Greuel backers launch anti-Perry radio ad in L.A. mayoral race

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An independent committee backing Wendy Greuel’s mayoral bid unveiled a radio ad attacking Jan Perry over her past financial problems, a possible signal that the controller’s supporters feel they need to shore up her standing as Tuesday’s primary election approaches.

The ad, paid for by a group largely funded by organized labor, starts with emergency vehicle sirens and mimics a news radio broadcast.

“Jan Perry wants you to put her in charge of L.A.’s budget. Who’s Jan Perry?� the announcer says. “Alert: Jan Perry filed for personal bankruptcy. Twice. The L.A Times says Perry failed to pay $375,000 in taxes. And when Jan Perry’s colleagues declined another pay raise, the fourth in two years for the highest-paid city council in America, Jan Perry took the money.�

In 2006, The Times reported Perry’s failure to pay taxes, which she and her then-husband, Douglas Galanter, blamed on problems stemming from his law practice. The liens have since been resolved. Perry has filed for bankruptcy, but once, not twice. She and Galanter filed for bankruptcy protection jointly in 1994, and Galanter filed in his name only in 1999, records show.

Perry has been making a hard play in Greuel’s home base of the Valley, citing her own fiscally conservative bona fides and filling mailboxes with glossy fliers. Some have dismissed Perry’s candidacy because she trails Greuel and Councilman Eric Garcetti in fundraising, but Greuel and her supporters are increasingly attacking Perry.

A Perry strategist said the effort, primarily funded by the union representing city utility workers, showed that the veteran councilwoman was gaining in the contest.

Eric Hacopian, Perry’s campaign consultant, said Greuel’s city-employee-union backers have ‘resorted to personal attacks in order to prevent Wendy from coming in third on Tuesday.’

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-- Seema Mehta