LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Woo, Riordan Begin Focusing on June Race

With polls showing a clear two-man contest emerging from the early muddle of the Los Angeles mayoral race, front-running candidates Richard Riordan and Michael Woo have begun shifting campaign and fund-raising strategies toward a head-to-head showdown in June.

At the same time, a momentary pall settled over campaigning Monday as public and media attention were riveted on the jury deliberations in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial. And the city reported a record number of applications for absentee ballots; some analysts said voters may be concerned about venturing out to polling places if there is unrest in the trial’s aftermath.

Leading contenders took the time to begin looking ahead toward a fast-paced, seven-week runoff campaign, and how they can quickly replenish their political accounts for a second, multimillion-dollar blitz of advertising and mailers.

After riding an unprecedented $4.2-million, personally financed campaign to the top of opinion polls, multimillionaire Riordan has secured a legal ruling from the city Ethics Commission that will allow him to roll over much of the excess money from his primary campaign into a runoff contest.

The wealthy lawyer-businessman is the only candidate legally positioned to use leftover funds, chiefly because his campaign has been underwritten by a $3-million personal contribution.

Woo, who has agreed to abide by contribution limits as a condition of receiving public matching funds, would be strictly prohibited from using in the general election any of the $2.6 million he raised for the primary.

The ruling gives Riordan a new advantage, but a spokesman for Woo said it only underscores Riordan’s ability to pump huge personal sums into the race.

“He’ll reach into his pocket either way and pull out massive amounts of money in an attempt to buy the election,” said Woo campaign spokesman Garry South.

Bill Wardlaw, Riordan’s campaign chairman, said it is unclear how much of Riordan’s leftover funds will be available for the general election campaign, but he said it would probably be in the $100,000 to $200,000 range.

“We are going to spend a substantial portion of what we’ve raised to make sure we do well on April 20,” Wardlaw said.

An immediate infusion of runoff funds could help maintain Riordan’s momentum as he refocuses his fund-raising effort and assesses how much more of his personal fortune may be needed.

Wardlaw declined to say how much more of an estimated $100-million fortune Riordan would contribute in the runoff. But he made it clear it could be millions, saying: “He will spend whatever it takes.”

Citing recent polls that show Riordan leaping from the back of the candidate pack to the front, he said: “We think we will raise lot of money in the general for a number of reasons. . . . People realize there is a very significant chance Dick Riordan will be the next mayor of Los Angeles.”

Meanwhile, Woo’s camp was quietly analyzing its next move in the crucial money chase.

Because he is participating in the public matching fund program, Woo would not go penniless in a runoff campaign. He would be eligible for an early payout of $160,000 in public matching funds, although it could be up to 10 days before the City Hall bureaucracy makes the money available.

One option being considered is a legal maneuver that would permit Woo to begin raising funds for the runoff election before next Tuesday’s primary.

The Ethics Commission has ruled this possible, as long as the primary and runoff accounts are kept strictly separate and the campaign ceases taking donations for the primary contest.

“We’re assessing all of our options,” South said. “It is a scary proposition when you look at someone who has unlimited resources and can write a check for $2 million or $3 million on April 21.”

But the Woo campaign has one advantage: a well-developed base of contributors that is four times larger than Riordan’s, South said.

There were other signs Monday that Woo’s campaign was heading in a new direction.

After concentrating his efforts in minority communities, and especially South-Central Los Angeles, Woo announced a meeting today with small business owners in the San Fernando Valley, where he is expected to announce a plan to reduce the costs of workers’ compensation.

Woo campaign officials offered no details, but their effort to publicize the meeting is an indication that Woo is looking for ways to broaden a base of support that is made up largely of minorities and white liberals. Moreover, any attempt to appeal to Valley business interests can be seen as a direct challenge to Republican Riordan’s presumed constituency.

Despite a Los Angeles Times poll showing Woo and Riordan well ahead, few of the other candidates were willing to give any ground Monday. “Nobody could believe we could come as far as we have,” said Robert Shrum, Linda Griego’s Washington-based media consultant. Griego, who has jumped from nowhere to 9% in the latest poll, will continue to rely on television advertising, Shrum said, although he did not know whether the campaign could afford to boost its television presence.

Especially for those still desperately seeking voter recognition, these are tricky days for campaigning in Los Angeles.

Political consultants said campaigning in the midst of the King trial could pose political risks for the candidates.

“You got a city holding its breath,” said a frustrated Bill Carrick, campaign manager for Nick Patsaouras. “I don’t think there is a damn thing you can do about it.”

Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said: “The campaign is frozen in time.

“There just isn’t any focus on the election right now. People’s minds are not on it. That is not helpful to the people who are trailing. I would suspect they feel really frustrated.”

One measure of that was seen at a news conference held by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), which drew only two reporters.

Candidates may feel even more frustrated if a verdict comes in before next Tuesday’s election. Television stations are likely to cut back on political advertising in order to cover the verdicts.

The King trial--and concerns about its possible aftermath--may also be contributing to a run on absentee ballots, political consultants said.

The city says more voters have applied for absentee ballots for next week’s primary election than ever in the city’s history.

As of Saturday, the city had received about 119,000 requests for absentee ballots, far more than the 88,000 requests during the municipal elections four years earlier. That 35% increase is expected to expand more when the city finishes processing requests received in the mail Monday and today.

“I think people are just deciding that it’s easier to vote from home,” said Kris Heffron, chief of the city’s election division. “We’ve seen a general increase in absentees over the years.”

Absentee voters tend to be older and more conservative, a fact that would help a candidate such as Riordan, but that is not necessarily true if other candidates are recruiting absentee voters, political consultant Joseph Cerrell said.

A Los Angeles Times Poll conducted last week shows that among probable absentee voters Riordan has 32% of the vote, compared to 21% for Woo. One in five ballots cast next Tuesday could be absentee, according to the poll.

In other campaign developments Monday, a Woo mailer targeting the African-American community began arriving. It pictures Woo with two prominent African-American supporters--Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).

Katz began airing a 10-second TV commercial that he said was designed to remind people that there is an alternative to Riordan and Woo.

And others reverted to even more creative means to attract attention.

Tom Houston scheduled the “first ever underwater news conference” for Wednesday. He will conduct the dive to dramatize pollution in Santa Monica Bay.

Times staff writers Marc Lacey and Richard Simon contributed to this story.