Mayor Renews His Focus on Crime

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn tried to invigorate his troubled reelection campaign Wednesday by portraying himself as tough on crime and his challenger as soft on gangs -- moves meant to help Hahn recapture moderates in the five weeks left before election day.

With a new Times poll showing the mayor trailing Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa by 18 points, Hahn portrayed Villaraigosa as too liberal for the city. Accompanied by Police Chief William J. Bratton, Hahn assailed Villaraigosa for saying 13 years ago that local laws barring gang members from parks “do violence to the Constitution.”

At the time, the mayor pointed out, Villaraigosa was a leader of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Southern California chapter, while Hahn, as city attorney, took legal action against gang members.

“Well, I was worried about the violence that was being done to our communities,” said Hahn, declaring that he and his rival “have real differences of opinion on things like public safety.”

Hahn’s renewed emphasis came on an issue -- crime -- that the Times poll found was the only major subject on which voters viewed him more favorably over Villaraigosa.

The survey, published Wednesday, also showed that Republicans and conservatives -- often receptive to law-and-order candidates -- were the only major voting blocs supporting Hahn’s reelection in the May 17 runoff.

Besides attracting them, Hahn appeared to be pointing his appeal at the more than four in 10 likely voters who see Villaraigosa as being more liberal than themselves. That finding, notable in a city dominated by Democrats, suggested that Hahn could make political gains by depicting his opponent as outside the mainstream.

Parke Skelton, a senior campaign advisor to Villaraigosa, said the mayor’s remarks Wednesday show that Hahn “realizes he needs to try to frighten people to win the race.”

“Nobody’s going to believe that Antonio Villaraigosa is pro-gang,” Skelton said. “They’re just not going to believe it.”

While Villaraigosa was raising money Wednesday at private events in Washington, D.C., and Miami, his campaign began running cable television ads in the San Fernando Valley and South Los Angeles.

Those two regions are the most hotly contested of the campaign. Hahn won both of them handily four years ago, but the new poll found Villaraigosa 20 points ahead of the mayor in the Valley and 34 points ahead in South L.A.

One of the ads features City Controller Laura Chick, who represented the Valley on the City Council for eight years, lamenting “the connection between contracts and campaign contributions at City Hall.”

“Corruption undermines confidence in government and costs taxpayers millions of dollars,” she says. “It’s unacceptable, and it’s time for a change. That’s why I’m supporting Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor.”

Chick does not mention Hahn in the ad but was alluding to criminal investigations of his campaign fundraising and city contracting. Hahn has denied any wrongdoing.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who ran for mayor this year but failed to make the runoff, appears in the other ad, saying Villaraigosa would “reach out and work with the people of all communities.”

Parks is part of a wide array of prominent Villaraigosa supporters whose well-timed pronouncements of support have served to drive his campaign’s momentum, including former basketball star Magic Johnson, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and former Mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican. Today in the Valley, Villaraigosa plans to announce his endorsement by former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, who was defeated in the first round of balloting in March.

At the police event in Granada Hills, Hahn dismissed the significance of his rival’s endorsements.

“If all the insiders gather around a candidate, that’s probably a bad signal that maybe that’s not the person you want as mayor,” said Hahn, whose big-name supporters include Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Los Angeles labor leader Miguel Contreras.

Hahn’s move -- seeking to portray his opponent as outside the mainstream -- is a common political strategy, most successfully used by Republicans against Democrats like Michael S. Dukakis and Sen. John F. Kerry, whose liberal Massachusetts lineage was savaged by two generations of Presidents Bush.

Hahn used a variation to defeat Villaraigosa in 2001, marshaling support among Valley whites as in his former South Los Angeles stronghold.

Hahn’s appeal Wednesday in Granada Hills was theatrical: With helicopters buzzing overhead in the morning haze, the mayor and the police chief watched squad cars with wailing sirens race around a track to demonstrate new techniques to stop motorists fleeing police. (See Page B2)

Hahn said his message to “bad guys” was: “We’re going to follow you. We’re going to find you.”

Speaking to 13 television news cameras, the mayor also sought to publicize statistics showing a drop in crime in the first three months of 2005 over the same period last year.

“What was that reduction of violent crime, chief?” Hahn asked Bratton.

“Twenty-six percent,” Bratton said.

“Twenty-six-percent reduction of violent crime, year to year,” Hahn said.

“That’s the kind of message I think the people are going to respond to.”

Later, Hahn celebrated the opening of Hollywood’s Neighborhood City Hall on Fountain Avenue, where he resumed promoting the drop in crime, called Villaraigosa “an empty suit” and suggested his opponent would use the mayoralty as a steppingstone to higher office.

“This is a serious job,” Hahn said. “How do we know he’s not using this job to run for governor or something else?”

Hahn added: “What has he really done since he’s been on the City Council? He hasn’t done a darn thing.”

Villaraigosa campaign manager Ace Smith called Hahn’s remarks in Hollywood “petty and childish.”

Times staff writer Daniel Hernandez contributed to this report.