Hahn Founds Panel to Fight Secession

After years of calls for the breakup of Los Angeles, Mayor James K. Hahn announced Thursday that he is forming a campaign to fight back--an effort that will include some of the city’s top political operatives and at least one of its richest benefactors.

Hahn filed papers with the California secretary of state’s office establishing a political committee called L.A. United, which will spearhead a campaign opposing a possible November 2002 ballot measure for secession of the San Fernando Valley.

“I believe it’s absolutely imperative I do everything I can do to keep the city together,” Hahn said in an interview Thursday.

“I think the people who want to divide the city have had the luxury of being out there by themselves, without anybody providing the opposite view,” he added. “I will not allow my city to be divided.”

Filing the papers cleared the way for Hahn and others to begin raising money for a campaign to keep Los Angeles whole--a task made simpler by the fact that there are no limits to the amounts that supporters can give or the campaign can spend on a ballot measure.

Secession advocates denounced Hahn’s creation of a political committee before a study on the feasibility of creating a new city has been completed, and cast the move as an attempt by powerful city interests to dominate the debate.

“This is coming down to the residents of Los Angeles against the leadership of Los Angeles,” said Jeff Brain, president of the pro-secession group Valley VOTE. “I’ll put the 3.7 million people of Los Angeles and their good judgment against the money the mayor can raise any day.”

Already, Hahn has lined up some of the city’s biggest political players on his side of the debate. On Thursday, billionaire Eli Broad said he plans to be one of the committee’s largest donors. Broad has given lavishly to political and philanthropic efforts, and his presence alone ensures that secession opponents can field a significant campaign.

Broad said he would contribute to the mayor’s campaign and would urge other business leaders to do so as well.

“I absolutely would, because I think breaking up the city would be dreadful,” he said.

Hahn has also enlisted some of the city’s top political players to assist his effort. Attorney Bill Wardlaw, one of Los Angeles’ most feared political operatives, will run the campaign, along with consultants Bill Carrick and Kam Kuwata. That trio helped Hahn beat former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa in the bruising mayoral race last spring.

They helped Hahn raise and spend about $7 million in that campaign, despite Broad and some of the city’s other leading political donors lining up behind Villaraigosa. Carrick said Thursday that he expects the campaign against secession to raise at least $5 million.

“We’re going to run a first-rate, top-of-the-line campaign,” Carrick said. “We’re going to raise the money to communicate our message and make the strongest case possible for keeping the city together.”

By rapidly moving toward a formal campaign and drafting some of the city’s most experienced politicos, Hahn is placing himself squarely in the middle of the effort, a position that carries some political risk, since he was elected in part because of the support he received from voters in the Valley.

Mayor Heads the Campaign Committee

Hahn has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the secession bid over the last month, calling it “untenable” and “the lazy way out.”

And even as he launches a campaign against it, he is vowing to persuade its advocates that they are better off staying with Los Angeles. He has pledged to improve city services and make City Hall more responsive.

“I have to have a very strong hands-on management role in this effort, because as mayor of this city, there’s really no other individual who can speak for the city of Los Angeles more than the mayor can,” Hahn, who is chairman of the campaign committee, said Thursday.

Carrick said Hahn will be the campaign “quarterback” in plotting strategy and rallying opposition to secession.

“I think we have gotten to a point where we need to resolve this and have a vote,” Carrick said.

Secession advocates, who complain that the city has not done a good enough job providing services, said the mayor’s move will not derail their efforts. They called the creation of the campaign committee evidence of Hahn’s unwillingness to relinquish power.

“I think he is putting his political ambitions first,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE. “In order to protect his job, he is going to try and defeat [secession] any way he can. I think he will lose a lot of support in the San Fernando Valley because of what he’s doing.”

Others saw the committee as a sign that city officials are more intent on waging a political campaign than making the city work better.

“What this represents is the downtown special interests circling the wagons to protect their power base,” said former state Assemblyman Richard Katz, a Valley VOTE board member. He said Hahn’s involvement could be a possible conflict of interest, since he will be campaigning as head of the city government, someone who has the power to sign or veto legislation.

“The fact that the mayor is heading the committee and literally putting the campaign in City Hall raises serious questions,” Katz said. “Anyone who comes before the City Council now has to recognize the political interests of the mayor.”

Hahn said the campaign’s political activity would remain separate from city business.

“I will be very careful not to use city resources in connection with any political campaign,” he said. “But the message I’m going to be talking about daily in my role as mayor is the same message as the campaign: This city is working.”

The mayor’s early focus on secession--it is not expected to appear on the ballot until next November--highlights the issue’s growing prominence and the increasing seriousness with which City Hall regards it.

Union Support Is Considered Crucial

The formation of the committee represents one aspect of the response, but Hahn has also been working with city labor unions to secure their support. Such backing is considered important in municipal campaigns because unions are one of the few interests with enough politically engaged members to supply substantial numbers of volunteers.

But labor’s support is no guarantee of victory. Most of the region’s leading unions backed Villaraigosa in the campaign against Hahn.

Carrick said the mayor and his team are prepared to wage a vigorous campaign using all the tools of a top political operation: television and radio ads, mailers, phone banks and grass-roots work.

“We don’t intend to lose,” he said. “We’re going to raise as much as we need.”

Secession backers countered that they will be able to amass enough money to compete with Hahn’s campaign, although they said his announcement will speed up their efforts to form a campaign committee. Close said he now expects that to happen soon after the holidays.

Other Valley residents welcomed the mayor’s efforts. Larry Levine, who helped organize the anti-secession group One Los Angeles, said, “The more people speaking out and enunciating the reason why secession is a bad idea, the better.”