Villaraigosa Joins Race; Heat on Hahn Rises

Ending months of speculation, Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that he will launch a rematch against Mayor James K. Hahn, the man who beat him for the city’s top post in 2001.

Villaraigosa, perched on a couch in the living room of his Mt. Washington home, said he intends to challenge the one-term mayor with “a vision for a future and a plan to make that future as bright as possible.”

The first-term councilman said he wants to build trust in city government, bring high-paying jobs to Los Angeles and combat gang violence.

“A great city deserves a strong leader with the ability to bring people together and take on the challenges we face,” he said.

Villaraigosa, whose last mayoral bid drew national attention and turned into a bitter fight, is the last of the big-name contenders who had been expected to enter the race. His decision, seven months before the March election, sets up a widely anticipated contest involving the incumbent and four veterans of Los Angeles politics.

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, the city’s former police chief; state Sen. Richard Alarcon, a former city councilman; and former Assembly speaker Bob Hertzberg have been campaigning and raising money for weeks.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and senior scholar at USC, said the race appears wide open at this point. “This is a game of three-dimensional chess,” she said. “I have no idea how this is going to play out.... That’s the bottom line. The only observation I’m comfortable making is that Hahn is in danger of his base eroding further.”

In the 2001 race, Villaraigosa, who had hoped to become the city’s first Latino mayor in modern times, beat Hahn in the April election, but not by enough to avoid a runoff. Hahn then assailed Villaraigosa in hard-hitting television ads and won with 53.5% of the vote.

With a changed political climate and new candidates in the race, the 2005 election will be more than just a rerun.

Among his key accomplishments, Hahn can boast that he hired a popular police chief in William J. Bratton and kept the city together amid the threat of secession by the San Fernando Valley. But federal and county corruption probes into Hahn’s administration have weakened his position, as has persistent criticism of his low-key style.

And the candidates have altered the political dynamic.

With Parks in the race, Hahn cannot be assured of the support of the city’s black voters, who were essential to his 2001 victory. Parks was an influential figure in the city’s black community even before he became the city’s second black police chief. And Hahn alienated some voters when he replaced Parks with Bratton.

Alarcon, who is from Sylmar, and Hertzberg, from Sherman Oaks, both boast strong support in the San Fernando Valley. Hahn’s campaign to keep the Valley part of Los Angeles may have persuaded some voters there to look for a different mayor.

Villaraigosa, meanwhile, is much better known than when the 2001 campaign began. Despite his position as the speaker of the California Assembly, he was then hardly a household name.

The city’s Latino electorate also has grown. More than 80% of Latinos backed Villaraigosa the last time, but Hahn’s support in the Valley and in South Los Angeles was enough to beat Villaraigosa.

On the other hand, Villaraigosa may not be able to count on as much support from labor unions as he did three years ago. Hahn has worked closely with the municipal unions since his election.

And Hahn, who has the power of incumbency, is a famously tough campaigner who has never lost a race in six citywide campaigns.

He and the other candidates also have a huge head start on Villaraigosa in raising the millions of dollars that candidates are expected to need to wage a successful campaign. Hahn has raised $1.6 million, Hertzberg $700,000, Alarcon $200,000 and Parks $80,000.

But despite his late entry, Villaraigosa is expected to be an adept fundraiser. And because he is well-known to voters, he will not have to spend as much money trying to teach people to recognize his name.

Among the challengers, Villaraigosa “immediately becomes the top guy,” said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles and a Villaraigosa backer in 2001. “The question is, is it 2001 all over again, in which Hahn wins?”

Villaraigosa, who said he intends to make his candidacy official today, made his announcement by summoning reporters to his hilltop home for a series of interviews. The usually ebullient politician was in a serious mood, his sentences broken by long pauses as he appeared to search for precisely the right words.

If he wins, Villaraigosa would become the city’s first Latino mayor since 1872. But the 51-year-old councilman said he doesn’t view his candidacy through the prism of a Latino political awakening.

“I’m a bridge builder,” he said. “I think what’s important about my candidacy is my vision for what the city could be. Not who I am or where I came from.”

Where he came from is a tough childhood on Los Angeles’ eastside, where he dropped out of Roosevelt High School before eventually earning a degree in history from UCLA.

