Riordan Donates $2 Million to His Drive : Politics: Latest gift raises the amount he has pumped into his own campaign to $3 million. The move is likely to free rivals to exceed spending limits set by voters.

Lawyer-businessman Richard J. Riordan gave himself $2 million Friday--bringing to $3 million the amount he has pumped into his Los Angeles mayoral campaign and setting a record for self-giving in a municipal race in California.

Riordan announced his latest donation the day before a legal deadline for candidates to disclose donations to their own campaigns before the April 20 primary.

A campaign spokesman declined to say how much more of Riordan’s personal fortune of $100 million he plans to use if he wins a spot in the June runoff.

Riordan’s $3-million contribution stands in contrast to his 1990 support of Los Angeles’ Ballot Measure H, which offered public matching funds to candidates who would agreed to a $2-million primary spending limit.

Riordan, who now says it is fundamentally wrong to accept public matching funds in light of the city’s budget crisis, was the largest individual financial backer of Measure H.

“Riordan’s action directly conflicts with what the voters called for when they passed Measure H,” said Cecilia Gallardo, field director for the political watchdog group California Common Cause. “They wanted reasonable spending limits.”

She added that the size of the donation--which is expected to free other candidates to exceed spending limits--was “certainly unprecedented” in a California municipal race.

By tapping so heavily into his own money so early in the race, Riordan has dominated airwaves and mailboxes with three television commercials and three targeted mailings.

Vicky Rideout, campaign manager for the early front-runner, City Councilman Michael Woo, said Riordan’s effort to become well-known fast appears to be paying off.

She cited a poll of 600 people her campaign took last week showing that Riordan’s popularity has surged since his media blitz began.

“Our polling shows that this has become a Woo-Riordan race with everybody else stuck far behind in single digits,” she said. She would not provide more specific numbers, other than to say that the Woo campaign’s earlier polls had shown Riordan support at about 4%.

Riordan justified his extraordinary contribution by saying that it was necessary to level the playing field with key opponents such as Woo, who are already well-known to the public by virtue of their incumbent status.

In a letter to the city Ethics Commission, he included an analysis--quickly ridiculed by other campaigns--that was an attempt to quantify the incumbents’ advantage.

The analysis included factors such as campaign contributions that some rivals had received as long as a decade ago.

“Receiving a contribution in 1981 is supposed to somehow bear fruit in 1993?” scoffed Peter Taylor, campaign manager for Assemblyman Richard Katz. “That’s foolish. Dick Riordan is trying to hide the fact that he’s trying to treat L.A. like a leveraged buyout.”

“This is the sad song of the poor little rich boy,” added Rideout. “For Dick Riordan to try to make out like he is the poor guy in this race is just incredible.”

In other developments Friday:

* Mayoral candidate Joel Wachs was dealt a potentially important financial blow when his controversial gimmick of hawking art designs plowed into new legal problems Friday.

The city Ethics Commission notified Wachs it was holding up a request for $356,000 in public financing because of legal questions about funds from the art sales. Wachs estimated that half of the matching funds request was based on donations collected from sales of lithographs from designs donated to his campaign by such major artists as David Hockney and Roy Litchtenstein. Donors who contribute $1,000 are being offered the limited edition, signed prints, and more than 300 have been sold, Wachs said.

The commission ruled Friday that income from the art sales may not be “contributions” at all, or eligible for matching funds. It said no matching funds would be provided Wachs until he delivers more information about who purchased the prints and the value of each artwork offered.

* A neighborhood preparedness seminar organized by a community activist who has been sharply critical of Woo was canceled by the host, Paramount Pictures, after inquiries by a Woo City Hall staff member.

Linda Lockwood, who has challenged Woo’s record in the Hollywood area of his district, said that after weeks of planning the seminar, which was to be held today in donated space at Paramount’s Hollywood studios, executives abruptly canceled the event. She said she was told by a Paramount manager, Ed Tracy, that Woo’s office was questioning why the studio was assisting her and that studio executives feared Woo could cause costly delays with a major expansion project.

Woo’s council office spokeswoman, Julie Jaskol, and Paramount spokesman Jim Arnold acknowledged a member of Woo’s staff had questioned a studio executive about the seminar and that the seminar was later canceled. But they denied the Woo aide--whom neither would identify--applied pressure or that the cancellation was related to Lockwood’s criticism of Woo.

Arnold said Paramount executives became concerned after the Woo staff member and others pointed out that Lockwood was charging participants a $50 fee. Lockwood said Tracy had known a fee would be charged.

Times staff writers Richard Simon and James Rainey contributed to this story.