City Attorney to Seek a Second 4-Year Term

Ending speculation that he would challenge Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn in 2005, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo filed paperwork Wednesday to seek a second term, saying he wants to stay in his current job for another four years.

“I’ve decided that at this moment in my career, and at this moment in the life of Los Angeles, this is the place where I can make the biggest difference,” Delgadillo said during an interview in his City Hall office. “I’m trying to become the best city attorney this city has ever had, and if I can do that, then my future will take care of itself.”

Delgadillo’s decision opens the field for contenders against Hahn, who filed for reelection this spring and already has started raising money for the effort.

Hahn said he did not know what kind of opposition he will face in his reelection campaign.

“There’s no way of telling,” the mayor said during an interview in Sacramento, where he met privately with Gov. Gray Davis to talk about the state budget crisis. “We’re still two years out. It’s early enough for me to say I’m running. I’m very clear about that, and I’m out building support for that. But it’s too early to know what kind of opposition will surface.”

Political strategist Rick Taylor said Delgadillo’s decision should come as a relief to the Hahn camp. As a moderate Democrat and the city’s highest-ranking elected Latino, the city attorney would have been able to garner significant support in the business community and among Latino voters, Taylor said. “Rocky would have been a very formidable candidate if he had jumped in,” he said.

No one has announced a campaign against the mayor, but possible candidates being discussed include Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who split with the mayor after Hahn opposed his reappointment as police chief; Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge), who ran for mayor of a new San Fernando Valley city during last fall’s unsuccessful secession vote; former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg; and state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar).

Last year, entrepreneur and basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who was upset by the mayor’s opposition to Parks’ reappointment, said he would consider a bid against Hahn, but since then has not publicly discussed the prospect.

Newly elected Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who lost to Hahn in the 2001 mayoral campaign, said repeatedly during his council race that he would not use the position as a steppingstone to take Hahn on again.

“I still don’t see a significant candidate on the horizon,” said political consultant Harvey Englander, noting that Hahn has repaired his relationship with many union leaders who backed Villaraigosa in the last election.

For his part, Delgadillo said he has fielded questions about his next political move nearly every day. He said he ultimately concluded that he wants to continue his work as city attorney because there is more he wants to accomplish.

“I love my job,” Delgadillo said. “I can’t wait to come to work every day. The reason why I love it is because we have been able to make a difference. It’s not as much as a difference as I would like, and I think we can do much, much more.”

One of Delgadillo’s biggest efforts was the launch of the neighborhood prosecutor program, which placed 18 deputy city attorneys in police stations around the city to tackle quality-of-life problems.

This year, he hoped to double the program, but because of the city’s strapped finances, was able to secure only enough money for an additional nine prosecutors.

So far, no one has filed papers to challenge Delgadillo’s reelection bid.

Hahn, who served as city attorney for 16 years before he was elected mayor, said he looks forward to continuing to work with Delgadillo.

“I love the office that he’s heading very much,” the mayor said. “He’s continued what I was working on in terms of getting city attorneys out in the neighborhoods.”

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Times staff writer Peter Nicholas contributed to this report.