TOUGHEST MAYOR'S RACE YET? HAHN FACING SCANDALS AND MANY CHALLENGERS AS RUN OFFICIALLY BEGINS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn formally began his quest Saturday for a second term as the first stage in the city's process leading up to the March 8 election closed.

Hahn heads a field of 20 candidates - four of them considered major challengers - who filed to run for mayor in the primary election.

What had once looked like an easy run to re-election for an incumbent with lots of campaign cash now appears to be a free-for-all that could become the costliest and toughest mayoral election ever. Hahn finds himself facing a series of scandals involving his administration, plus ongoing political opposition dating back to his campaign against San Fernando Valley secession two years ago.

``The mayor might have had some hopes by his early fund raising that he would scare some people off, but all that has happened over the past year has brought people out,'' said Democratic consultant Richard Lichtenstein, who is not involved in any of the campaigns.

``Instead, you have a quality field to articulate candidates who have decided they want to get on the inside. I think what you'll see is constant pummeling and challenging of everything the mayor does.''

The main opponents to Hahn who have announced their candidacies include Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who lost to the mayor in 2001 in a bitter runoff election; Councilman Bernard Parks, whom Hahn opposed for a second term as police chief, and two candidates from the San Fernando Valley, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg of Sherman Oaks and state Sen. Richard Alarcon, who formerly served on the City Council.

Hahn is close to the maximum of $2.2 million he can raise to be eligible for matching funds from the city. Hertzberg had reported $1.1 million; Villaraigosa, $650,000; Parks, $450,000; and Alarcon, $250,000.

Hahn has said he expected opposition in his bid for a second term, and his campaign manager, Bill Carrick, said he's been preparing for this election since the mayor was inaugurated in 2001.

``I was convinced that term limits would lead to a bunch of people running,'' Carrick said. ``My experience has been that people play a massive game of political musical chairs because they have nowhere else to go.''

Carrick said he remains confident that Hahn will win - probably in a runoff election.

``I think with five major candidates, it will be hard to avoid a runoff,'' Carrick said. ``And, at the end of the day, these candidates are going to have to fight one another to get into a runoff with Jim Hahn.''

In the last mayor's race, Hahn was second to Villaraigosa in the primary election, but came from behind to win. Carrick said he expects Hahn to win again.

``We are not going to be defensive,'' Carrick said. ``We are going to go to the voters and say this is what we've done to make this a safer city, a more livable city. The most important thing is to tell people what he's done.''

But that could lead to a heated, negative campaign.

For the past eight months, separate federal and county grand juries have been investigating alleged contracting irregularities at the city's Airports, Harbor and Water and Power departments.

The investigations followed audits by City Controller Laura Chick, which found indications of a ``pay-to-play'' system, in which companies felt obliged to make political contributions to win city business. One mayoral aide and two influential commissioners have resigned since then.

``It's going to be a race of negatives,'' said Democratic consultant Joe Cerrell, who is not involved in any of the campaigns.

``You see it now and the race has barely started. It's unfortunate, but the only way these challengers can get ahead is by dragging down the incumbent. The race comes down to what he has done and hasn't.''

The next stage of qualification for the ballot is for candidates to collect signatures of supporters. They must collect at least 500 signatures from registered voters and pay a $300 fee. They can avoid the fee with the signatures of 1,000 voters.

Other candidates who filed their declarations of intent for mayor include senior citizen advocate Addie M. Miller, business trial lawyer Walter Moore, media relations consultant Mitchell Jackson, retired bus driver James L. Thompson, newspaper publisher Ted Crissell, Dr. Hector Beltran, meat packer Wendy Lyons, information management director Jose Bonilla, businessman Bill Wyatt, filmmaker Stephen Brown, businessman Bruce Harry Darian, baker Sage Jones, state worker Martin Luther King Aubrey Sr., Michael A. Hirt and constitutional advocate Leonard Lenox.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com