LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : State Democrats Break Tradition, Back Woo in Nonpartisan Contest

In a rare move, the state Democratic Party threw its political weight into the nonpartisan mayoral race Friday, endorsing Democrat Michael Woo over Republican Richard Riordan and asking President Clinton or one of his top aides to come to Los Angeles to campaign for Woo.

There was no response from the White House. But Bill Press, California Democratic Party chairman, said: “The last thing Bill Clinton wants is a Reagan Republican as mayor of the second-largest city in this country.”

Riordan’s campaign left its response to a prominent Democratic supporter of the attorney-businessman. “This election should be about leadership, not partisanship,” said Elizabeth Snyder, the state Democratic Party leader from 1954 through 1956. She called party intervention in a nonpartisan election divisive.

It is the first time that the Democratic Party has become involved in a Los Angeles mayoral race, party officials said.

The state Constitution prohibits political parties from endorsing in nonpartisan races. The ban dates to the early 20th Century when railroad barons were seen as controlling both parties and various levels of government. In 1913, reform Gov. Hiram W. Johnson succeeded in making local election races nonpartisan so that the winner would owe his or her allegiance to the voters, not party bosses.

“We intend to exercise our freedom of speech,” Press said, adding: “If anybody challenges us in court, we’re ready to defend our position.”

A federal court in 1990 struck down the ban, but the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it. The high court acted on procedural grounds but never ruled on the free-speech question.

The Democratic Party endorsement--coming one day after Woo won the backing of the County Federation of Labor--will provide the councilman with an army of volunteers to operate phone banks, walk precincts and, most important, get out the vote for the June 8 runoff election against Riordan.

“We are going to mount an independent campaign on behalf of Mike Woo,” Press said. “Our job is to get the message out to Democrats to turn out to vote for Michael Woo.”

Woo joined Press at a news conference at the Biltmore Hotel, next to a picture of former President Ronald Reagan that appeared in a Riordan mailer sent out in the primary.

Woo is counting on the 2-to-1 edge in Democratic registration to defeat Riordan.

But Riordan outpolled Woo 33% to 24% in Tuesday’s primary, even after Woo conducted a heavy advertising campaign portraying Riordan as a throwback to Reaganomics.

Woo said he and other Democratic candidates in the primary split the Democratic vote, while Riordan was the only GOP candidate.

But Riordan has contended that his tough law-and-order message transcends party loyalty.

A Los Angeles Times exit poll of voters in Tuesday’s primary found that Riordan received 22% of the support of white Democrats, compared to 21% for Woo.

“In polarized urban elections, crime-sensitive, white, working-class Democrats are susceptible to the appeal of a candidate like Riordan, just as they were susceptible to the appeal of Ronald Reagan,” said John Brennan, director of The Times Poll.

Responding from the Riordan camp, Snyder said the endorsement of Woo “does not speak for rank-and-file city Democrats whose concerns about Los Angeles don’t begin with party labels.”

Keith McCarthy, chairman of the county Republican Party, said: “If we’re able to get a Republican elected as mayor of Los Angeles, it will send a ripple across the country.”

McCarthy said he would need to check with party lawyers before he could say if the party would endorse Riordan: “We’re not in the habit of breaking state law.”

Joe Cerrell, a political consultant who is not working for either candidate, said the endorsement could backfire if voters see it as representing the Tammany Hall-style machine politics of Eastern cities. But Cerrell said he believes the endorsement overall is a plus for Woo.