Riordan Discloses Two Arrests About 25 Years Ago : Campaign: He says he was held for drunk driving and interfering with an officer. ‘I learned my lesson,’ he adds.

With only 12 days left before the election, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Richard Riordan disclosed during a radio debate Wednesday that he was arrested twice about 25 years ago--once for drunk driving and once for interfering with the “arrest of a friend of mine.”

“I learned my lesson,” said Riordan, who has campaigned on a strong law-and-order platform.

Riordan’s disclosure--after a woman in the audience asked if either candidate had ever been arrested--occupied only minutes of the debate, but dominated questioning by reporters afterward.

It was not immediately clear whether the disclosure would cost Riordan political support. A spokesman for Los Angeles Police Protective League said the revelation could cause the union to reconsider its endorsement of Riordan, while Sheriff Sherman Block, who endorsed Riordan on Tuesday, said through a spokesman that the arrests made no difference.

At a candidates forum Wednesday night at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Riordan said he did not know what effect the arrests would have on his election chances.

“It’s up to the voters to determine,” he said.

Revelation of the arrests was one of the few fresh elements to surface during the radio debate, which covered familiar charges and countercharges on subjects including rival Michael Woo’s crime-fighting record, Riordan’s business dealings, guns in schools and handouts for the homeless.

After the debate, a spokesman for the Police Protective League said the arrests could be cause for reconsideration of the endorsement, but Frank Grimes, chairman of the league’s political action committee, added that such a move was unlikely.

“Our general feeling is we’re not terribly alarmed about this,” Grimes said. “We feel it’s minor in nature and it’s not going to have any impact on his ability to be mayor of the city of Los Angeles.”

Nonetheless, Grimes said a league official plans to question Riordan about the arrests today. Of particular interest to the league is Riordan’s arrest for interfering with a police officer.

“If his explanation satisfies our curiosity, we’ll be very happy to continue our support of his candidacy. If it’s something we feel was an outrageous or violent act, we would reassess our position.”

A spokesman for Block said: “The sheriff said he didn’t know about those arrests, but he doesn’t run criminal record checks on people like that unless they’re part of some kind of official investigation. But, had he known, in view of the fact that they were both so long ago and there’s no pattern of arrests for drunk driving, it would not have made any difference in his endorsement.”

The Times could not independently corroborate Riordan’s account of the incidents, both of which occurred in Los Angeles. Most court records of misdemeanors are routinely destroyed within seven to 10 years. A source close to the Riordan campaign said there were discussions among aides early in the race about how to handle the matter should it arise.

Riordan’s arrest record came up in response to a question posed by a member of the audience during a two-hour debate with City Councilman Woo at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

Riordan said he pleaded guilty to reckless driving on the drunk driving charge. He said that he could not recall what penalty he received, but noted, “I didn’t go to jail.”

He added that he now favors strong penalties for drunk driving. “Fortunately, at that time they were more tolerant than today,” Riordan said. “But I really learned my lesson because I could have hurt somebody. But fortunately I didn’t.”

Questioned about the arrests after the debate, Riordan said: “It was 25 years ago and the one I mentioned (during the debate) was that I was at a restaurant and a close friend of mine . . . we were drinking, we shouldn’t have been. And he was arrested for . . . supposedly stealing drinks at the restaurant. I didn’t see him stealing drinks and when they came, I got angry and I stupidly stood between the police and my friend. And that is when they arrested me for interfering with a police officer.

“It was about the same time . . . I was picked up for driving under the influence. I pled guilty to reckless driving. In both cases I made a mistake. I think the mistake has made more of a man out of me. And that’s all I have to say about it.”

When asked for other details about the arrests, Riordan walked away from reporters and left the hotel with his aides. Later, his campaign issued a statement saying Riordan was fined $100 in the reckless driving case and $50 after the arrest for interfering with an officer. In the latter case, he pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace, his campaign said.

The question about Riordan’s arrest record came from Jamie Rudman, who said she is a recent UCLA Law School graduate who supported state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) in the primary and would probably support Woo in this election.

Asked if the Woo campaign had requested that she pose the question, she said, “Of course not.”

During the debate, Woo said he has never been arrested, but sought to turn the question to his political advantage. “I have been held up at gunpoint,” he said. “That’s part of the reason I do feel so passionately about protecting people in this city against crime.”

For the most part, the debate--the fourth of the runoff campaign--was characterized by familiar sniping between the candidates on a wide range of issues. The debate, broadcast live over KABC radio, was sponsored by the Ad Club of Los Angeles.

The event drew a live audience of about 400, which gradually slipped away, leaving more reporters and campaign staffers than spectators by the halfway point.

One of the sharpest exchanges came as the candidates answered a question about their charitable contributions.

“I was not brought up to boast about my donations in a campaign,” Woo said. “When you donate to charity, it is something you do because it’s right, not something you do to score points in a debate.”

