Woo Launches Ads Attacking Riordan : Politics: Councilman portrays millionaire opponent as throwback to Reaganomics. Meanwhile, 21 candidates--even lesser known ones--gather for a TV forum that will air today.

Turning up the heat on the one man he sees standing between him and the Los Angeles mayor’s office, Michael Woo launched a TV ad attack Friday on rival candidate Richard Riordan.

The Woo ad, appearing with 10 days left before the April 20 primary, was released as candidates gathered for the largest televised forum of the campaign. The commercial seeks to take advantage of the city’s heavily Democratic registration by portraying the Republican Riordan as a throwback to Reaganomics and the politics of another era.

Featuring pictures of former President Ronald Reagan, a limousine and a boarded-up factory, the Woo ad says: “Dick Riordan: Endorsed by Ronald Reagan, a wheeler-dealer who got rich off Reaganomics, buying and selling junk bonds, closing plants, exporting our jobs abroad.”

The ad shows a snapshot of Woo standing with President Clinton. The picture was taken when Clinton, then a Democratic candidate for President, toured riot damage in Koreatown last year.

“Dick Riordan will take us back. Mike Woo will move L.A. ahead,” the narrator says. “He’ll work with Bill Clinton to create jobs in L.A. and take on the right wing to ban deadly handguns.”

The mayoral race is nonpartisan. But Riordan, more than any other candidate, has touted his party ties, emphasizing his GOP ties to Republican voters, sending out mailers featuring endorsements by Reagan, Gov. Pete Wilson and former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp.

Woo is looking toward a matchup with Riordan, who has surged to status as a top contender with a heavy TV advertising campaign funded by $3 million from his own fortune.

Jadine Nielsen, Riordan’s campaign manager, said in a written response to the Woo ad: “Mike Woo has raised hypocrisy to a new high. His first ad accused his opponents of attacking him. Now . . . he’s trying to tear Dick Riordan down. . . . Obviously, Woo is hearing footsteps. It’s a classic sign of a candidate in meltdown, trailing in the polls.”

Garry South, a spokesman for Woo, said: “We thought it was about time that the voters learned about the real Dick Riordan. He’s spent millions of his own dollars for the last several months painting a picture of himself that doesn’t square with the facts.

“Getting the contrast out to the voters at this point in time, with 10 days left, is a very important thing to do,” he added.

South said the Woo campaign did not fire the first shot. Riordan did that March 5 when he aired a TV commercial criticizing Woo and other candidates for accepting public funds to help finance their campaigns.

Rick Taylor, a political consultant who is not working for any mayoral candidate, said Woo is “trying to make it a two-person race,” and at the same time become the candidate of Democrats.

Joe Cerrell, another political consultant unaffiliated in the race, agreed. He said that Woo is trying to win the support of those who are backing other Democratic candidates, such as Assemblyman Richard Katz.

“He’s trying to make sure that Democratic voters don’t split all over the place,” Cerrell said. “He’s trying to give the perception that he is the Democratic candidate.

If Riordan took the brunt of the abuse on the airwaves, it was Woo who remained on the hot seat on the campaign trail.

In a Thursday night forum in Westwood, nearly all of his top 10 opponents went after the early front-runner. The attacks reached a fever pitch when fellow City Councilman Nate Holden blamed Woo for inciting last year’s riots.

Objecting to Woo’s call for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to step down, Holden roared: “This guy fanned the flames! . . . If any member of the council that I could point to is responsible for burning Los Angeles, it’s Michael Woo.”

Woo countered that it was the majority on the City Council, including Holden, who had contributed to the city’s instability by initially supporting Gates when it was clear the chief was an ineffective leader.

“I think everyone else knew a time for change had come,” Woo said.

Meanwhile, a television studio in Hollywood provided the most egalitarian forum Friday of the months-long campaign, in which the 13 “other” candidates sat side by side with eight of their bigger-name competitors.

The 13 outsiders stepped up to the podium for their three minutes on KCBS Channel 2’s “Newsmakers” program--the same amount of time allocated to the eight others, all of whom have past or present experience in local government.

Only Riordan, Katz and lawyer Tom Houston failed to appear in the biggest televised gathering of the biggest mayoral field in the city’s history.

Alongside the city councilmen in their gray suits sat singing candidate Eileen Anderson in kilt and green-sequined blouse, writer-musician Adam Bregman in jeans, red high-tops and rock star hair, and homeless activist Ted Hayes in dreadlocks, knit cap and leather moccasins.

Douglas Carlton, a self-described efficiency expert, spoke for the outsiders when he urged the people to take control of City Hall and “reject the original dozen and look at these others.”

And the “others” had no trouble setting themselves apart.

Anderson sang about her plan for a city lottery to raise money for more social services.

Kim Allen, a railroad worker who represents the Socialist Worker’s Party, advocated the international organization of workers to prevent the spread of exploitation and fascism and the hegemony of the rich ruling class.

Philip Ashamallah, an engineer and songwriter, denounced the regular politicians as “professional beggars . . . and worthless nincompoops.”

The articulate Bregman called for promotion of the arts and an atmosphere where “street performance is an integral part of the city.”

The forum airs today from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on KCBS, Channel 2.

In another development, candidate Joel Wachs received good news and bad news from a Superior Court judge.

Judge Robert H. O’Brien ruled that Wachs may continue using his innovative art-for-contributions program to raise money for his mayoral bid.

But O’Brien refused to order the city Ethics Commission to release $140,000 in city matching funds to Wachs’ campaign.

Wachs has raised an estimated $300,000 by offering limited edition prints of works by four famous artists, including David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein, to people who donate $1,000 to his mayoral campaign.

The program was challenged by the city Ethics Commission after a complaint was filed by the Woo campaign, which charged that the donated artwork was worth more than $1,000--the maximum an individual could legally contribute at the time.

Wachs said he will immediately restart his arts program. “I’m going to be on the phone all weekend,” Wachs said.

But the judge said the Ethics Commission was within its rights to deny Wachs public funds to match the contributions raised through the art exchange program. That is because the donations given for art are legally considered a payment, not a campaign contribution, the judge ruled.

Times staff writer John Schwada contributed to this story.