LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Foes Assail Wachs Over Riot-Preparedness Claim

Opponents on Tuesday slammed Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Joel Wachs for attempting to draw connections between the Police Department’s riot-preparedness plan and his own abortive call for early mobilization of the National Guard.

At a candidates’ forum in Boyle Heights, Wachs told an audience of 150 that his call for a strong law enforcement presence on the streets came before Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ announcement of his plan for placing up to 6,500 officers on the street in anticipation of verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case.

“That is the kind of protection we need in our city and that leadership has to produce,” the city councilman said.

Critics promptly charged Wachs with attempting to make political capital out of a volatile public safety issue.

Separate statements from the mayor’s office and from candidate Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) accused Wachs of playing demagogue. A spokesman for another candidate, Councilman Michael Woo, said Wachs is guilty of “outrageous chutzpah” for suggesting he played a leading role in the city’s riot planning.

The controversy began last week when Wachs said he would introduce a motion calling for a declaration of a local emergency, so that National Guard forces could take up positions on the streets of Los Angeles “a few days before” the end of the trial of four police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King.

Wachs withdrew the motion after no one would second it. At the time, he claimed he decided not to push the matter because he had obtained “new information,” which he refused to disclose.

Then Tuesday, he said his original concerns were answered by Williams’ announcement that as many as 6,500 police will be on the streets as the city awaits verdicts in the trial.

“It doesn’t matter which uniform they are wearing. What people need to see is someone with a uniform,” Wachs said. “I’d rather have the LAPD.”

Rival Katz accused Wachs of a “blatant flip-flop,” adding: “One day he is calling for the National Guard. Now he is taking credit for what the police chief has been doing all along. It’s the worst kind of pandering.”

Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani said plans for the massive police deployment had been in the works for “months,” and had been discussed repeatedly with the City Council, including Wachs. “Either he wasn’t paying attention or he was there and now he is lying,” Fabiani said.

Wachs said his dropping a call for a Guard deployment is not a substantive change, adding that it had never been made clear to him until Williams’ announcement Tuesday that police would be out in force before the King verdicts.

He accused his opponents of hypocrisy, saying they “talk tough in television advertisements but then back down when they have to make a tough decision.”

In other campaign developments, Woo won the endorsement of the Los Angeles Sentinel, giving him a big boost in the African-American community. Woo has considered the community’s support crucial to his election. Blacks make up about 20% of the city’s registered voters.

In an editorial that will appear in Thursday’s editions, the newspaper praises Woo as the first elected city official to call for former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates’ resignation, said publisher Kenneth Thomas.

“Michael Woo has long demonstrated his commitment to the city as whole and minority communities in particular,” says the editorial. “We base our endorsement of Michael Woo not only on his words, but on his deeds, which demonstrate to us a sincere commitment to our issues. . . .”

“Our hearts are with (rival candidate) Stan Sanders . . . a product of Watts,” the editorial says. But Thomas called Sanders a long-shot.

“If we’re going to keep Mr. Riordan from buying the election, we’ll have to go with Mike Woo,” said Thomas. The publisher said that Woo was involved in issues of importance to the African-American community long before the mayor’s race, such as advocating help for minority banks.