THE L.A. MAYOR'S RACE: MAYORAL CAMPAIGN TURNS INTO TRIVIAL PURSUIT.

Byline: CHRIS WEINKOPF

IDEOLOGICALLY, they're more or less indistinguishable. They draw their support from the same base of unions, developers and other special interests. And on matters of policy, it's hard to find a meaningful difference between them.

Maybe that's why Los Angeles mayoral candidates James Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa have given up on debating politics and are squabbling about who is the more decent human being - as determined, apparently, by how they choose to educate their kids.

Proving that the pettiness of this campaign knows no limits, in last Monday's debate, Hahn blasted Villaraigosa for sending his kids to parochial schools. ``You should put your money where your mouth is,'' the mayor fired. ``My children go to our neighborhood school.''

It's ironic that Hahn, whose conduct in office has sparked two grand jury investigations, finds private schooling to be a grave moral offense. More ironic still is that there actually is something unsettling about Villaraigosa's attitude toward education, but it's lost entirely on Hahn.

To hear Hahn tell it, Villaraigosa's decision to keep his kids out of the Los Angeles Unified School District belies his commitment to public education. But this is absurd. Villaraigosa is a father before he is a politician, simply doing what he thinks best for his family.

The real question for Villaraigosa ought to be why, through his opposition to school choice, he would deny that prerogative to millions of other California families.

Villaraigosa offers competing explanations for why his kids go to private schools. At the debate, the reason was religion: ``I'm proud of the fact that my children are in Catholic school,'' he said. ``I want them to understand the role that faith plays for our family.'' But when asked the same question four years ago, the reason was academics: ``We want our kids to have the best education they can. If I can get that education in a public school, I'll do it, but I won't sacrifice my children any more than I could ask you to do the same.''

Though the explanations vary, the underlying rationale is the same: Villaraigosa and his wife don't think the local public school is the right place for their kids. Fortunately, between his wife's salary as a public school teacher and the $143,838 he earns as a member of the City Council, they can afford to make a different choice.

But for millions of less wealthy Californians, that choice doesn't exist.

Back in 2000, Villaraigosa helped to defeat Proposition 38, which would have given California families vouchers and, thus, the sort of educational opportunity Villaraigosa considers crucial for his own kids. As a result of the initiative's failure, many parents who would also like their children ``to understand the role that faith plays'' in their lives must make great personal sacrifices, choose home-schooling or reluctantly send their kids to a secular and too often failing LAUSD campus.

For these parents, who pay steep taxes to support the LAUSD, the ``best education'' that the Villaraigosas have obtained for their own kids remains out of reach.

Villaraigosa's real problem isn't that he cares too little for public education; it's that he cares too much about the public-employee unions. And why not? Teachers unions haven't only poured money into his campaigns; they've poured money into his bank account.

During his first mayoral bid, while he was busy campaigning around the clock, Villaraigosa accepted a consulting gig with the California Teachers Association valued at anywhere between $10,000 and $100,000. (That, no doubt, helped cover his kids' tuition payments at a time when he was otherwise unemployed.)

If Hahn really wanted to make hay out of Villaraigosa's schooling choices, this would be the angle to pursue: what the gap between the councilman's private practices and public policies says about his relationship with the all-powerful unions.

But Hahn can't ask these questions because they can be too easily turned against him.

After all, no one kowtows to the unions more than the mayor does, whether it's giving police officers a three-day workweek, signing off on any number of unaffordable pay raises, or pushing a worthless, $11 billion airport expansion plan that serves no one except the unions and contractors who would do the work. Hahn, a fellow ally of the education establishment, also opposed Proposition 38, as well as any other serious attempt at reform.

Here, too, the difference between the candidates is rather small. Perhaps that's why the substance of their campaigns grows ever pettier.

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Photo:

(color) Mayor James Hahn, left, and rival Antonio Villaraigosa share many similar views, so their debates are showing less substance.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer