. The ad begins as a retort to Hahn’s allegations that Villaraigosa is soft on crime, then turns the tables to say that the city attorney’s backing of three-day weeks for some police officers is wrong.

The ad attempts to use a Times article on the candidates’ squabble over public safety issues to say that Hahn has distorted Villaraigosa’s record. “Would Jim Hahn say anything to get elected?” a male narrator then asks.

The ad goes on to report a Los Angeles Daily News editorial that hit Hahn for backing the so-called 3-12 police schedule, which would allow officers to work 12-hour days, three days a week.

Though a Times story reported that Hahn’s portrayal of his rival’s crime voting record was sometimes distorted and out of context, the newspaper also stated that Villaraigosa has demonstrated a liberal voting record on criminal justice issues, influenced by his background as a board member for the ACLU in Los Angeles.

The dispute over the 3-12 schedule also is more nuanced than either candidate has indicated. Hahn signed a pledge to the city’s police union, the Police Protective League, to enact the compressed schedule for some officers within two months of taking office as mayor. He did so just before the union’s board recommended that he be endorsed for mayor.

Villaraigosa earlier signed a different pledge, saying he would enact a compressed schedule. At frequent campaign appearances in recent months he said he favors four-day workweeks for some officers.

LAPD management and officials at City Hall have argued that the 3-12 schedule would potentially take officers off the street and harm programs like community policing. The union, in contrast, has produced a report showing potential savings in the millions from a three-day week and an increase in police coverage.

Hahn spokesman Kam Kuwata said that the Villaraigosa ad includes multiple distortions and misrepresentations and that Villaraigosa also has proven that his call for a campaign without attacks is disingenuous.

“It’s somewhat hypocritical to say I want to run a positive campaign and not talk about my opponent and then do this,” Kuwata said. “It’s saying one thing and doing another.”

Earlier Friday, Villaraigosa had hit Hahn on another front, saying the city attorney has not followed through on earlier proposals by the city that could have cut liability expenses substantially.

The Villaraigosa critiques and the endorsement Friday by City Controller Rick Tuttle appear designed to position the former legislator as a sober financial manager.

Hahn’s campaign aides said that blaming Hahn for the city’s liability costs is unfair. They said the true liability problem for the city is the spiraling costs of the state’s electricity crisis, which they said Villaraigosa helped caused by voting to deregulate the power industry.

The California Democratic Party, meanwhile, moved to defuse an ongoing controversy over the flood of money it has poured into the mayor’s race, without having to report its source in a timely manner.

Party Chairman Art Torres said in a statement that the party agreed to make voluntary disclosures under the city’s recently adopted disclosure law. Torres said information on contributions and expenditures would be provided, despite the fact that a preliminary analysis by the state Fair Political Practices Commission staff found that local governments cannot impose such disclosure requirements.

“Although we are confident the FPPC commissioners will agree with their staff and find the city’s rules invalid, we will fully report contributions between now and the election,” Torres said. “The June 5 Los Angeles election should be about issues of importance to the citizens of that city and not about campaign reporting stories. For that reason we will voluntarily comply with the city’s new laws.”

For the longer term, attorneys for the Democratic and Republican parties are mounting a vigorous challenge to the city’s new requirements. Both parties are arguing that the city rules conflict with state law and should be prohibited. The state political watchdog agency will consider the issue at its June 8 meeting.