Woo Files First Request for City’s Matching Campaign Funds : Politics: Mayoral candidate seeks $391,000. He appears to be the early fund-raising leader for the April primary election.

Mayoral candidate and Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo filed a request Tuesday for $391,000 in public campaign funds, becoming the first to seek taxpayer matching money under new voter-approved election reforms.

The request filed with the city Ethics Commission offered a first, partial peek at the contributors backing one of the leading contenders and top fund-raisers among a record-setting crowd of would-be successors to retiring Mayor Tom Bradley.

Woo has drawn money from many traditional special interests--developers, lobbyists, mass-transit consultants, city concessionaires and leaseholders, the report shows.

But it also shows that he has built a base among Asian-American professionals and business owners across Southern California and in other major cities. In addition, he has drawn from Hollywood entertainment industry executives, as well as from small contributors who gave $10 to $75.

The mix of interests among the more than 1,500 donors listed demonstrates “a broad level of support for Mike Woo,” said the councilman’s campaign manager, Vicky Rideout.

Next week, candidates are to file more complete contributor reports, and Woo’s will show that he has collected more than $800,000, Rideout said. Based on Times interviews with various campaign officials, it appears that Woo is the early fund-raising leader, followed by multimillionaire lawyer-businessman Richard Riordan, state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City), and council members Joel Wachs and Nate Holden.

Woo’s request for public funds came as members of the City Council and the Ethics Commission wrestled with key last-minute decisions on campaign spending limits and how to dole out the new $8-million public matching fund.

The council reversed itself Tuesday and agreed to permit mayoral candidates, under certain conditions, to accept public matching funds and exceed a $2-million spending cap in the April 20 primary election.

Two weeks ago, Wachs won tentative approval of an ordinance that would have blocked candidates from spending more than the limit when they accept city funds, regardless of the circumstances.

Wachs had complained that the existing rules made a “mockery” of the city’s ethics laws by permitting candidates to get public financing for their campaigns even if they exceed campaign spending limits.

But the city attorney’s office warned that the proposed change came too late in the campaign process to be legally defensible.

The council approved a compromise that will allow mayoral candidates to exceed the limit and still receive public funds when any candidate not taking city funds breaches the $2-million spending mark.

“It’s not what I’d really like,” Wachs said Tuesday after the council reversed direction. He insisted that he will seek to get the rule change adopted by the City Council in time to affect the campaign finance picture for the city’s June runoff.

The issue is significant because Riordan, the only major mayoral candidate to reject public funds, has said he will spend whatever is needed of his own money--potentially millions--to help finance his campaign.

Bill Wardlaw, Riordan’s campaign manager, said the council action merely returns the campaign “to the playing field we had going into this race.”

Meanwhile, the Ethics Commission, which is administering the city matching fund, scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to decide the maximum each mayoral candidate will be able to draw from the account. Officials initially expected to offer up to $667,000 to each candidate, but that figure may have to be reduced because of the huge field--52 are running for mayor and more than 100 for City Hall offices.

Ethics Commission officials noted Tuesday that in the mayor’s race alone, 10 major candidates are expected to apply for public funds--theoretically meaning that they could deplete the $8-million campaign account.

With Woo’s request for nearly $400,000, the commission has to move quickly to ensure that funds will be equally available to all candidates, said Ben Bycel, the panel’s executive director.

Among Woo’s larger donors--those giving $500 or $1,000--are developers who have had major housing and commercial projects in the city, such as Goldrich Kest, Catellus Development and the Alexander Haagen Co.

Executives with major city contractors and concessionaires also were among the larger donors. Some of them are donors from firms holding Los Angeles International Airport contracts and leases, cab companies, towing garages and Port of Los Angeles lessees.

Several thousand dollars was collected from City Hall lobbyists and employees of firms with major contracts on the Metro Rail system.

But hundreds of Woo’s contributors were Asian-Americans, particularly professionals and business owners. Asian-American physicians in the San Gabrial Valley, for example, donated nearly $10,000, the reports show.

In addition, Asian-American professionals and executives in Chicago, Detroit and the Bay Area contributed about $20,000.