As a child, he shined shoes on the streets of downtown Los Angeles. As an adult he worked as a community and union activist before winning an Assembly seat in 1994. In the Assembly, he championed school and park bonds, and pushed for legislation to provide medical insurance for poor children. In 1998, he became speaker.

After losing to Hahn, he won a City Council seat last year representing the 14th district, which stretches from the hills of Mt. Washington east to Boyle Heights. During that campaign, Villaraigosa said he intended to serve out his four-year term. But in recent months he has said that many constituents have urged him to run.

Villaraigosa also has become active in national politics and is a co-chairman of Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

His announcement shocked no one.

“Surprise, surprise, surprise,” said Bill Carrick, the mayor’s political advisor. “We have a strong record to talk about, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Hahn was unavailable for comment.

Alarcon, Parks and Hertzberg welcomed Villaraigosa into the race, with varying degrees of warmth.

“It strengthens the possibility that we will have a new mayor,” Alarcon said. “If anyone is concerned about Antonio entering the race, it is Mayor Hahn.”

“It can’t be anything but positive,” Parks said. “I think it’s indicative that he sensed the same thing I have ... that there’s a great deal of disenchantment with the current administration.”

Hertzberg, who was once close to Villaraigosa and shared a house with him in Sacramento before the two had a falling out, said he took his candidacy as a sign that “Hahn won’t win.”

Villaraigosa declined to comment on the other major candidates except to say that he has “great respect” for all of them.

“Winning campaigns are about, or should be about, what you have to offer,” he said. “Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I think campaigns are about ideas and a plan for the future.”

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Times staff writer Noam N. Levey contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

A look at the top candidates

Richard Alarcon, State senator

Age: 50

Hometown: Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley

Family: Divorced, four grown children

Career: A former social studies teacher, Alarcon began working for the city of Los Angeles in 1981 under then-Mayor Tom Bradley. In 1993, he was elected to the City Council, becoming the first Latino councilman from the San Fernando Valley. He entered the state Senate in 1998.

Campaign: His campaign theme is “Building Middle Class Dreams.” He views himself as an “underdog” candidate who is poised to surprise the field.

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James K. Hahn, Mayor

Age: 54

Hometown: Los Angeles

Family: Separated from his wife, lives in San Pedro with his two children

Career: A veteran of six citywide elections -- all of which he won -- Hahn served one term as city controller and four terms as city attorney before winning the mayor’s office in 2001.

Campaign: His top goal is to make Los Angeles the “safest big city in America.” He also says he has taken steps to reform the business tax system and give neighborhood councils more say in city government, including a role in putting together the city budget.

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Bob Hertzberg, Former Assembly speaker

Age: 49

Hometown: Los Angeles

Family: Lives in Sherman Oaks with his wife and three children

Career: Hertzberg is an attorney with the law firm of Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw. He served in the state Assembly in 1996-2002. He was Assembly speaker in 2000-02.

Campaign: He has pledged to enlist professionals to develop a plan for “an extreme makeover” of the city’s neighborhoods. Hertzberg also says he wants to meet with city and neighborhood leaders to devise a way to shift more power and budgetary authority to neighborhoods.

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Bernard C. Parks, City councilman

Age: 60

Hometown: Born in Texas, raised in Los Angeles

Family: Married, four grown children

Career: Spent 38 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, rising through the ranks to become chief in 1997. In 2002, Mayor Hahn declined to support him for a second term, and Parks was ousted.

Campaign: Parks announced his candidacy this spring and has spent the last three months excoriating Hahn’s leadership. He says the city is “adrift” and he is a proven leader who understands how the city works and has the courage to act in the best interest of voters.

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Antonio Villaraigosa, City councilman

Age: 51

Hometown: Born in Montebello, raised in the city’s eastside

Family: Lives in Mt. Washington with his wife and two children; raised two other children from previous relationships.

Career: The councilman was state Assembly speaker in 1998-2000.

Campaign: Wants to restore trust in city government and make Los Angeles “a city where we are growing together, where every neighborhood is safe and secure.”

Reported by Times staff writers Jessica Garrison and Patrick McGreevy

Los Angeles Times