Keeping up his attack on Riordan, Woo said, “The question you need to ask is how was the money made in the first place . . . if it was made by people being forced out of their jobs, with hundreds of jobs going to Mexico where workers make 65 cents an hour.”

Riordan, who has donated millions of dollars to charity, shot back: “Michael, as usual, you never answered the question as to what you have given to charity. I have never mentioned, until you started attacking me, how much I’ve given to charity.”

Asked by moderator and radio personality Michael Jackson whether the negative tone of the campaign is in the best interest of voters, Riordan charged that Woo has “tried to define me with lies. He has connected me with (Christian televangelist) Pat Robertson, whom I have never met. . . . I think I have the right to call Mr. Woo a liar when he does that.”

Citing support from African-American, Latino and Jewish community leaders, Riordan added: “Dick Riordan, my supporters know, is somebody who cares about everybody in this city.”

Woo responded that it was Riordan who launched the first attack ads and cited a new Riordan mailer that “tries to blame me for 1,200 rapes in Hollywood.”

Woo also called Riordan “the epitome of unbridled ‘80s greed” who made a personal fortune while costing workers their jobs. “Even though he succeed at making millions of dollars through the course of these leveraged buyouts during the ‘80s, that is no qualification for being mayor,” Woo said.

Riordan answered: “If you take the number of venture capital investments I have made over a number of years, I have created 77,000 more jobs than have been lost. I hate to see even one person lose their job. But sometimes it takes tough fiscal decisions to run things.”

Riordan, in turn, accused Woo of being a latecomer on the crime issue and said Woo wants to give a second chance to students who bring guns to school.

“Mr. Woo has come lately to the issue of crime,” Riordan said. “I talked to the mother whose son was killed at Reseda High School. She stated in tears that her son did not get a second chance.”

Woo accused Riordan of misrepresenting his position, contending that he favors boot camp for students caught with guns.

Responding to Riordan’s mention of his conversation with the mother of the Reseda High student, Woo said, “He (the student) was killed by a Saturday night special.” It was a reference to Woo’s proposal to ban the cheap guns--which Riordan has opposed as unnecessary.

Riordan said that while Woo has attacked him for his wealth, the councilman also comes from a privileged background.

“They are a very wealthy (family),” he said. “His grandfather, his father were among the most principal backers of Richard Nixon when he ran for President.”

Woo snapped, “Not true.”

Both candidates were asked if they ever give money to panhandlers.

“I used to give them money,” Riordan said. “In fact, I was on a first-name basis with a lot of the homeless downtown.” He recalled that while stopping recently at a restaurant, “one of the homeless came up to me and said ‘I’m voting for you, Riordan.’ So I gave him some money.” But Riordan said he would encourage people not to give money, but rather give vouchers for food or shelter.

Woo added: “I sometimes give to people who beg. The solution to the homeless issue is a lot bigger than whether individuals give money to panhandlers. “ He said that, as mayor, he would lobby the state to “take another look at mental health laws.”

Before the debate, the Woo campaign and a dozen abortion rights activists held a brief news conference to air a segment from an interview with Riordan broadcast Tuesday night on Beverly Hills Cable Television. During that interview, part of a 2-year-old cable television documentary on philanthropists, Riordan says the following:

“Generally speaking, on the things dealing with abortion and things like that, I agree with the church. On abortion, I agree very strongly. In fact, being fairly liberally minded, I surprise myself with my emotions on the abortion issue because I feel very . . . I think it’s murder.”

Bunnie Riedel, director of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights of Southern California, was one of several abortion rights advocates to call Riordan’s remarks disturbing. “If Mr. Riordan believes abortion is murder, he’s entitled to that belief,” Riedel said. “The question is if he believes in his heart that abortion is murder, can he answer the women of Los Angeles that as mayor . . . he will behave as a pro-choice mayor?”

After the debate, Riordan--who has contributed to anti-abortion groups as well as to political candidates who favor abortion rights--said the following:

“I have said all along that I don’t favor abortion. I have never met anybody that does favor abortion. But I am for the right of every woman to make a choice with respect to her own body. And as mayor, I will support the laws that give women free access to clinics so they can exercise that choice.”

Asked whether he thought abortion was murder, Riordan refused to respond.

Times staff writer Ted Rohrlich contributed to this story.

Countdown to Election Day: 12 Days Left in the L.A. Mayoral Campaign

THE DAY IN REVIEW

How the mayoral candidates spent their day:

During a radio debate with Michael Woo, Richard Riordan disclosed that he had been arrested twice about 25 years ago--once for drunk driving and another time for interfering with the arrest of a friend who had been accused of trying to steal drinks at a restaurant. The disclosure came in response to a question from a woman in the audience. It was unclear whether the new information would cost Riordan political support.

Revelation of the arrests was one of the few fresh elements in the debate, which covered familiar charges and countercharges on subjects including Woo’s crime-fighting record, donations to charity and position on students caught with guns in school.

COMING UP

Some of the key events on the candidates’ schedules today:

* