FIGHTING FOR HIS POLITICAL LIFE, HAHN FINDS MONEY TO HIRE ... MORE COPS FOR L.A.

Byline: Beth Barrett and Rick Orlov Staff Writers

Barely more than two weeks after losing his police-tax fight, Mayor James Hahn declared Tuesday that he has found money to hire about 370 more cops in next year's budget without raising taxes.

The announcement came just a week before the primary election in which Hahn is locked in a close battle with former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, who is surging in the polls, and City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been widely regarded as the front-runner for weeks.

In putting together a city budget without the half-percent sales-tax hike he wanted, Hahn has found money to hire 720 police officers - or about 370 extra cops after attrition - in the fiscal year that will start July 1, mayoral spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman said.

``We're moving in the right direction,'' Kaltman said.

Hahn factors in $63 million in state funds that are owed to the city and that the council recently approved using to hire 278 more cops over the next two years to three years. Money for the remaining 92 new cops in the mayor's budget would come from the city's general fund, with about $50 million a year more in state funds becoming available for cops in fiscal 2007 to further increase Los Angeles Police Department staffing.

The mayor disclosed the proposed new LAPD hiring just hours after Villaraigosa and other council members said they had identified enough money from city lease consolidations to hire about 90 new cops within three years. About $9.2 million in annual savings would be available to continue to pay for them after that.

Another mayoral challenger, Councilman Bernard Parks, whom Hahn forced out as LAPD chief, accused Hahn of playing politics with the proposed 370 extra cops, costing about $37 million annually.

``If he found $37 million, then the half (per)cent sales tax (proposal) was a fraud; then it was not necessary,'' Parks said.

He also questioned where, with a $300 million structural city budget deficit, the mayor could find any additional money.

Kaltman said there was no inconsistency between the mayor's position on the sales tax and the budget proposal.

She said Hahn previously said the city couldn't ``significantly expand'' the LAPD by 1,260 new officers without a ``significant boost in revenues,'' referring to the proposed sales-tax hike.

She said the city's contribution to hiring the new cops would come from ``priority-based budgeting,'' reflecting the mayor's commitment to public safety as his top priority.

Hertzberg accused Hahn of waiting until the last minute to find funds for more cops after spending millions on employee pay raises.

``The problem is Jim Hahn's eleventh-hour revelation is four years late and $300 million short,'' said Hertzberg, who has proposed spending one-quarter of all new revenues to hire cops.

Villaraigosa, also a former state Assembly speaker, said the mayor waited too long.

``It's good to see Jim Hahn finally doing in the fourth year what he should have done in the first year. ... It says he's finally getting the message that L.A. residents want to see (city) leaders find the money we need for police officers living within our means.''

Villaraigosa was among six council members who backed the motion to use money from lease consolidations, resulting from the purchase of the Transamerica Broadway Building, for police.

The council has other proposals to hire more cops, including more than $20 million in savings from various programs, although it has only set aside a total of $1.46 million in a special police fund so far.

``We believe we have to tighten our belt at City Hall,'' Villaraigosa said. ``We have to look at our own budget and show voters that we'll invest more of the tax dollars they give us and put them in more police on our streets.''

Hahn's campaign dismissed his challengers' promises of finding long-term funding for the LAPD.

``The mayor is going back to the drawing board to produce a budget that will add cops to the street,'' campaign consultant Kam Kuwata said.

``He will present a budget to the council that hires cops today ... rather than putting out something that means nothing. Antonio's (proposal) means nothing.''

The developments on the central police-staffing issue comes as a new Los Angeles Times poll shows the final days of the campaign have turned into a three-way virtual dead heat.

The poll, which has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points, put Villaraigosa at 24 percent, Hertzberg at 21 percent and Hahn at 20 percent - the dead heat - with Parks at 11 percent, state Sen. Richard Alarcon at 5 percent and 19 percent undecided. The poll surveyed 1,636 registered voters, including 710 deemed likely to vote.

Hahn's campaign dismissed the results.

``Needless to say, we have our own polling that shows something different,'' Kuwata said. ``We continue to remain confident that we will be in the runoff and that we know how to get our votes.

``They have been attacking the mayor from the first debate last December. All they've done since then is attack, attack, attack. We're not going to sit back and just take it. We are ready to run an aggressive campaign.''

Kuwata would not offer specifics.

Political strategist Arnold Steinberg said some of Hahn's strengths have been ``cannibalized,'' particularly by Hertzberg in the San Fernando Valley and among Republicans, and by Parks in the African-American community.

Hertzberg has surged since late January, while Villaraigosa edged ahead of Hahn, who has stayed at about 20 percent of the vote in virtually all polls.

``(The Hahn campaign) has no elasticity. ... You throw a bunch of money in, and there's no response; he stays roughly flat,'' Steinberg said.

While Hahn is seen as having the best get-out-the-vote power because of union support, polling results from inside the camps, as well as from independent sources, have changed the mood going into the final week.

``This is a new day,'' Hertzberg declared.

Villaraigosa, also buoyed by the poll results, said he hopes to build on the momentum.

``We are feeling very good,'' Villaraigosa said. ``I'm comfortable with where we are.''

Beth Barrett, [phone]

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com