Clinton Wary of Woo’s Pleas for Endorsement in Mayor’s Contest

The White House is divided over whether President Clinton should endorse fellow Democrat Michael Woo in the nonpartisan Los Angeles mayoral race, Administration and other Democratic officials say.

Woo, an early supporter of Clinton in last year’s presidential contest, has pressed hard for the Administration’s backing but must overcome doubts about whether he can defeat multimillionaire businessman Richard Riordan in the June 8 runoff, several sources said Wednesday.

Woo’s pleas for a presidential endorsement so far have been rebuffed, but Clinton may yet decide to appear on his behalf or send surrogates, aides said.

Still, they noted that presidential involvement in a municipal race that is nominally nonpartisan would be unusual and carry some risk at a time when Clinton needs to conserve his political capital for pending battles on his economic program and health care reform.

Riordan, a Republican who finished first in the April 20 primary, also has strong ties to the President and Cabinet officials, which he reportedly has used to urge White House neutrality in the mayoral race. William Wardlaw, Riordan’s campaign chairman, headed Clinton’s California campaign and Secretary of State Warren Christopher and U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor are his longtime friends.

Top political aides, led by White House Political Director Rahm Emmanuel, are pushing for Clinton’s involvement on Woo’s behalf; Kantor is leading the forces for neutrality, party and Administration sources said.

Although Kantor feels some loyalty to Riordan and Wardlaw, he is not expected to make a vigorous pitch to Clinton to assist Riordan by sitting out the race, an associate said. White House aides said they expect Clinton to make the decision himself based on the personal and political costs and benefits.

The stakes are high. Woo, a liberal city councilman, would receive a welcome confidence boost from a presidential endorsement and could use White House fund-raising clout in his effort to counter Riordan’s deep, largely self-generated, campaign treasury.

Sources said White House and Democratic National Committee officials have discussed sending Vice President Al Gore and Cabinet officials if Clinton decides to support Woo.

Conversely, a Clinton decision to remain on the sidelines would be a double blow to Woo because it would be seen as a refusal to put the President’s prestige on the line in a risky political venture. Clinton carried heavily Democratic Los Angeles by 412,744 votes.

“People are still making the arguments,” said a senior White House official, who--like many of those interviewed for this story--declined to be identified. “Clearly, there are people who supported Clinton on both sides of this race and, at least in name, it’s a nonpartisan race.”

Woo tried unsuccessfully to win Clinton’s endorsement when he spoke to the President by phone Thursday, said a Democratic activist who is familiar with the conversation. Clinton reportedly queried Woo about the outcome of the primary and his prospects for gaining the endorsements of other candidates who finished behind him.

Woo’s spokesman, Garry South, called Clinton’s decision “an important issue and an important factor in the campaign.” He said that more than personal ties hang in the balance.

“The question the White House has to ponder is this: Can they really afford, in the first major election after Bill Clinton’s inauguration, to sit on their hands and let a Reagan Republican take over the nation’s second-biggest city in the nation’s biggest state--a city and state that were key linchpins in Clinton’s victory last November?”

One senior Clinton adviser said an important factor will be whether the state’s Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and other California elected officials line up behind Woo. Boxer said through a spokeswoman Wednesday that she is endorsing Woo.

“We’d follow their lead,” the presidential adviser said. “Otherwise, it looks like the Administration is trying to politicize a nonpartisan race and that would be a problem.”

A possible complication is Riordan’s history of large campaign contributions to candidates outside the GOP, including such Democrats as Los Angeles mayor and former gubernatorial candidate Tom Bradley, state Treasurer Kathleen Brown and Feinstein.

Woo already has gotten the endorsement of the state Democratic Party, the first time the party has become involved in a Los Angeles mayoral race. State Democratic Chairman Bill Press said he fully expects the Administration to follow suit.

“This race is critical for Bill Clinton’s efforts to carry California in 1996,” Press said. “I have made that point very strongly to the White House. I believe they understand it.”

Wardlaw and the Riordan campaign declined comment.

Times staff writer David Lauter contributed to this story.