Valley City Advocates Throw Independence Ball

Jamie Cordaro is an electrical contractor. He wears work clothes during the day, and sometimes he mixes metaphors when he speaks.

But on Friday night, at the San Fernando Valley Independence Ball in Woodland Hills, Cordaro wore a tuxedo, handed out fake $1-million bills with his picture on them, and spoke passionately about his support for secession.

“In every campaign, there is going to be bumps in the road,” said Cordaro, a city council candidate in the proposed Valley municipality. “This is a new street we’re driving down. It could be a dead end or it could be a freeway.”

The ball was the first major fund-raiser for the Valley breakup campaign, which is sorely in need of money. The secessionists say they have raised about $350,000 so far, not counting Friday’s receipts. Mayor James K. Hahn’s campaign against secession has collected nearly $2 million.

Beyond money, Friday’s bash at the Warner Center Hilton, featuring mariachis and a middle-aged color guard dressed as Revolutionary War rebels, was a morale booster.

“It’s everybody’s night,” said attorney Bill Powers, who organized the affair. “You know, the Romans used to have a feast before they went into battle, and that’s what we’re doing here.”

The contrasts between the secessionist ball and Hahn’s biggest fund-raiser were striking. The mayor threw his bash in June at the posh City Club downtown. At $1,000 a plate--$10,000 for a private reception--it collected $200,000.

The Valley separatists kept their ticket prices at $100. With about 300 on hand, the take was expected to be about $30,000, not including costs.

The ball represented the good news and bad news of the secession movement. It’s a campaign where anybody who can scrape together $100 can go to the year’s biggest fund-raiser, which is a boon for those seeking inclusiveness. But that doesn’t add up to a lot of money.

“We would have publicized it differently,” griped one campaign insider, concerned that the ball, which had been in the works for months, would do little to boost the movement’s financial fortunes.

But to many secessionists, that isn’t the point.

“You don’t have to be part of the downtown establishment to have a role here,” said Richard Katz, the secession campaign chairman and Friday’s master of ceremonies. “It’s a chance for regular Valley citizens ... who believe in a smaller government, to actually participate in the process.”