Candidates Reach Out to Minorities

With a little more than two weeks to go in the tight Los Angeles mayoral race, most of the leading candidates spent Sunday campaigning away from their home bases in bids to broaden support across ethnic and neighborhood lines.

Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who won little African American support during his unsuccessful campaign against Mayor James K. Hahn four years ago, visited two popular African American churches.

Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg pushed outside his San Fernando Valley base by opening a new office in largely Latino Eagle Rock in the northeast corner of the city.

And Councilman Bernard C. Parks worked to broaden his appeal outside South Los Angeles’ African American community with morning visits to four churches in the San Fernando Valley. Meanwhile, Hahn continued his battle to recapture support in the African American community that helped elect him four years ago, visiting three African American churches.

State Sen. Richard Alarcon, who polls show is trailing the other four candidates by a wide margin, visited Hollywood after stops closer to home in Van Nuys and Lake View Terrace.

The candidates’ vote-prospecting in the city’s diverse communities comes as political strategists say all five men are being forced to look for voters outside their natural bases of support if they hope to be elected.

For Villaraigosa, who represents many Latino neighborhoods in east and northeast Los Angeles, that meant visits Sunday morning to the West Angeles Church of God in Christ and the Faithful Central Bible Church, two of the region’s leading African American congregations.

At the Great Western Forum, where the Faithful Central Bible Church holds services, Villaraigosa spoke of God, family and affirmative action in a brief address to thousands of worshippers.”This is about faith, which is why we are all here. But it is also about living our faith,” Villaraigosa said. “I tell people that I am running for mayor because God has been good to me and this city and America have been good to me.”

Eighteen miles away, on Villaraigosa’s home turf, Hertzberg invoked his decades of support for the region’s Latino politicians as he talked about bringing Latinos into his electoral coalition and breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, an issue that strategists say appeals to many Latino families.

“You can’t be mayor in a big city today ... without making education a top priority,” Hertzberg said after being introduced by his wife, Cynthia Telles, who is Latina, and Henry Lozano, a longtime Latino political strategist who was chief of staff for the late U.S. Rep. Edward Roybal.

Hahn began his morning at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in South Los Angeles, though he did not address the congregation.

A Hahn campaign spokesman said the mayor then visited two other South Los Angeles congregations, First AME Church and Liberty Baptist Church.

The mayor’s attempts to mend fences with African American voters who were angered by his decision to oppose the reappointment of Parks as police chief more than three years ago have been central to his reelection campaign.

Support from black voters in South Los Angeles was vital in his victory over Villaraigosa.

Later, the mayor donned rubber boots and a rain slicker Sunday evening to visit a gaping sinkhole in Sun Valley in the eastern San Fernando Valley. His advice to Angelenos facing a wet Monday morning commute: Stay home if you can.