To debate or not debate
By reversing course and agreeing to participate in the first mayoral debate Dec. 2, L.A. Mayor James Hahn will be the central player as he prepares to defend his track record and especially what some say is a pay-to-play climate in his administration that has resulted in several local and federal probes.
Those allegations have been given fresh consideration with City Controller Laura Chick’s recent audit of public relations giant Fleishman Hillard’s contract with the Department of Water & Power. The audit laid out how some of the firm’s work involved matters closer to the mayor’s own agenda than to the DWP.
Hahn originally declined an invitation to the hour-long debate, citing an unspecified scheduling conflict. Then, after considerable media heat, the scheduling conflict apparently disappeared and the mayor said he would be able to attend after all.
He will be joined by the four other major candidates: former Assembly Speaker and current L.A. City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, former L.A. Police Chief and current L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks, and state Sen. Richard Alarcon. The debate will be televised by KNBC (Channel 4) at 7 p.m.
As with any debate, style points could count a lot, which might make the low-key Hahn vulnerable to some of his more outspoken opponents. But while the mayor is likely to be targeted by his challengers, some speculate that he might turn the debate to his advantage.
“For months now, Hahn has been the subject of relentlessly negative media attention,” said Raphael Sonenshein, professor of political science at California State University Fullerton who has written several books on L.A. politics. “If he can hold his own in this debate and trumpet some positive accomplishments, then people may give him a second look. He might be able to stop this negative perception from reaching voters.”
During the debate, as well as in the campaign, Hahn will probably focus on his administration’s most heralded accomplishments: bringing in a new, popular police chief, reducing violent crime in the city and making more affordable housing units available.
Meanwhile, Hahn’s challengers have a delicate balancing act: they must give voters a reason to dump Hahn while at the same time showing that they are better qualified to be mayor than their rivals.
“It’s a two-front battle for everybody,” Sonenshein said.
Among the challengers, the stakes are particularly high for Hertzberg. Although he’s raised more than $1 million and has significant support among powerful business and political interests, he nevertheless remains an unknown to many Angelenos and is the only major candidate never to have held a local elected office.
“This debate is where Hertzberg must come through and establish himself among the top three contenders,” said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.
Alarcon, like Hertzberg, is unknown to many Angelenos, but he also lacks the money to mount an intense media campaign to make himself known, which makes the debate all the more vital for him.
“Alarcon has to show he’s a viable alternative or he will not crack that top tier of candidates,” Stern said. “He has to give a solid enough performance to convince people to get behind him with dollars.”
He has seized upon one issue, having joined in a lawsuit seeking to roll back the 11 percent water rate increase for DWP customers.
With his high-name recognition, Parks, who has been especially critical of the mayor on issues ranging from the LAX overhaul to the DWP revelations, has to show that this race is more than a grudge match for Hahn’s denying him a second term as police chief. “He has to show a breadth of understanding of the issues,” Stern said. “If he does that, he could gain some traction.”
Expect Parks to hammer Hahn on police and public safety issues, as he has so far during the campaign. He may also try to portray himself as a fiscal conservative to broaden his appeal in the San Fernando Valley.
Villaraigosa’s challenge will be to convince voters that his candidacy is about more than putting together a coalition, which was not enough for him to beat Hahn in 2001.
“At a certain point, you have to say a coalition and harmonious relations are all well and good, but to what end? He needs to spell out what he wants to accomplish as mayor,” Sonenshein said.
Only one other debate is scheduled: a Dec. 21 forum sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters. Other debates will likely be scheduled in the weeks prior to the March 8 election, though few expect there to be as many as were held in the last mayoral primary.
Local Power Grab
Proposition 1A, which voters overwhelmingly approved earlier this month, was ostensibly about ending the state’s ability to take billions of dollars away from local governments each year to balance its own books.
But according to Beverly Hills City Manager Roderick Wood, Proposition 1A was about more than that: it was about acquiring power.
Wood, who was the city manager of Novato until early this year, said he was one of a group of city managers who long had pushed for cities having a greater say in what goes on in Sacramento.
“This all started in (Senate President) John Burton’s office five years ago,” Wood said. “He told us that we have no influence in Sacramento. ‘You just don’t get it,’ he said. ‘You have no say, so please leave us alone to deal with things.'”
Wood told a recent gathering of the Westside Urban Forum that this episode convinced him and his fellow city managers that in order to have a say, they needed to duke it out with Sacramento.
“That was a major reason for going to the ballot box with Proposition 65,” he said, referring to the measure that would have immediately stopped the state from taking property tax dollars from cities. “Once we did that, we got Sacramento’s attention in a way we never had before. Then we had the clout to negotiate with the governor for Proposition 1A. We learned to play politics.”
Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
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