FIGHT TO THE FINISH CANDIDATES CRISS-CROSS CITY TWO YEARS OF CAMPAIGNING GETS DOWN TO THE FINAL HOURS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

The marathon race to become mayor of Los Angeles comes to the finish line Tuesday when voters choose a new generation of leaders with the city at a critical crossroads.

With secession and a potentially slowing economy on the horizon, most attention has been focused on the race for mayor, with City Attorney James Hahn and former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa dragging themselves and a wary electorate to the end of a nearly two-year campaign - the most expensive in city history.

The race has drawn national attention because Villaraigosa, a third-generation Angeleno, seeks to become the city's first Latino mayor since 1872. A victory would make him the nation's highest-profile Latino elected official.

For local residents, the only certainty is that the election will transform City Hall - with three new citywide elected officials and a new majority on the City Council.

Councilman Mike Feuer is locked in a close race with Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo for City Attorney. Councilwoman Laura Chick won her race for City Controller in the April primary election.

Five council seats, including two affecting the San Fernando Valley, also will be decided on Tuesday, and two others - for the vacancies created with the recent death of Council President John Ferraro and the upcoming Oct. 1 resignation of Councilman Joel Wachs - will be decided later.

In the Valley's 3rd District, centered in Reseda, LAPD Sgt. Dennis Zine and former council deputy Judith Hirshberg are in what is considered to be a tight race.

In the neighboring 5th District - half of which is in the Valley - former state Sen. Tom Hayden is trying to keep his political career going against Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Weiss.

The 1st District race was decided in April with the election of Ed Reyes. The other council seats to be decided are in the 9th District of downtown Los Angeles, pitting former council deputy Jan Perry against Assemblyman Carl Washington; the 13th District in Hollywood, with former Councilman Mike Woo against Eric Garcetti, son of former District Attorney Gil Garcetti; and the 15th Council District of the Watts and Harbor areas where Hahn's sister, Janice, is running against legislative aide Hector Cepeda.

``Any time you change the leadership of a city, especially one the size of Los Angeles, with a new mayor and council - it is a watershed event,'' Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. ``It's a whole new generation of leaders. These are people born after World War II, who will be taking over really for the first time.

``They bring a whole new perspective to government and public policy that we haven't seen before.''

It is the mayor's race that has drawn the most interest and is due primarily to incumbent Mayor Richard Riordan, forced from office by the very term limits initiative he championed and placed on the ballot, and which won city voters' approval a decade ago.

As a result, a host of other candidates began their campaigns some 22 months ago, with Villaraigosa and Hahn emerging from the April primary as the two finalists.

On policy issues, little separates the two men. They both count strong support from unions and have called for similar programs in hiring more police officers and getting the city more involved in education. Both pledge to bring government closer to the public with the new system of neighborhood councils.

Powerful job

Villaraigosa, 48, emerged from a career of union activism to win election to the state Assembly seven years ago, moving rapidly up the political ladder to become speaker of that body - considered the second most powerful job in state government.

Despite his liberal credentials - Villaraigosa once served as president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California - he touts his ability to work with different factions to develop common ground.

Hahn, 50, is the beneficiary of one of the city's most famous political families.

His father, the late Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, served for more than 40 years and developed a base of support in the African-American community that has been passed on to his son.

Hahn has emphasized his experience in city government - 16 years as city attorney and four as city controller - as his strength.

The election outcome will be telling, say politicians and campaign analysts.

`If Villaraigosa doesn't win, it will show there remains a difference between the voters and the population of the city,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``It takes quite a while to keep pace with demographic changes.

``If this election has shown anything, it has reconfirmed the need that whoever is elected to govern this city must work to bring people together, to reach out, build bridges and not be parochial.''

Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said the election is important also in how Los Angeles is perceived.

``Rightly or wrongly, this election will be interpreted as a yardstick of how far we have come to be a fully integrated society,'' Jeffe said. ``The question is how outsiders will interpret this, and a Villaraigosa loss could be seen as a triumph of racism. We need to guard against allowing this election to be an example of racial and ethnic politics.''

That concern escalated during the past week with a Hahn commercial critical of Villaraigosa for writing a letter on behalf of convicted cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali, son of a major contributor to Villaraigosa and other Democrats.

Villaraigosa has protested the commercial's images depict him as favoring drug dealing as it shows the cutting of cocaine, the smoking of a crack cocaine pipe and unflattering pictures of the candidate.

Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, said he views the election as a measuring stick on how far the city has come racially.

``It's a gut check to see if the city is ready to accept a Latino in a leadership role,'' Gonzalez said.

``Villaraigosa has been unique in that he has been able to reach out to different constituencies beyond his base. If he wins, it says there is a new coalition in the city. If it's Hahn, it says we're still not ready for a new way. In many ways, Hahn is the old (Tom) Bradley coalition reasserting itself.''

Secession major issue

University of Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, who chaired the elected Charter Reform Commission, said the next mayor is coming in at a pivotal time for the city.

``How we resolve secession in the next two years is a major issue,'' Chemerinsky said.

``Do we stay one city or two? Or three? It's the question the next mayor will have to focus his time on. It is the mayor who will have to be the city's chief spokesman on this and other issues.''

Richard Close, of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association and the Valley VOTE group behind the breakaway study for the Valley, sees the election both in a short- and long-term perspective.

``Practically, with term limits, whoever is elected on Tuesday will probably be serving for the next eight years,'' Close said. ``If the person does a halfway decent job, no one will challenge him in four years. They'll just wait it out.

``My concern is with what the new mayor will do when it comes to the matter of a vote on secession in November 2002. Will they go to court to block it? Will they take other steps to prevent us from voting on it?

``Even without that, however, I am concerned with what the focus of the next mayor will be. It should be on building up the Police Department and Fire Department, fixing streets and sidewalks and making government more responsive.

``Whoever is mayor is getting a city at a crossroads when it comes to restructuring government.''

There also is uncertainty about the new City Council.

``He is going to have to develop a consensus with people who have their own agenda and made their own promises to constituents,'' Close said.

Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County, said the next mayor also will have the problem of comparison to Riordan.

``Love him or hate him, he's had a major impact on the city,'' Kyser said. ``When you go through and list all the things he's done - his business team and other programs, cutting taxes, making the city more business friendly - and it's substantial success,'' Kyser said.

``And the next mayor can thank Riordan for leaving a structure that can serve us well in the future.''

Joel Kotkin, senior fellow of the Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University, praised Riordan's leadership.

``In 1993, the city was on the verge of collapse,'' Kotkin said. ``Even with his limitations, he did a lot of good.''

Kotkin said he is concerned about the election of either Hahn or Villaraigosa and the shape of the new City Council'

``It's about as far left as you can go,'' Kotkin said. ``Although I have to say if I was supporting secession, I would want Hahn as mayor. He represents the status quo and I don't think would be able to go out and galvanize the opposition.

``With (Villaraigosa), you have someone who is charismatic and can make an argument to unions and others to fight secession and he can raise the bloody shirt of racism that Hahn can't or won't do.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) In the last weekend before the city election, L.A. mayoral candidate James Hahn, above, visits Calabasas while rival Antonio Villaraigosa waves to supporters in Sherman Oaks.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

(3 -- 4 -- color -- ran in Bulldog edition only) City Attorney James Hahn and former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa are dragging themselves and a wary electorate to the end of a nearly two-year campaign - the most expensive in city history.