4 City Controller Candidates to Add Life to Campaigns

With two weeks to go before Election Day, the candidates in the largely dormant city controller’s race will rouse their somnolent campaigns this week with their first television or radio commercials or direct mail pitches to indifferent voters.

Nearly two-thirds of the electorate, according to a Times Poll, remains undecided about the controller’s race. The four candidates for the third-highest citywide office have all but given up on winning the race outright and are relying on their media campaigns to attract enough voters to qualify for the June 4 runoff.

That first salvo comes today when television spots for Studio City lawyer Dan Shapiro and radio commercials touting former city commissioner Alice Travis begin airing.

While both advertisements stress the qualifications of their respective candidates, the offbeat Travis spot also underscores the relative obscurity of the controller’s office.

Dangerfield Line

Using a Rodney Dangerfield sound-alike, the 60-second radio ad echoes the comedian’s trademark line in complaining that the controller’s office “gets no respect” from voters--and promises that Travis would change that if elected.

“We essentially get attention with this spot. It’s not a typical political spot,” said Harvey Englander, whose consulting firm also ran Travis’ unsuccessful 1981 bid for controller.

The approach may be atypical, but the timing of the political ad is not. With the April 9 election looming, the fate of the controller candidates now rests heavily with their campaign managers and political consultants. In addition to Travis and Shapiro, community college Trustee Rick Tuttle and bail bondsman Celes King III are vying for the job, and all are relying on veteran campaign firms.

Shapiro will depend heavily on television commercials. His two spots tout his background and his goals. Another commercial, which will air next week, repeats his call to abolish the city’s Board of Public Works as wasteful.

$130,000 in Air Time

Rick Taylor, who along with partner Leslie Winner produced the Shapiro spots, said the campaign has bought $130,000 worth of air time over the final two weeks.

Unlike their rivals, Tuttle and King said they have no plans to use television or radio.

Tuttle, backed by the potent Westside-based political organization led by Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman and Howard Berman, will use targeted mailings and candidate slates--both hallmarks of that organization. The mailings and slate project are being directed by the organization’s political consultants, Michael Berman, brother of the congressman, and Carl D’Agostino.

“By targeting, it’s possible to have messages going to people who . . . are highly likely voters,” D’Agostino said of the campaign’s decision to use mailers instead of radio or television.