Molina Says She Won’t Enter Race for Mayor : Politics: Decision by the likely front-runner leaves the contest wide open. She says she can’t abandon her board duties.

Gloria Molina--widely regarded as the likely front-runner if she entered the race for Los Angeles mayor--bowed out as a possible candidate Tuesday, saying she cannot walk away after serving barely 20 months as the first Latino member this century of the County Board of Supervisors.

Molina’s announcement, ending months of suspense, throws next year’s mayoral race wide-open. Those already planning to run were delighted; others on the sidelines said they may now be tempted to enter the field.

“We all breathed a sigh of relief when we heard the good news,” said Councilman Joel Wachs, an announced mayoral candidate. “Gloria clearly would have been the odds-on favorite. Her not running makes it a lot easier on the rest of us.”

With Molina out of the race, “it’s more wide-open than ever,” said Larry Berg, director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.

Molina’s decision leaves the race without a prominent woman candidate. One longtime Molina supporter, Peg Yorkin, chairwoman of the Fund for the Feminist Majority, said that she would begin a search for a strong contender. “I think there has to be a woman in the race,” she said.

Molina, whose pugnacious populism made her a front-runner in early polling, said that she has yet to decide who will receive her endorsement in the April primary. Before the day ended, she had received three phone messages from mayoral contenders seeking her support.

Without Molina in the race, Julian Nava, a former school board president and U.S. ambassador to Mexico, becomes the best known Latino in the race to succeed Mayor Tom Bradley, who is retiring after 20 years in office. Other announced candidates are Councilmen Michael Woo, Nate Holden and Wachs, County Transportation Commissioner Nick Patsaouras and former Deputy Mayor Tom Houston. Businessman-attorney Richard Riordan plans to announce his candidacy today. Assemblyman Richard Katz also is expected to run. Council President John Ferraro, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and attorney J. Stanley Sanders also are considering possible mayoral campaigns.

With Molina’s decision not to run, speculation immediately turned to whether another longtime Latino officeholder would enter the fray.

Councilman Richard Alatorre--a bitter Molina rival since he backed her opponent in an Assembly race a decade ago--said Tuesday he is giving serious thought to a mayoral bid. Alatorre had earlier tried to mend fences by indicating he would support Molina if she ran for mayor. At her news conference, however, Molina was adamant about not returning the favor.

“Hah!” she replied when asked if she would support Alatorre in a mayoral bid. “We need an assertive, hands-on leader. We don’t need anyone who enjoys the political game.”

Alatorre offered some digs of his own. Referring to Molina’s rapid political rise--from state Assembly to Los Angeles City Council to the County Board of Supervisors--he said: “She doesn’t seem to like to stay in any one job too long, so I thought she might run.”

Molina said Tuesday she would like to run for mayor someday. But she said she felt a “sense of duty” as the county’s first Latino supervisor, elected to the previously all-male, all-white county board only after a voting rights lawsuit.

“While I think we’ve made important strides in the fight to open the doors of county government to public scrutiny and accountability, we’ve only just begun,” she told a packed news conference at the county Hall of Administration. Molina, mentioned for a possible post in the Clinton Administration, added that she would not accept a Washington job.

Molina, a Democrat whose election gave liberals a majority on the county board, said another factor in her decision was that her replacement on the board would be named by Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican.

“My pop has always told me that one of the things that is most important is to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. That weighed heavy on my mind because this may be the only opportunity for something I would like to do,” said Molina, daughter of an immigrant laborer. “But he also reminded me that you also had to fulfill your responsibilities.”

Some of Molina’s longtime supporters expressed disappointment.

“There is nobody who’s a strong second choice at this point,” said attorney Bob Hertzberg.

Downtown businessman Joe Sanchez, another longtime Molina backer, said, “It’s a big loss for the Latino community . . .” He said that he will now back Woo.

“It’s anybody’s ballgame now,” said Henry Lozano, chief of staff to Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) and a political confidante of Molina. Lozano said he may support James Blancarte, an attorney and Bradley appointee to the city Fire Commission who is considering a mayoral bid.

Yorkin of the Fund for the Feminist Majority said she will approach state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) about running for mayor. At least one other woman, Dr. Vicki Georges Hufnagel, has declared her intention to run.

Some of the hopefuls wasted no time in trying to win over Molina’s supporters, particularly those who rallied behind her efforts to shake up government as usual.

Riordan said: “Gloria Molina was a spokesperson for the alienation people felt from an ineffective government. We feel the Riordan candidacy speaks to the same constituency that Molina addressed. We consider her exit from the race a big plus for us.”

Woo countered, “I think it means that my chances, which were already very good, are getting better by the day.”

Woo said that in recent weeks many Latino leaders had told him they were interested in his candidacy but would not take a position in the mayor’s race until they learned Molina’s intentions.

“I intend to very aggressively reach out to Latinos in this city,” Woo said. “I want them to be part of the citywide coalition that I’m putting together.”

At her news conference, Molina was asked if she was scared off by Katz’s hiring of James Carville, the political consultant widely credited with helping Gov. Bill Clinton win the presidency.

“If any of you know me at all,” Molina responded, “you know that nothing intimidates me when I want to get something done.”

Times staff writer Frederick M. Muir contributed to this story.