Fiscal heat is turned up in race

Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles) is hoping a final campaign push for votes will put him over the top in a runoff election Tuesday for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, a development that would open the doors for a race to replace him in the Legislature.

Two Assembly hopefuls, including one Democrat and one Republican, have already publicly stated their interest in the seat and have begun setting the stage for a special election should Krekorian win Tuesday.

But political observers say Krekorian’s odds have become muddled as campaigning has grown increasingly heated in recent weeks.

Krekorian and his opponent, former Paramount Pictures executive Chris Essel, campaigned heavily by mail and on foot in an attempt to pick up votes they may have previously conceded to other candidates in a 10-person primary election in September.

Krekorian had the majority of votes in that race, with 34% of the final tally, followed by Essel, who had 28% of the total.

Although Krekorian has since earned the endorsements of the third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers in that race, Essel has been backed by a total of more than $1.5 million in campaign spending, nearly triple the $586,000 spent on Krekorian’s behalf.

“Not only does it concern me,” Krekorian said, “I think it should concern everyone in the city of Los Angeles and everywhere else when this amount of money gets spent to try to change the outcome of the election.”

Essel, in a statement, argued there was nothing wrong with the campaign spending.

“The vast majority of the independent expenditures supporting my campaign have come from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents the LAPD’s 9,900 sworn officers,” she said.

Each camp has accused the other of distributing false statements and political smears.

Essel’s campaign filed a police report alleging that a letter sent to her by then-Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa was stolen. Material from the letter was used in a campaign mailer. Krekorian said the letter was printed on the then-speaker’s letterhead and was therefore public information.

Krekorian intervened in a lawsuit filed by a political committee, Working Californians, which had planned to support Essel, but argued that Los Angeles city ethics laws limiting contributions to a political committee to $500 per donor was unconstitutional and limited free speech laws.

A judge ruled against the group.