Hahn Accused of Pushing Firms to Give to Anti-Secession Fund

Assemblyman Keith Richman, a candidate for San Fernando Valley mayor, accused Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn on Friday of using “shakedown” tactics to pressure city contractors to contribute money to his anti-secession campaign.

Richman, a Northridge Republican, said much of the nearly $2 million raised by Hahn for the campaign against the Valley and Hollywood cityhood measures has come from firms and individuals with business ties to City Hall.

“They raised this money in one of the most arrogant and brazen shakedown schemes in recent political history,” Richman said during a news conference outside the headquarters of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

He singled out a $10,000 contribution from Fleishman-Hillard Inc., a public relations and marketing firm, that last month received an $800,000 extension of its $15.3-million, three-year contract with the DWP.

Richman said “it speaks volumes that a top-flight marketing firm feels it necessary to contribute to the mayor’s favorite projects in order to get city business.”

Hahn’s office and Fleishman-Hillard representatives said there was no link between the contract extension and the contribution.

“There is never a quid pro quo in anything Jim Hahn does,” said Kam Kuwata, a political advisor to the mayor. “He makes his decisions based on the merits.”

Doug Dowie, an executive at Fleishman-Hillard, said Richman’s accusation was “absurd.”

“We’ve had a contract with the DWP before Keith Richman ever heard the word secession,” Dowie said.

Richman questioned the value of the contract itself. As a virtual monopoly in Los Angeles, he said, the DWP does not need to spend $16 million on marketing and advertising.

The assemblyman said the money could go toward hiring police officers and filling potholes.

Richman also raised questions about $5,500 in contributions to the anti-secession campaign from executives of Capital Vision Equities.

On Thursday, the city redevelopment board approved, with the mayor’s strong support, an infusion of $42 million in public funds for a retail and commercial project developed by Capital Vision Equities in the Crenshaw area.

“Look up and down the list of donors to the mayor’s committee--almost all the large-scale donors on that list stand to make a lot of money from having Jim Hahn in their back pocket,” Richman said.

Kuwata said there was no relationship between Hahn’s support for the Capital Vision subsidies and the contributions.

The mayor’s anti-secession drive had raised $1.93 million as of June 30, compared with about $75,000 raised by the Valley independence campaign. The Hollywood breakaway movement has brought in roughly $160,000.

Richman is the only well-known candidate for Valley mayor. The filing period for candidates closes Aug. 9.

The mayoral post and 14 Valley city council seats accompany the secession measure on the Nov. 5 ballot. If secession loses, none of the offices will exist.

Meanwhile, a group of African American leaders on Friday was briefed on a study by UCLA professor Eugene Grigsby that found secession would hurt blacks politically and economically.

The study was commissioned by Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

The findings suggest that African Americans would have little political clout in the Valley if it seceded.

It also concluded that secession could give the Valley an advantage in attracting high-tech and manufacturing jobs, to the detriment of African Americans in Los Angeles.

Burke and former Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, a Los Angeles City Council candidate, said they have still not taken a position on Valley secession, and will wait to do so until the study is finalized in September.

They were among those briefed on the study.

Secession supporters have dismissed the study as flawed and biased.