A Close Look at Campaign Ads
The attack of the harsh TV ads continues in the Los Angeles mayor’s race--with twists on both sides. In the beginning, Richard Riordan featured a Barbie doll to symbolize his efforts to save Mattel Inc. Now rival Michael Woo is highlighting the toy company in his new commercial, which features a laid-off Mattel worker who blames Riordan. While Woo in his early ads boasted of opposition to former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, Riordan is turning the tables on his foe. A new Riordan ad attacks Woo’s law-and-order record by featuring images of prostitution and murder in the city councilman’s Hollywood district.
* THE WOO AD: Kathy Blakemore, a laid-off Mattel worker, says, “I gave Mattel the best years of my life . . . So did a lot of other people. And we all lost our jobs.” A closed-down factory appears on the screen. A narrator says, “Dick Riordan made $16 million off Mattel while firing 1,300 people.” Blakemore then says: “Dick Riordan tells people he saved Mattel Inc. . . . Give me a break. He didn’t save anybody’s jobs. He can’t be trusted.” * THE ANALYSIS: Riordan, a major investor in Mattel, has acknowledged that he was part of a retooling that resulted in closure of a Los Angeles-area factory. That closing sent about 300 jobs to Mexico but Riordan said the move was necessary to save 1,500 other jobs. According to a Times analysis, Riordan made a profit of at least $20 million in the Mattel deal. During Riordan’s tenure on the board, Mattel reduced its worldwide work force by 2,500, with 800 jobs lost in Southern California. But some additional jobs apparently were created elsewhere in the United States, for Mattel reported an overall U.S. work force drop of only 600 during the Riordan years.
* THE RIORDAN AD: The ad opens with Riordan standing on a sidewalk. “I remember a time when we could walk down Hollywood Boulevard without fear,” he says. “But last year, 23,000 crimes were committed in the Hollywood district--murders, robberies, assaults on innocent victims.” As Riordan speaks, the images shift to pictures of the Walk of Fame, a police car with flashing red lights, a prostitute in tight red hotpants and coroner’s workers wheeling bodies on gurneys. “As councilman for Hollywood, Mr. Woo has had eight years to turn Hollywood around,” says Riordan. “It’s time we demand safety for Hollywood and every neighborhood for our city.”
* THE ANALYSIS: According to the Police Department, crime in the Hollywood Division actually dropped slightly last year from the previous year. The division in 1992 reported 23,818 crimes, ranging from murders, rapes and robberies to burglaries and car thefts, down from 24,106 in 1991. As an example of his support for law enforcement, Woo cites his backing of an ill-fated tax increase on the April ballot that would have paid for more police. Woo last year secured $1 million in government funds to pay for a security firm to provide foot patrols along Hollywood Boulevard and to buy communications equipment to allow Neighborhood Watch members to stay in touch with police.
