Westside Provided Big Share : Valley Funds Tough for Bradley to Tap

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley has always had a tough time getting votes in the San Fernando Valley. He has had an even tougher time raising campaign funds there.

Only 6% of the $1.7 million contributed to Bradley in 1983 and 1984 came from the Valley, which accounts for one-third of the city’s population, according to a Times computer study of campaign contributions. The affluent Westside accounted for 45% of Bradley’s contributions.

The study examined all 1,573 contributions to Bradley and his chief opponent in the April 9 mayoral election, Councilman John Ferraro.

In the Valley, Bradley received 118 contributions of $100 or more from individuals or companies, adding $108,250 to his campaign treasury.

Of Ferraro’s total contributions of $788,321 in 1983 and 1984, 8% came from the Valley. The survey found that 69 individuals or companies in the Valley gave more than $100 each to Ferraro, their contributions totaling $64,825.

Not a Measure of Popularity

The study was not designed to serve as a measure of the candidates’ popularity, because it covered fund raising before Ferraro announced his mayoral candidacy. Ferraro’s contributions were listed on forms filed in his fund-raising efforts as a Wilshire District councilman.

However, the study gave some indications of the type of people who financially support campaigns for high city office.

Bradley’s supporters said they knew the mayor did not get a large share of his campaign funds from the Valley, but that they would not have predicted such a low percentage.

“I’m surprised the figure would be that low . . . but not shocked,” said H.F. (Bert) Boeckmann, whose Galpin Ford car dealership contributed $3,500 to be Bradley’s eighth-largest Valley contributor.

Boeckmann, a conservative Republican who contributes to many political campaigns, said the percentage of Valley contributors should not be interpreted as a sign the mayor is unpopular in the area.

Boeckmann contended that the Valley traditionally has not contributed heavily to any politician, citing Ronald Reagan’s first race for president in 1976. Boeckmann said he requested a list of Valley contributors of $500 or more to Reagan and found that the list contained only 18 names and “about half of those were members of my family.”

No Concerted Effort in Valley

“It shocked the heck out of me to realize how few major donors we had in the Valley on a presidential election,” he said.

Boeckmann suggested the percentage of Valley contributions to Bradley also was low because the mayor did not make a concerted effort to raise funds in the Valley. He pointed out that Bradley held no major fund-raisers in the Valley in 1983 and 1984.

Bradley recently held a fund-raiser at Warner Center that raised more than $100,000, which is not included in the survey.

Other Bradley supporters said the Valley contributed less than the Westside simply because it is less affluent. “Big money doesn’t live in the San Fernando Valley,” West Valley Councilwoman Joy Picus said.

Deputy Mayor Tom Houston said the bulk of Bradley’s contributions in 1983 and 1984 were to pay off a debt from the mayor’s unsuccessful 1982 campaign for governor. He said the Valley’s contributions should be looked upon as a percentage of the contributions to Bradley statewide. From that perspective, he said, “6% sounds pretty high.”

Field Deputy’s Comments

Doris Meyer, Bradley’s field deputy in the Valley, said as many Valley residents as Westsiders may have made contributions to the mayor. But Valley residents give in amounts less than $100, she said, and those contributors are not listed on campaign reports--and therefore would not be included in the survey.

“There is broad financial support for the mayor out here,” said Meyer, who said she has “at least 500 cards” in her files of Valley contributors. She said she uses the cards for fund-raising appeals.

Several of Bradley’s supporters also said that many Valley residents contribute to the mayor through their businesses, which may be located outside of the Valley. In such cases, their contributions would not appear in the survey as from the Valley.

“The businesses and professional offices are concentrated in downtown and the Westside,” Houston said. “Professionals generally commute from the Valley.”

Typical Contributor

Citywide, the survey found that 42% of the contributors to Bradley and Ferraro either do business with the city or need city approval for work that they or their clients want to undertake. It also found the typical giver was wealthy and white.

The sampling of Valley contributors was too small to obtain an accurate profile of the typical contributor.

Of the top 10 Valley contributors to Bradley--some of whom also were contributors to Ferraro--four do business with the city or need city approval for their projects. Three are current or former Bradley appointees to city boards and commissioners. A fourth is a company, one of whose executives was a Bradley appointee to the Southern California Rapid Transit District board of directors.

The biggest Valley contributor to Bradley was Warner Center Properties, a development company headed by Robert Voit, which donated $12,100.

Philosophical Agreement

Bradley last year supported Voit in an unsuccessful effort to block development of a competing high-rise building in Warner Center, a West Valley business center. Voit recently hosted a fund-raiser for Bradley at Warner Center.

Voit spokesman Norm Emerson, who serves as Bradley’s appointee to the Southern California Rapid Transit District board, said the developer contributes to Bradley because the two men agree philosophically, especially on the value of business centers such as Warner Center.

Sol Marcus, a former Bradley appointee to the city Public Works Commission that helps developers obtain city approval for their projects, contributed $4,200 to the mayor. He too said he gives to the mayor because they agree philosophically.

However, Marcus said he believes contributions to elected officials “makes it a little easier for me to have a meeting set up with them to discuss a problem.”

Also Gave to Ferraro

William Pierpoint, another of Bradley’s top contributors, giving $4,000, also was the Valley’s top contributor to Ferraro, with a $5,000 contribution. Pierpoint, president of Summit Health Ltd., which operates hospitals and nursing homes, has a pending legal problem with the city.

Pierpoint and officials of the company that manages the Corbin Convalescent Hospital in Reseda face criminal misdemeanor charges, filed against them last June by the city attorney, stemming from the alleged poor conditions at the nursing home.

The top 10 Valley contributors to Bradley, after Voit, were:

Schulman Management Co., a real-estate management firm, $8,000; Frederick Heim, a Bradley appointee to the city Harbor Commission, $8,000; J.A. Baumann, who leases property from the city at Van Nuys Airport to service small planes, $7,500; Marvin Strin, an executive with Nu-Med Inc., which owns hospitals, $5,000; Marcus, $4,200; Pierpoint, $4,000; Galpin Ford, $3,550; Hellenic-American Political Action Committee, a Greek-American group headed by Nick Patsaouras, president of the Rapid Transit District board and a Valley resident, $3,500, and Richard Dunn, a developer, $3,000.

Same Contributors

Ferraro received contributions from many of the same people in the Valley as Bradley, including Pierpoint, $5,000; Galpin Ford, $3,500; Sol Marcus, $2,500, and Warner Center Properties, $1,450.

Ron Smith, Ferraro’s campaign consultant, said he was surprised that Ferraro raised any money in the Valley in 1983 and 1984, because Ferraro had yet to initiate his fund-raising activities in his race for citywide office.

Research for this story was conducted by The Times Poll, under the direction of Susan Pinkus.