Challengers in Debate Accuse Hahn of Lack of Leadership

The four challengers to Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn sharply criticized the incumbent Tuesday night for lack of leadership during his first term in office.

Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa drew applause from nearly 175 guests at Temple Judea in Tarzana when he said: “We have a mayor who is missing in action.”

Hahn did not attend the debate, the first of two sponsored by Jewish organizations. However, a campaign spokesman said the mayor would attend Thursday’s debate on the Westside.

Villaraigosa, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sun Valley) and Councilman Bernard C. Parks lashed out at Hahn over allegations that city contracts had been tied to campaign contributions. Parks charged that Hahn is “in the hip pocket of every special interest.”

The candidates said the mayor had failed to address Los Angeles’ need for more police officers, its worsening traffic and its educational problems.

Hertzberg, who represented the San Fernando Valley for six years in the Assembly, pressed his proposal to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District. But the other three candidates opposed the idea. Splitting the massive district into smaller parts would pit one community against another community, Alarcon said.

Hertzberg defended the proposal, saying the district is failing. He cited statistics showing that 53% of ninth-graders in the district won’t graduate from high school. “The status quo is just not acceptable,” he said.

All of the challengers agreed that Hahn’s administration is suffering from ethical problems that have prompted investigations by the U.S. attorney’s office and the district attorney’s office into allegations that campaign contributions are a prerequisite to receiving city business.

They all vowed to bring a higher standard to the mayor’s office if elected this spring.

The four rivals also agreed that the Sunshine Canyon Landfill should be closed.

Their presence at the debate reflected a simple fact of Los Angeles politics: Los Angeles has the second-largest Jewish population in the United States after New York City, and Jewish voters make up a significant fraction of the city’s electorate.

In the last race for mayor, a Times exit poll found that Jews made up 16% of voters in the April 2001 election and 18% in the June runoff. Hahn won the runoff, in part, by capturing 54% of the Jewish vote, compared with 46% for Villaraigosa.

None of the candidates can afford to cede Jewish votes if they hope to end up in the May runoff. And Hertzberg, who is Jewish, hopes to win a substantial proportion of Jewish voters.

This week’s debates are sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Journal newspaper, the Progressive Jewish Alliance and the Jewish Labor Committee.