Villaraigosa Brings in $653,000 Since May 8

City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa is off to a fast start in raising money to finance his campaign to replace Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn.

Villaraigosa’s latest campaign contribution report, filed Wednesday, shows that he raised $653,255 in the 3 1/2 weeks after his first-place finish in the March 8 election.

“It continues the strong momentum going into the runoff,” said Ace Smith, Villaraigosa’s campaign manager. “The report is indicative of the fact that he has incredibly broad and deep support.”

Villaraigosa, who will face Hahn in the May 17 runoff, filed his report to the City Ethics Commission a day ahead of the deadline. The mayor plans to file his report today.

Hahn campaign strategist Kam Kuwata said he was not surprised by Villaraigosa’s fundraising pace. “We were anticipating he would be out of the box fast,” he said.

Kuwata said he believed the mayor would report that he raised less than his rival in the period from March 9 to April 2, but he expressed confidence that Hahn would have the resources needed to win a second term.

“We will have enough money,” Kuwata said.

Villaraigosa outpaced Hahn in fundraising at the beginning of their runoff matchup in 2001. In the first reporting period of that election campaign, Villaraigosa raised $1.4 million over 5 1/2 weeks, while Hahn raised $1.2 million.

A former speaker of the state Assembly and a co-chairman of Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign, Villaraigosa is an accomplished fundraiser.

He was in San Francisco raising money Wednesday night and is scheduled to attend a $1,000-a-ticket reception next week in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Dewey Square Group, a political consulting firm, and half a dozen congressional Democrats.

He also has fundraisers planned in New York City and Texas, where former federal housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros will hold the event.

Kuwata said he was not fazed by Villaraigosa’s ability to raise $200,000 a week since the election. He said he expected this campaign would follow the same pattern as in 2001, when Villaraigosa finished first in the April election only to lose to Hahn in the runoff.

Both candidates are locked in a furious race for dollars to pay for the airtime to run costly television ads, the preferred way to reach the city’s voters.

As of Saturday, Villaraigosa had $575,096 on hand, less than the cost of a week of television ads.

The candidates can raise up to $1.8 million, unless independent expenditures by unions, individuals or interest groups cause the spending cap to be lifted. The candidates also receive up to $800,000 in matching money from the city’s taxpayers, including a grant of $160,000 that both received Wednesday.

Villaraigosa has tapped numerous sources, including Hollywood agents and City Hall lobbyists, since March 8. Lawyers, bankers, developers, Democratic lawmakers and companies that do business with the city gave up to $1,000, the maximum allowed unless contribution limits are lifted.

The councilman received a number of contributions from people in the entertainment industry, including singer Don Henley, actresses Susan Clark and Doris Roberts, and former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing.

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California; Theodore Mitchell, president of Occidental College; and George Pla, president of Cordoba Corp.; each gave $1,000.

Cadiz Inc., Chief Executive Keith Brackpool and a senior vice president of the firm all gave $1,000 to Villaraigosa. The company has sought to develop a controversial project to store Colorado River water beneath the Mojave Desert, but the concept was rejected by the Metropolitan Water District in 2002.

The mayor appoints representatives to the MWD’s board of directors. Villaraigosa worked as a consultant to Cadiz after leaving the Assembly.

The Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters gave Villaraigosa $1,000.

He also received $1,000 each from campaign committees for Rep. Howard Berman (D-North Hollywood), Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), Assemblymen Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) and Joe Baca Jr. (D-Rialto) and former Assemblymen Fred Keeley and Richard Katz.

John M. Hein, a longtime political operative for the California Teachers Assn., donated $1,000.

Lobbyists Ellen Berkowitz and Steven Afriat each contributed $1,000, while lobbyists Harvey Englander and Richard Lichtenstein gave $500 apiece.

Fourteen employees of Travel Traders, a Miami-based firm that runs gift shops in hotels, each gave $1,000.

Former Hahn city commissioners Doug Ring, Lisa Specht and Christopher Pak donated to Villaraigosa, and former Mayor Richard Riordan and his wife, Nancy Daly Riordan, each gave $1,000.

Times staff writer Michael Finnegan and researcher Maloy Moore contributed to this report.