BUYING THE NEXT MAYOR LAST-MINUTE CHECKS FILL CAMPAIGN COFFERS.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

In the final weeks of the mayoral primary, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign surged with massive financial help from out-of-state unions, including the Service Employees International whose local unit backed City Attorney James Hahn, campaign records show.

Hahn overall raised $3,569,847, counting heavily on donations of $1,000 to $2,500 mainly from lawyers and other local individuals and groups with interests in city policy.

In the crucial final days before the April 10 primary when contribution limits jumped from $1,000 to $7,000, Villaraigosa - who raised $2,849,065 overall - got 36 maximum contributions worth $252,000 - almost half from labor groups in other states.

That came as Villaraigosa also was benefiting from a mailing blitz to local Democrats from the state party, following a $440,000 infusion of cash from the Democratic National Committee and Los Angeles billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle.

Both candidates got about $660,000 in taxpayer matching funds even though both spending limits were lifted and contribution limits raised during the campaign.

The flurry of late contributions and their size raises questions about who is buying influence with the candidates, according to California Common Cause's coordinator in Los Angeles, Roy Ulrich, who said the fund-raising patterns undermine the principles of ``home grown'' nonpartisan politics.

``The outside influence isn't good,'' he said. ``But money that comes from special interests inside the city isn't good, either.''

Hahn, meanwhile, got only $21,000 in maximum contributions after the cap was lifted March 9 - the only one from out of state came from Tampa Bay Buccaneers' professional football player Keyshawn Johnson, who played college football at the University of Southern California.

Hahn chiefly got large contributions of more than $1,000 in the waning days of the campaign from local interests, including attorneys, entertainment moguls, investment firms, local unions and other established companies, according to city financial statements.

For instance, between Feb. 25 and March 24, Hahn got 53 contributions of over $1,000 for a total $178,500 from people with local businesses or residences.

Villaraigosa raised $448,196 in similar-sized contributions during the same period. He outraised Hahn nearly two-to-one, or $408,313 to $231,105, in the final reporting period between March 25 and April 4.

Hahn got some assistance from labor, including $1,000 from the city employees' union, Service Employees International Union Local 347, in addition to a campaign mailer to its members and volunteer work on his behalf.

But the city union's contributions were dwarfed by SEIU contributions from outside the state to Villaraigosa, a former union employee, including $7,000 each from its affiliates in Ohio and New York, campaign records show.

And the union contributed $250,000 to the state Democratic Party as it was launching a local mailing blitz to its members on behalf of Villaraigosa, records further show.

National strategy

Wisconsin AFL-CIO Vice President Sara Rogers said the union this year backed Villaraigosa with the maximum $7,000 contribution as part of a strategy nationwide to back candidates with close union affiliations.

``If it works out well and he wins, he can serve as a kind of model for how unions can get behind a (candidate). We can use it for training purposes,'' Rogers said.

Hahn said he reached out to ``a broad coalition of supporters'' and that it would be up to voters to draw their own conclusions as to what the funding patterns meant.

He added he's more concerned about the amount of money pouring into the state Democratic Party and other organizations for mailings made to members without disclosing the source prior to elections.

The largest primary mailings were from the state Democratic Party and benefited Villaraigosa. The party acted within Proposition 34 as approved by voters last November, party representatives said.

``What's outrageous is the exorbitant amount of the contributions,'' Hahn said.

The City Council since has voted to require disclosure of contributors to parties and others sending out membership mailings of more than $10,000 in support of a candidate. The disclosure must be made by May 29 for the June 5 run-off election.

Villaraigosa campaign consultant Parke Skelton said the former speaker's momentum allowed him to take advantage of the cap being lifted when businessman Steve Soboroff, who was aided by state Republican Party spending, put in $670,000 of his own money.

``Hahn maxed out early with the easy money,'' Skelton said. ``It was fortunate the contribution cap lifted when it did, in the teeth of his (Villaraigosa's) momentum.''

The $260,000 from labor out of just over $2.8 million raised reflected Villaraigosa's historically strong ties to labor, he said.

Hahn, he added, has relied on his connections with law firms who do business with the city to bundle their attorneys' individual contributions.

Great expectations?

Ulrich, the Common Cause official, said that it is not necessarily the amount of the contributions that matters as much as what contributors are expecting in return should their candidate win.

``The party money, while huge, may have less impact as to what they expect to get than what comes from public employee unions,'' he said. ``They expect not to have anything contracted out to the private sector.

``The amount of money is less important than the kind of money.''

In all, Villaraigosa got 17 maximum contributions for a total of $119,000 from out-of-state union groups. Among them were central committees for the AFL-CIO in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York, as well as a Washington, D.C., political action committee.

Martin Ludlow, political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said unions nationwide believe Villaraigosa is the right candidate for their agenda in Los Angeles and in the nation.

``There is no doubt this election is one of the top priorities of working families from throughout the country,'' said Ludlow, Villaraigosa's former deputy chief of staff.

``When you look at the national and international scale Los Angeles now is playing at, this becomes the city that sets the standard of how the rest of the nation treats working people. You can see the significance of it for unions throughout the country.''

Ludlow said many of the contributions were unsolicited, but that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has let the membership know ``this election is critical to working people throughout this country.''

Also, central labor councils have been receptive to appeals from Los Angeles County Federation of Labor executive secretary-treasurer Miguel Contreras, a well-connected, rising star in the national labor movement.

``People want to help him any way they can,'' Ludlow said.

Since the primary, Hahn has received a boost from supporters outside his campaign. A $250,000 independent expenditure was made April 25 on his behalf by Brian Kennedy, the president of Regency Outdoor Advertising, lifting the spending cap in the race.

Kennedy did not return phone calls.

Also, ``Friends of Jim Hahn'' has been created by union leaders, elected officials and others to solicit $500 contributions to be spent independently of the campaign.

Organizers said the committee is intended to counterbalance anticipated mailings by the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO to their members on behalf of Villaraigosa.

Ulrich, with Common Cause, said that with Proposition 34 - and the high stakes in the mayor's race - the money race has just begun.

``The floodgates have opened,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) OUT-OF-STATE INFLUX

Villaraigosa got 36 maximum contributions of $7,000 each just before primary.

Total raised: $2,849,065

(2 -- color) LOCAL INTEREST GROUPS

Hahn got 53 contributions of more than $1,000 from local interests in final month.

Total raised: $3,569,847