In the four years since he became mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa has thrown his weight behind an array of politicians and would-be officeholders, working to elect candidates to the school board, the Legislature and even president of the United States.
But Tuesday's election may present the greatest test to his clout, as he pushes for his closest ally at City Hall, Councilman Jack Weiss, to defeat former prosecutor Carmen Trutanich in the competitive race for city attorney.
Over the last two years, Villaraigosa has lined up endorsements, hosted campaign fundraisers, asked friends to contribute money and even tried to keep at least one ally who privately dislikes the councilman from defecting to the other camp, according to records and interviews.
His political consultant and campaign opposition researcher, Ace Smith, runs the Weiss campaign and has lobbed a steady stream of attacks to drive up Trutanich's negative ratings. Meanwhile, the mayor's labor union allies have pressed risk averse council members to support Weiss or at least stay neutral.
"The mayor's raised money for Jack. The mayor's campaigning for him. He's doing everything he can for Jack," said Richard Katz, a Villaraigosa appointee on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who contributed to Weiss at the mayor's request.
From a field of five candidates, Weiss came in first and Trutanich second in the March 3 primary.
Trutanich campaign consultant John Shallman warned that if Weiss wins the general election on Tuesday, it will show that "old-school corrupt machine politics is alive and well" in Los Angeles. Trutanich himself said Weiss, who faced lukewarm reviews from his colleagues and a failed recall attempt from a group of constituents in his Westside district, would never have gotten this far, financially or politically, without aggressive advocacy by the mayor.
"I can tell you this: Without the machine's help, he would have raised nothing," Trutanich said of his opponent.
Weiss declined to comment. But Smith described Trutanich's comments as "the whining of a losing campaign," and said voters should be more worried that the city's police officers' union has spent nearly $750,000 on Trutanich's behalf.
The mayor's support goes beyond money. Police Chief William J. Bratton, one of the mayor's department heads, has appeared in television commercials for Weiss. In his capacity as mayor, Villaraigosa has staged news events that put Weiss if not directly in the spotlight then close to it.
Still, support from Villaraigosa hasn't always worked in Weiss' favor. Two weeks ago, one of Villaraigosa's pension board appointees was forced to resign after he held a fundraiser for Weiss in violation of the city's ethics law. Weiss said he returned the contributions.
Trutanich also has his own list of big-name supporters, including Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca. Still, neither has the political reach of Villaraigosa, who has established relationships with politicians, developers, investors, Democratic Party activists, nonprofit groups and environmental organizations -- many of whom have stepped forward as surrogates to criticize Trutanich.
In the campaign's final days, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor -- whose leader, Maria Elena Durazo, is a Villaraigosa confidant -- has spent nearly $395,000, much of it for television advertisements criticizing Trutanich. The Democratic Party poured nearly $174,000 into various campaign expenses, including mailers attacking Trutanich.
Weiss fundraisers have been headlined by Villaraigosa financial backers such as Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which won up to $270 million in city tax breaks to build the LA Live entertainment complex. Another was hosted by Clinton administration Cabinet secretary Henry Cisneros, whose investment fund received a $50-million allocation from pension boards controlled by Villaraigosa appointees.
Several recent Villaraigosa news conferences have focused on Weiss' campaign themes, particularly public safety and gun violence. Last week, for example, he stood by as Villaraigosa discussed a program to give gift cards to residents who surrendered weapons.
"When people ask me why I'm supporting Jack Weiss for city attorney, I say: because he's a crime fighter," Villaraigosa told reporters.
Weiss has been a dependable Villaraigosa ally, voting for his plan to hire 1,000 police officers and backing him on efforts to change traffic patterns on Olympic and Pico boulevards -- even at the risk of upsetting his own constituents.
The city attorney race is not the first time that the mayor's supporters have intervened on Weiss' behalf. Two years ago, Villaraigosa friend and campaign fundraiser Ari Swiller stepped in to try to help stop a drive to recall Weiss.
