NEWS ANALYSIS : Nonpartisan Council Race Gets Partisan : City Council: An aide to Republican Supervisor Deane Dana is challenging Ruth Galanter. But Mary Lee Gray’s development stand remains unclear.

Little more than three years ago, a neighborhood activist named Ruth Galanter rode a wave of public anger about rampant development onto the Los Angeles City Council.

Since Galanter took office, the development pressure has, if anything, intensified. The Westside councilwoman, conceding that a certain amount of development is inevitable, has traded in her initial hostility toward developers in favor of a more conciliatory approach. In recent months, her focus has been on making certain big projects more palatable to the community through negotiations with developers on issues of size, traffic and housing.

So it was not surprising that the first-term councilwoman would face a reelection challenge from a critic of her handling of development issues. What is surprising is where the first serious challenge is coming from: not from the ranks of neighborhood activists charging betrayal, but from the office of a Republican, pro-development county supervisor.

Seven months before voters go to the polls in April, Mary Lee Gray, a senior deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, made it official last week that she will take on Galanter.

The announcement by Gray, a Republican, sets the stage for a partisan race in the heavily Democratic district that runs from the beaches of Venice and Playa del Rey inland through Mar Vista, Del Rey and Westchester, and over the Baldwin Hills into to Crenshaw area. The district also includes Los Angeles International Airport.

At a press conference on the Ballona Creek bicycle trail, Gray accused Galanter of a lack of leadership in failing to solve problems ranging from traffic congestion to crime, air pollution to aircraft noise, graffiti to gangs.

Topping the list was what Gray called “the ‘G’ word.”

“Growth and development split the 6th District in the last campaign,” she said. “It may well do it again.”

But just where Gray stands on the growth issue is unclear.

Surrounded by two dozen supporters, some carrying hand-lettered campaign signs, Gray sounded alarm at the prospects of massive building along heavily-congested Lincoln Boulevard corridor. She was sharply critical of Galanter for negotiating privately with developers of the Channel Gateway and Playa Vista developments.

“Her possible ‘deals’ with developers and special interests and non-public negotiations on projects that adversely affect the public is a breach of public trust,” Gray said. “Wasn’t it Ruth Galanter that promised to slow development when she ran for office?”

Gray praised Channel Gateway’s plan to include 109 affordable apartment units. But unlike Galanter, Gray said she would have voted against the high-rise residential and office project because of its size. She also was critical of a $1.25-million agreement between Galanter’s office and developer Jerome Snyder. The money is to be distributed to area groups for community improvements.

Gray agreed with Galanter’s opposition to the Marina Place shopping mall in Culver City, but she said Los Angeles’ lawsuit against the project might have been avoided had there been better communication between the two cities.

As sailboats glided by in the Marina del Rey Channel, Gray, 49, spoke of the need to protect the quality of life. But she took no position on the multibillion-dollar Playa Vista project. Instead, she offered only questions about potential effects of the city-within-a-city planned for more than 600 acres between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs. “Before I could approve of such a project, these issues would have to be addressed.”

Galanter, no longer the outsider, said she will defend her record. “I intend to win reelection by doing my job and doing it well,” she said in an interview.

With growth and development looming as a dominant issue, the incumbent issued a challenge to the challenger. “I’m prepared to talk about any of the developments in the district,” Galanter said. “I’m willing to talk about it anywhere . . . as long as I can fit it in my schedule.”

Galanter said that if growth is going to be the issue, Gray must take a position. And if crime, gangs and graffiti are issues, she said, the challenger must offer solutions.

Although City Council races are supposed to be nonpartisan, Galanter served notice that she will attempt to draw the political connection between Gray and Dana. “She works for him. How much more of a tie can you get?” Galanter asked. “Mary Lee Gray is about as independent as Kuwait.”

Relations between Galanter and Dana have been strained over a variety of issues, many of them related to county plans for development in and near Marina del Rey.

Sensing that the race could be clouded by party labels, Gray sought to distance herself from her boss of the last 10 years. “I am an independent person,” she told reporters. “I am not Deane Dana. I am Mary Lee Gray.”

Gray criticized Galanter for indulging in guilt by association, and she warned against such negative campaigning. Gray noted that she has worked for three county supervisors during the last 17 years, including Republicans James Hayes and Dana, and Democrat Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

But the race could take on a heavily partisan flavor if Gray taps traditional Republican sources for campaign contributions.

Dana spokesman Dennis Morefield said he did not know what role the supervisor will play in Gray’s campaign. “I’m sure he will be supportive of her,” Morefield said.

Gray formed a campaign committee Tuesday to begin raising money for the coming campaign. She hopes to raise between $100,000 and $200,000 for her battle against the councilwoman.

Galanter has a substantial head start in fund raising, having held a $500-a-person reception early this year at a posh club atop the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The event, the biggest of the 49-year-old councilwoman’s political career, attracted scores of well-heeled developers and City Hall lobbyists. In her latest campaign contribution report, Galanter reported raising $84,285 in the first six months of the year.

In a strong sign of Democratic support, she received $500 contributions from Reps. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, Howard L. Berman of Panorama City and Mel Levine of Santa Monica.

Galanter returned $3,200 in campaign contributions collected from attorneys by Nelson C. Rising, senior partner in Maguire Thomas Partners, developers of Playa Vista. Galanter has said she will not accept contributions from developers of controversial projects in her district.

Her campaign committee spent $24,914 in the first half of the year and had $70,899 in cash on hand at the end of June.

The race is expected to attract other candidates, including Salvatore Grammatico, a neighborhood activist who heads the Coalition of Concerned Communities. Grammatico said, however, that he is still working to pay off the debt from the 1987 council race, when he was in the field of candidates beaten by Galanter.