Hahn Passes (a Big) Hat

Faced with the twin threats of Hollywood and San Fernando Valley secession, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn has solicited contributions ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 from companies and lobbyists who do business with the city government.

Those donations are building the L.A. United campaign treasury for the Nov. 5 election, when voters will consider both breakaway efforts. To win, the secession drives must carry a majority of voters in their own areas and in the city overall.

Hahn would not comment on his fund-raising, but the manager of his anti-secession campaign defended the mayor’s solicitations as legal and appropriate. Los Angeles ethics rules cap contributions to candidates, but do not limit donations to issue campaigns such as the pro- and anti-secession efforts.

The groups pressing for Hollywood and the Valley to leave Los Angeles also are raising money, and are taking advantage of a technicality in election rules to delay the disclosure of contributions they accept. As a result, the financial supporters of secession might not be made public until October.

Secession opponents, by contrast, will reveal their next disclosure statement in late July, when they report the sources of contributions received in the six months ending June 30. Crucial to that fund-raising drive, say business leaders, lobbyists and others, have been Hahn’s personal solicitations.

The mayor is “asking for 25 grand and up,” said a Los Angeles business executive who spoke on condition of anonymity. The executive added that larger corporations and a major bank were asked to contribute “100 grand.”

During a recent conversation about secession, one City Hall lobbyist said, Hahn asked him to raise a specific sum for the campaign.

Hahn strategist Kam Kuwata said the mayor’s phone calls are “totally appropriate.”

“He’s always known the line, and never crossed the line,” Kuwata said. “There’s no correlation with what they say and how he treats people’s issues. He’s always going to treat people’s issues on the merits.”

Kuwata added that “it would not surprise me” if Hahn were asking for as much as $100,000 from business interests.

He said the mayor’s message in the phone calls is simple: “We have a great city, and we need to keep the city together. Will you help our campaign to keep the city united?”

But Richard Katz, head of a campaign committee promoting Valley secession, criticized the mayor’s fund-raising. “There may be nothing illegal about it, but it sure raises questions of propriety,” Katz said.

Katz noted that the mayor has the power to sign or veto legislation covering everything from business taxes to zoning changes. Katz, a former state assemblyman, said he has been told by several business leaders contacted by Hahn that they feel they have no choice but to contribute. “There is no such thing as a casual phone call from the mayor,” Katz said. “Pressure doesn’t have to be applied. It’s assumed.”

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‘About the Power Elite’

The secession advocate said Hahn’s fund-raising is not a surprise. “This has always been about the power elite and the rest of the city. The downtown business community--those with access to City Hall and the mayor--have a vested interest in seeing that the powers that be are the powers that continue.”

Carol Schatz, president and chief executive officer of the Central City Assn., said her members--primarily downtown businesses--have received calls from Hahn.

“The mayor is absolutely right in making these requests,” she said. “Our members are responding very positively.”

Hahn’s predecessor, Mayor Richard Riordan, also sought financial assistance for his efforts to reform the City Charter and elect a slate of candidates to the Los Angeles school board.

Los Angeles attorney Dana Reed said Hahn has made it clear that the anti-secession campaign “is of critical importance to him.”

“Our clients are supportive of the mayor’s efforts, and they are anxious to participate,” Reed said.

City Hall lobbyist John Ek said the firm of Rose & Kindel, where he works, has been asked to assist in raising money to fight secession. He declined to identify who sought the donation for the L.A. United campaign.

“We have been approached by a number of people and are out there raising money against secession,” he said. Ek represents United Airlines and other interests at Los Angeles International Airport.

In addition to direct requests, the mayor’s anti-secession campaign has sent invitations to its first major fund-raising event, a reception and dinner next week at the posh City Club atop the Wells Fargo Center downtown.

“Please join Mayor James K. Hahn and L.A. United at a reception to keep the great city of Los Angeles together,” the invitation reads.

The $1,000 reception and $10,000 “Angel’s Circle” dinner June 25 will mark the start of what is expected to be a series of fund-raisers.

The enclosed reply card addressed to the mayor at his campaign office notes that there are no contribution limits in the battle over secession. “Corporate, labor union, [political action committee] and individual contributions are accepted.”

By the close of the latest reporting period June 30, Kuwata said, he expects the L.A. United campaign to have received $1.7 million to $2.1 million in contributions. The goal is $5 million.

With the exception of a brief year-end campaign report filed by the L.A. United committee in January, no contributions to the pro- or anti-secession efforts have been reported. July 30 is the deadline for filing a report disclosing campaign fund-raising and spending in the first half of this year.

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Contribution Reports

But some pro-secession organizations say they might not file campaign contribution reports until late in the campaign.

A group of secessionists has formed the San Fernando Valley Independence Committee. The organization is headed by Katz, a Valley VOTE board member.

LeeAnn Pelham, executive director of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, said no paperwork has been filed to form a fund-raising committee supporting secession. The paperwork will be filed soon, Katz said. He said his interpretation of the law is that until the county Board of Supervisors votes to put secession on the ballot, there is no requirement to disclose donors and amounts raised. That vote is not scheduled until Aug. 6.

“Technically, we don’t have to file until the measure is put on the ballot Aug. 6,” Katz said. “Legally, no one does. The mayor doesn’t have to.”

Katz said all contributions received by the pro-secession campaign will eventually be disclosed.

By contrast, the anti-secession group One L.A. said it plans to disclose soon who its donors are.

The group’s steering committee has agreed to disclose its financing even though it is a nonprofit organization, not a campaign committee subject to more detailed state disclosure laws, said Jeffrey Daar, a founder of the group.

“We believe in full disclosure,” he said.

Valley VOTE is a nonprofit organization, not a campaign committee. That means it cannot campaign for or against a ballot measure, but it can conduct research and provide information about an issue. In the past it has refused to disclose all of its donors.

Richard Close, the group’s chairman, said Valley VOTE has complied with the law. Any disclosure not required by state law would have to be approved by the group’s board. Close declined to comment further when asked whether the group will disclose what it receives.

Unlike Valley VOTE, any campaign committee formed by secessionists to win passage of the cityhood ballot measure would have to disclose donors and amounts for contributions of more than $100.

The Local Agency Formation Commission, which has approved resolutions to put the Valley and Hollywood measures on the ballot, has authority to adopt disclosure rules, but since its first meeting in March 2001, a subcommittee dealing with the issue has not reconvened.

Larry Calemine, executive director of LAFCO, said that the last action was a request for legal advice, but that because the advice has not been received, the subcommittee has not met.

“Until something is scheduled for the ballot, there is no requirement for disclosure,” Calemine said.

County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said she will try to get LAFCO to revisit the disclosure issue, but she noted that other members have been reluctant to require Valley VOTE to disclose where it got its money before an election was called.

“We should know who in the world is paying for all this,” Burke said, adding that without disclosure, “I don’t think the true basis for secession will come to the forefront.”

Fred Woocher, an attorney specializing in election law, said that in traditional initiatives, groups do not have to disclose financing until a measure is put on the ballot, but then they have to disclose all that was raised previously, including the cost of the petition drive.

“There certainly is an argument that there should be the same situation here,” he said.