LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Riordan Gets Ferraro Backing While Braude Endorses Woo

So what if Michael Woo has Bill Clinton? Richard Riordan has Moses--well, Charlton Heston--not to mention the president of the Los Angeles City Council, who contributed his two cents’ worth to the mayoral debate Monday by describing Woo on Monday as a “snot-nosed kid.”

The endorse-a-thon that is rapidly becoming the Los Angeles mayoral race continued unabated Monday as Riordan collected endorsements from actor Heston--known for his role in “The Ten Commandments”--and Council President John Ferraro. Woo, meanwhile, announced he has the backing of Marvin Braude, one of his colleagues on the City Council.

The endorsements came after a wacky weekend of campaign give-and-take that included references to former President Richard Nixon, innuendoes about a private eye working out of Riordan’s restaurant the Original Pantry, and an angry feminist brandishing a pink Barbie car at Riordan during an appearance at a synagogue.

Things were equally lively on the campaign trail Monday as residents of a housing project in Watts disrupted a carefully planned Riordan news conference by denouncing politicians who show up in their neighborhood just at election time.

Riordan had gone to Nickerson Gardens to show off his support from attorney Stan Sanders, the top-finishing African-American candidate in last month’s mayoral primary.

Before the candidate arrived, his advance team was hard at work preparing the low-income neighborhood for his visit.

A mobile home outfitted with Riordan signs cruised the streets blaring over a loudspeaker: “Dick Riordan. He’s the only candidate who’s tough enough to turn L.A. around.” Riordan workers passed out flyers quoting Sanders as saying: “I’ve known Dick Riordan for 25 years--and Dick Riordan is no Reagan Republican,” even though Riordan has in fact featured his endorsement from Reagan in mailers to GOP voters.

Despite all that, a group of residents shouted complaints to the candidate.

“You never do anything for our neighborhood,” complained Gwendolyn Brown.

Riordan responded: “I have put money into this neighborhood. If you go into the computer labs here, I put the computers in.”

“We need need jobs! We’re tired of lip talk!” shouted Clark Watson, another resident.

A Riordan aide tried to get the news conference back on track by playing the role of journalist. He asked Riordan what he thought of Woo’s comparing Riordan to Nixon. (Woo sought during the weekend to liken Riordan to Nixon, complaining of the mayoral candidate’s “no comment” when he was asked about the private investigator who once operated out of the Pantry.)

“Mr. Woo should tell the public about his rich Republican father who raised millions of dollars for Richard Nixon,” Riordan said.

Some of the residents, however, continued to shout at Riordan.

The news conference ended with Riordan being hustled away by aides into a car, as Brown shouted from the street: “Mr. Riordan, what are you going to do for us? Mr. Riordan, what are you going to do for us?”

Afterward, Brown said: “They come down every election time. They say they want to do for our community and they do nothing.”

She said Woo was equally hypocritical. “I blame ‘em all,” Brown said. Asked what voters should do on June 8, she said: “Close your eyes and punch a hole because none of ‘em are going to do anything anyway.”

After the news conference, some residents complained that the computer reading lab at the housing project has been unused for months because there is no money to pay for a teacher. A federal grant that had funded the teacher’s position ran out in January.

Riordan, who has made a campaign theme out of his donations of computers to such reading labs, also acknowledged later in the day that he had not given the equipment to the Watts facility. Instead, he said, he had arranged for purchase of the computers at a discount rate.

It was the second day in a row in which Riordan drew protests on the campaign trail. On Sunday, a group of feminist activists, the Women’s Action Coalition, weighed in loudly against Riordan as he appeared at a synagogue. Afterward, one woman, carrying a bright pink Barbie car, chased Riordan as he left, shouting challenges to his stand on abortion rights. Riordan has given money to anti-abortion groups but says he favors a woman’s right to have an abortion.

During the primary campaign, the same group staged protests against Councilman Nate Holden, who was campaigning for mayor under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations.

Meanwhile, on the eve of President Clinton’s visit to Los Angeles to campaign for fellow Democrat Woo, Riordan picked up the endorsements of Ferraro and Heston.

Ferraro depicted Woo as a politician who failed during eight years on the council to create jobs or take the lead on important issues, in contrast with Riordan, who he said has the financial expertise and negotiating skills to make changes.

But Ferraro’s sharpest comments came at the end of the appearance with Riordan in the City Hall rotunda. Speaking with a small group of reporters, Ferraro criticized Woo’s highly publicized call for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to step down and said that he and Riordan deserved more credit for Gates’ departure.

“Daryl Gates had given 42 years of service to this city,” Ferraro said. “He wasn’t about to leave just because some snot-nosed kid told him to.”

Earlier this month, Ferraro, one of the council’s senior members, denied making derisive remarks about Woo.

Ferraro, a conservative Democrat, belittled Clinton’s endorsement of Woo. “I know Mike Woo better than he does,” Ferraro said. “I’ve worked with Mike Woo for eight years. I can tell you he does not bring people together. I can tell you he has not created jobs. I can tell you he has not demonstrated leadership. . . . Mike Woo is not ready to be mayor.”

Riordan also sent a letter to supporters of former independent presidential candidate Ross Perot seeking their support.

Also Monday, Woo won the endorsement of Braude, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee.

Braude criticized Riordan’s plan to lease Los Angeles International Airport to pay for more officers. He called Riordan “irresponsible, evasive and misleading with his blue-sky, unrealistic scheme for additional police officers.”

Woo’s police plan would cut the budget to pay for more officers and would transfer desk officers to the streets. Borrowing a gimmick from a onetime mayoral rival, Linda Griego, Woo appeared at the Braude news conference with a cardboard cutout of a police officer--intended, he said, to demonstrate the flimsiness of the Riordan police proposal.

Times staff writer Marc Lacey contributed to this story.