A Closer Look at Rivals’ Claims

When they tussled over public safety and the city’s liability costs during Tuesday’s debate, each mayoral candidate oversimplified the issue or selectively picked his facts to undercut his rival.

Hahn charged in the debate--and in a new television commercial that began running Tuesday--that Villaraigosa would make public transit unsafe by reducing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s contract with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department by $57 million over four years to help pay for 850 new buses.

The two law enforcement agencies are paid by the MTA to patrol the county’s buses, subways and light rail.

“If people don’t think it’s a safe system, they’re not going to ride,” Hahn said.

But the cuts Villaraigosa has proposed would gradually reduce by about 100 the number of officers on Metro rail lines who check for passengers who haven’t paid their fares. Villaraigosa said he would replace those officers with less expensive civilian ticket-checkers.

Under his plan, Villaraigosa said he would keep about 300 police officers and sheriff’s deputies on public transportation to stop vandalism and other crimes.

And the plan could free up officers to go out on street patrol at a time when the Los Angeles Police Department is struggling to retain officers.

However, Cmdr. Robert Hansohn of the LAPD’s transit division said cuts could result in a reduced law enforcement presence overall on public transportation and less attention to problems like vandalism.

“We’d just have less officers . . . and I think it would affect the ridership,” Hansohn said. “With uniformed officers, you get higher visibility, and people are less inclined to violate the law.”

Meanwhile, the candidates couldn’t agree on which set of figures reflect what the city paid in liability last year.

Villaraigosa implied that Hahn let the city’s liability costs skyrocket during his tenure as city attorney, saying Los Angeles’ projected current liability could reach as high as $1 billion.

“There’s been no successful risk management program in this city to address those liability issues,” he said.

Hahn said the city’s liability cost last year was about $82 million, significantly smaller than the $250 million New York City spent in the same period to settle lawsuits.

“I think looking at it in relationship to the rest of the country, we’ve been doing an excellent job,” he said.

After the debate, Villaraigosa’s campaign said Hahn understated last year’s liability costs, saying it actually amounted to more than $118 million. In their tally, Villaraigosa’s campaign included the cost of a $25-million bond used to pay for a police overtime lawsuit, as well as $9.7 million in sewer liabilities and other settlements.

Hahn consultant Kam Kuwata said Hahn cited the $82-million figure because that was the amount the City Council appropriated from the general fund to the city attorney’s budget to pay for liabilities, and the other items were paid out of other sources.

Ace Smith, a consultant for Villaraigosa, also charged that the city’s liability costs have gone up “a staggering” 52% during the last six years. However, that rise is due in part to a change in how liability is being reported, said a spokeswoman for City Controller Rick Tuttle.