Race to succeed Waxman will be expensive, early reports show

If there was ever any doubt that the race to succeed longtime Rep. Henry Waxman will be expensive, some of the campaign finance reports filed Tuesday should remove it.

Fundraising and spending reports are due by midnight at the Federal Election Commission, but some candidates to succeed Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) filed a few hours earlier or provided copies of their reports to The Times.

First-time candidate David Kanuth, a defense attorney, topped the list of early filers by declaring he had raised more than $798,000 by the March 30 end of the reporting period. He had more than $752,000 of that in the bank, according to his report. All of his contributions came from individual donors, it said.

Former Los Angeles controller and councilwoman Wendy Greuel’s report showed she had raised about $672,000, most of it from individuals and about $26,000 from such organizations as Emily’s List and the Stonewall Young Democrats. She reported having more than $493,000 cash on hand.

Journalist and former talk radio host Matt Miller brought in nearly $518,000 in about a 45-day period, his report showed. Most of his contributions also came from individual donors, and he had more than $480,000 remaining by the end of the reporting period.

Kanuth, Greuel and Miller are Democrats.

Miller has proposed a set of campaign finance revisions aimed at reducing the influence of money in politics, including prohibiting lawmakers from taking contributions from the industries they regulate.

Waxman’s 33rd District is strongly Democratic and has attracted 10 members of that party to the June 3 primary ballot.

On the Republican side, gang prosecutor Elan S. Carr reported raising more than $350,000, including a $30,000 loan to himself; he had almost $286,000 left to spend.

Two years ago, a wealthy independent candidate spent about $8.5 million in an unsuccessful attempt to oust Waxman.

Eighteen candidates are on the ballot but not all have raised enough to be required to report campaign spending.

jean.merl@latimes.com

Twitter: @jeanmerl