L.A.’s mayoral candidates have raised nearly $8 million and spent nearly $7 million in the hotly contested race, according to figures submitted by the campaigns to the city Ethics Commission on Thursday.
L.A. City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa led the five major mayoral candidates in fundraising over the last month, taking in nearly $359,000, for a total raised of $1.76 million. As of Feb. 19, he had $1.1 million cash on hand ready to spend on a final television advertising blitz.
Attorney and former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg was next, raising $230,000 between Jan. 22 and Feb. 19, giving him a total raised of $1.85 million. He had $780,000 cash on hand as of Feb. 19.
Mayor James Hahn, who started the race with a huge fundraising lead, raised only $153,000, giving him a total of $2.9 million raised to date. As of Feb. 19, he still had $1.08 million in the bank.
State Sen. Richard Alarc & #243;n, who has consistently lagged behind the rest of the field of major candidates in fundraising, took in $104,000 over the last month, giving him a total of $549,000 raised, plus $153,000 in city matching funds. He had only $78,000 cash on hand as of Feb. 19, putting him in a tight spot for the last-minute advertising flurry.
L.A. City Councilman and former Police Chief Bernard Parks took in a mere $81,000 in the last month, in part reflecting some of the organizational problems with his campaign. He has raised a total of $770,000, plus $365,000 in city matching funds. As of Feb. 19, he had $337,000 cash on hand, enough for only a modest last-minute ad push.
The only other candidate to raise a significant amount of money, Republican Walter Moore, actually had $94,000 cash on hand on Feb. 19, more than Alarc & #243;n. Virtually all of the $108,000 Moore has raised came from a $100,000 loan he made late last year to his campaign.
Meanwhile, as expected in the hotly contested 11th Council district race to replace termed out Cindy Miscikowski, both community activist and former planning commissioner Flora Gil Krisiloff and former cable television executive Bill Rosendahl reached the $250,000 contribution limit to remain eligible for city matching funds. (Krisiloff actually raised $248,000, while Rosendahl raised $251,000.) But Krisiloff held a decided edge over Rosendahl in cash-on-hand sweepstakes: as of Feb. 19, she had $149,000 compared to Rosendahl’s $101,000.
A third candidate in the race, Angela Reddock, has raised $58,000, but only had $29,000 on hand, limiting her ability to mount a last-minute ad campaign. Yet she could still siphon off enough votes to force Krisiloff and Rosendahl into a runoff.
While none of the remaining city races are considered close, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo reported raising $1.2 million and spending $1.1 million against an opponent who dropped out. City Controller Laura Chick, facing a weak opponent, has eschewed fundraising, raking in a mere $8,200.
In the other seven council races, the incumbent candidates all raised in the vicinity of $300,000.
