THE RACE IS ON Though the election is not until
April, six candidates for mayor of Los Angeles have already begun
their campaigns. Richard Riordan Current Mayor 1
Xavier Becerra U.S. Congressman 2 Kathleen Connell
State Controller 3 James Hahn City Attorney
4 Steve Soboroff L.A. Businessman
5 Antonio Villaraigosa State Assemblyman
6 Joel Wachs City Councilman SOURCE: Campaign
Website JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by NICK IFURUNG
By Mason Stockstill
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Though the election for mayor of Los Angeles is seven months
away, six candidates have already emerged in what may become a
hotly contested race.
The candidates are Congressman Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles;
State Controller Kathleen Connell; City Attorney James Hahn; L.A.
Businessman Steve Soboroff; Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los
Angeles; and City Councilman Joel Wachs.
Though the field seems crowded, it is nowhere near the 24
candidates who vied for the office in 1993, when popular Mayor Tom
Bradley finally hung up his hat after 20 years in office. In 1997,
only State Senator Tom Hayden challenged incumbent Richard Riordan,
who won re-election handily.
But Riordan is ineligible for re-election because of term limits
which were enacted the same year he was elected. And, as in 1993,
many Los Angeles politicians are taking advantage of the lack of a
popular incumbent and tossing their hats into the ring.
“If you take a good look at Los Angeles, it’s tough
to see anything but blurriness. There is just a lack of
focus,” said Congressman Becerra in an interview with
LatinoLA.com. “The next mayor has to show that the city can
work.”
Becerra has been a member of Congress since 1992. Before that,
he served one term in the state assembly.
Becerra is one of two candidates who never attended or taught at
UCLA. The other is City Attorney Hahn.
Early polls show Hahn with a slight lead over the other
candidates for the office, though his lead could be attributed to
the fact that he is the only candidate who currently holds a
citywide elected office.
That office, city attorney, is one that Hahn has held since
1985. The son of legendary former L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth
Hahn, Hahn will be termed out at the end of his fourth term on July
1, 2001.
The city attorney’s office handles the city’s legal
affairs, including the prosecution of infractions and misdemeanors
that occur within the city limits. This time last year, allegations
arose that the UCLA disabled parking placard scandal was moved from
the city attorney’s West Los Angeles bureau to the downtown
bureau for what a source close to the investigation then called
“political reasons” ““ which included Hahn’s
mayoral bid.
Though he doesn’t hold citywide office, City Councilman
Wachs also has high name recognition and support throughout Los
Angeles. A Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters taken in
April showed Wachs at
14 percent, just behind Hahn’s 16 percent.
Wachs, a 29-year city council veteran, first ran for mayor in
1993, coming in third behind then-Councilman Mike Woo and
Riordan.
A graduate of UCLA, Wachs served as president of the
university’s student government in 1960-61. Among his actions
were successfully changing UCLA’s official alma mater to
“Hail to the Hills of Westwood,” which remains the
school’s song.
Connell, another UCLA alum, is the only woman among the
candidates. Though the election is still far off, Connell is
significantly behind the other candidates in fund raising and
public visibility because she only declared her candidacy in
September.
“Our city and its people need an experienced, independent
leader, a tough fiscal watchdog with a record of cutting
waste,” Connell said when announcing her candidacy.
Connell is the only candidate to hold statewide office, which
could both help her and hurt her in the race. Though many voters in
Los Angeles have voted for her in the past, the fact that she has
little experience in city politics may be a drawback.
Assemblyman Villaraigosa, who also graduated from UCLA, brings
one of the more distinguished political resumes to the race. Until
recently, Villaraigosa served as speaker of the state assembly. He
was first elected to the assembly in 1994.
The city’s large Latino vote has been largely split
between Villaraigosa and Becerra, according to the Times poll,
which could leave neither of them with enough support to win the
race.
Local developer Steve Soboroff, though scoring only 1 percent in
the Times poll, is the one candidate who most resembles current
Mayor Riordan. In fact, Soboroff has served as a senior adviser to
the mayor since 1996, and already has Riordan’s
endorsement.
Soboroff has been an instrumental behind-the-scenes player in
Los Angeles’ downtown scene for years. He is widely credited
with spearheading the effort to build Staples Center downtown and
sits on the boards of several charitable organizations, including
Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles, Father Flanagan’s Boys
Town, Westside Women’s Clinic and Weingart Center for the
Homeless.
Additionally, Soboroff founded and taught the “Shopping
Center Game” business seminar, which has run at UCLA since
1975.
“I have a vision of Los Angeles as a city that works for
all of us. Los Angeles will be a city that feels like a
neighborhood, a city where we want to live, want to raise our
children and have our friends visit,” he said.
With so many candidates, it is unlikely any one of them will
receive the necessary 50 percent of the vote to win the election
outright, and a runoff will be held.
Whoever does become the next mayor will be the first to work
under the new city charter, approved by voters in June 1999. The
new charter, which was strongly supported by Mayor Riordan, gives
expanded powers to the mayor.