Woo, a Bradley Ally, Will Run for Mayor in ’93

City Councilman Mike Woo, a political ally of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, said Sunday that he will run for mayor next April, adding fuel to speculation about whether Bradley will seek another term to the office he has held through five presidential administrations.

The 40-year-old Hollywood councilman, who plans to announce his candidacy today, said he will run for the city’s top job--whether or not the 74-year-old Bradley seeks an unprecedented sixth term.

“I’m running for mayor,” Woo said in an interview. “The time has come for new leadership.”

Woo said he told Bradley of his plans during a private meeting Friday. He would not reveal Bradley’s reaction, or details of what the two men discussed. Woo said he does not know whether Bradley will seek reelection, but he could not wait for the mayor’s announcement because he needs to begin raising campaign funds. Bradley has said he will announce his plans in September.

A Bradley spokesman said Woo’s announcement will have no bearing on whether the mayor runs for reelection. “It sounds like Woo has made a very personal decision and when the mayor announces his decision, it will be after months of personal reflection on the mayor’s part,” said Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler.

“Mayor Bradley has worked hard to serve the city for the last 20 years,” Woo told The Times on Sunday, saying Bradley had produced accomplishments such as bringing the 1984 Olympics to Los Angeles. “We know him as a man who loves and cares for this city, who has made L.A. his cause.

“But today is a new day,” Woo said. “I’m here to provide new leadership.”

Woo’s long-expected announcement set off a flutter of speculation among City Hall observers, who differed on what Woo’s announcement portends for Bradley’s future. Some believe that Woo’s declaration may signal Bradley’s willingness to pass the torch to a new generation, one that could have his support.

“It’s a little out of character for Mike Woo to do something that would put the mayor in a box,” said Bruce Cain, associate director of the Institute for Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. “He might know that the mayor isn’t going to run. . . . It doesn’t seem like him to force the mayor’s hand. He’s a very cautious politician.”

Woo has been a loyal Bradley supporter. He was the first council member to support the mayor’s plan to limit the terms of elected city officials and strip top bureaucrats of civil service protection. In turn, Bradley has aided Woo. In 1986, Bradley vetoed a redistricting plan that would have caused Woo serious political trouble.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, a possible mayoral candidate, said: “I hear rumors that people on Tom’s staff are supportive of Mike and help him behind the scenes.”

Citing Woo’s sponsorship of Bradley’s proposal for term limits and civil service reforms, she added: “There are little things that could indicate that Mike is inheriting Tom’s mantle, if there is such a thing.”

Woo, a two-term council member and the first Asian-American to serve on the panel, must give up his council seat to run for mayor. The seat, which includes Hollywood and Silver Lake, is up for reelection in April.

Woo recently came under fire from hillside property owners and Councilman Nate Holden when it was learned that as Woo was pushing new restrictions on hillside construction, he was ignoring the proposal’s costly public safety features in remodeling his hillside home in Silver Lake. Woo responded at the time that the ordinance was never intended to retroactively affect properties such as his.

Woo’s mayoral statement prompted Councilman Joel Wachs to say that he would begin assessing whether he should run for mayor.

Councilman Nate Holden and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) have begun raising funds to run for mayor. And Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina also has not ruled out a mayoral bid. Other possible candidates are council members Picus, Richard Alatorre and Zev Yaroslavsky. Richard Riordan, a downtown attorney sponsoring an initiative campaign to limit the terms of city elected officials, and Nick Patsaouras, a board member of the Rapid Transit District, are considering a run.

City Council President John Ferraro warned Sunday against counting Bradley out. “Tom Bradley says he’s not going to make an announcement until September but I’ve been under the impression he was going to run for reelection. All of his appointments to the commissions give an indication he’s trying to build a coalition to run again.”

Time is forcing the hand of potential mayoral candidates, he added. “If you’re interested in running, you can’t sit around to wait for Tom Bradley to make an announcement.”

Richard Lichtenstein, president of Marathon Communications, the political consulting firm that ran the successful June campaign to pass the police reform measure, Proposition F, said mayoral candidates do need to begin raising money.

“My guess is that Tom Bradley has not made any conclusive decision about his future,” Lichtenstein said. “I think he’s testing how much political clout he still has in the community. I do believe that Mike Woo and Tom Bradley have an interesting amount of crossover in terms of constituencies,” appealing to many of the same groups of voters.

As a result, Cain said, “his getting in there is more of a threat to Bradley.”

Alatorre said: “It’s too early to tell what it all means. Does that make a difference whether Tom Bradley runs or not? I don’t think so.”

Yaroslavsky declined comment other than to say: “I have a high personal regard for Mike and I wish him the best.”

Woo’s announcement promises to give Los Angeles its liveliest mayor’s race in years.

Woo, who hopes to raise $2 million for the race, said he plans to build his campaign around “the fact that I was the first city official to call for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to resign.”

“I think I can do more to build the kind of broad coalition that is missing in Los Angeles of the 1990s, especially after the riots,” Woo said.

“I hope to get the support from the mayor’s many supporters,” Woo said. “And I hope to get support from a lot of people who can’t stand the mayor.”

Times staff writer Penelope McMillan contributed to this story.