Advertisement

Campaign for Hahn Breaks Radio Silence

Share
Times Staff Writer

Allies of James K. Hahn have launched the first ad in the race for mayor of Los Angeles, a radio commercial designed to bolster Hahn’s support among African American voters.

The commercial, paid for by the Service Employees International Union, began running last week on KKBT-FM, (100.3) a radio station that is popular with African American listeners.

Hahn won the mayor’s office in part because he had strong backing from African Americans. In the June 2001 runoff against former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, Hahn won 80% of the black vote, according to a Times exit poll.

Advertisement

But less than eight months after black voters helped elect him, Hahn infuriated many when he opposed a second five-year term as police chief for Bernard C. Parks. Hahn maintained that Parks had not done enough to improve relations with the community, reduce crime rates and reform the Police Department.

Parks was not reappointed, and two months later he announced he would run for City Council. He was elected to the council and is now one of four prominent challengers seeking to deny Hahn a second term. Although Parks does not have the funds to run a full-out television campaign, he could still deny Hahn crucial support from African Americans.

The 60-second radio spot, which cost the union $25,000, seeks to link Hahn to the civil rights leader honored by today’s holiday.

“As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we would like to recognize a local leader who shares Dr. King’s vision for freedom, equality and justice,” the commercial says. “That leader is Mayor James K. Hahn.”

Much of the goodwill Hahn had with black leaders was inherited from his father, Kenneth Hahn, who represented South Los Angeles as a county supervisor and, famously, was the only elected official to greet King at the airport when he visited Los Angeles in 1961.

The commercial ends with a union member calling on voters to join with “the homecare workers of Los Angeles as we work to reelect Mayor James Hahn, a great leader who cares about our community and deserves our vote.”

Advertisement

Tyrone Freeman, president of SEIU Local 434B, said in a statement that he believes Hahn has been “a courageous fighter for the thousands of homecare workers who provide dignity and independence for so many of our senior citizens and people living with disabilities in Los Angeles.”

Clinton Schaff, a spokesman for the union, said Hahn has been “a real friend of labor.” So the union last week made the $25,000 independent expenditure on his behalf, the largest such contribution so far in the mayor’s race.

Advertisement