Hahn Assails Breakup Effort at Fund-Raiser

Collecting more than $200,000 for his anti-secession campaign, Mayor James K. Hahn warned an influential audience Tuesday night that “Los Angeles will lose its place on the world stage” if San Fernando Valley and Hollywood break away.

Addressing a fund-raiser at the exclusive City Club downtown, Hahn expressed anger at the twin secession measures on the Nov. 5 ballot and the effect that secession would have on the nation’s second-largest city.

He said businesses already are “taking a deep breath” on investment in the city because of uncertainty about secession.

“There is no question that breaking up Los Angeles slams the brakes on the economy,” he said.

The mayor made his pointed remarks before an audience opposed to secession, and representing a who’s who of City Hall lobbyists, contractors and commissioners, as well as business executives and labor leaders, many of whom are dependent on the city government.

More than 125 people paid $1,000 for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, and some paid $10,000 or more for a private dinner with Hahn.

Hahn thanked them “for all the checks you brought with you” and said with their contributions his L.A. United campaign now has more than $1.5 million.

The money will be used for a massive campaign to counter the claim of secessionists that separate cities would mean lower taxes and better services for residents.

“We want to expose the lies,” Hahn said. “We want to expose the snake oil. We want to expose that the people are being sold a bill of goods.”

He appealed to the crowd to use their connections to spread the message against secession.

“You’ve got to be crazy to break this city apart,” Hahn said. “It’s a great city, a city of opportunity. It’s on a roll ... I don’t want to lose that momentum.”

Among those in attendance were Airport Commission President Ted Stein; Carol Schatz, head of the Central City Assn.; lobbyists Joe Cerrell and Howard Sunkin; and labor leaders Julie Butcher and Charley Mims.

“You are an army that we need. We are going to build an even bigger army,” Hahn said, adding that the campaign will include business, labor, religious leaders and “just folks.”

The amount raised at the event will not be disclosed until July 31. But another group fighting secession revealed its backers Tuesday and challenged the secession group Valley VOTE to do the same.

The group, One Los Angeles, has received more than a third of its financial support from labor unions, with much of the remainder coming from Valley residents and businesses, according to a donors’ list it released.

The organization disclosed the names of the 115 donors, who have given a total of $33,230, as a challenge to pro-secession Valley VOTE to do the same. Both organizations say they are not required to release the information.

“Valley VOTE has steadfastly refused to reveal who is paying the bills for its advocacy of secession,’ said Jeff Daar, an attorney and co-chairman of One Los Angeles. “There may be no legal obligation to disclose their fund-raising, but there is a moral and ethical obligation.”

Richard Close, Valley VOTE chairman, said it has no plans to make public the amount and sources of its contributions, but said the group’s board will discuss that possibility.

“Because of the fear of retribution by the mayor, we told our contributors we would not release their names,” Close said.

He has said that some donors fear they would not get city contracts if Hahn knew they had supported secession, which the mayor’s office has denied.

Valley VOTE and One Los Angeles say campaign finance disclosure laws do not apply to them because they are nonprofit educational groups, not campaign committees.

The list released Tuesday showed that Daar and One Los Angeles Co-Chairman Larry Levine, a political consultant, were the leading contributors to the group, giving $5,900 and $7,878, respectively.

The Department of Water and Power Management Employees Assn. contributed $3,000, and the Los Angeles Professional Managers Assn., Los Angeles Fire Chief Officers Assn. and Service Employee International Union’s Local 343 gave $2,500 each. The United Teachers of Los Angeles contributed $1,787. Smaller donations came from unions representing iron workers and laborers.

Union leaders say secession could leave Los Angeles city workers unprotected once their contracts expire. Secessionists say the unions would be free to negotiate new agreements with a Valley city.

“This confirms the suspicion that this is just a front group for labor unions,” Close said of the labor contributors. “They are opposed because their leadership is concerned that [it] will lose power if there is a separate, smaller city.”

Levine said his group consists of Valley activists who merely share an anti-secession philosophy with the unions.

Also Tuesday, Close denounced as “misleading” a private poll released Tuesday that indicated most voters oppose Valley secession when told of a breakup’s potential “cost to taxpayers.”

The poll by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates focused on the so-called yearly alimony payment a Valley city would pay Los Angeles.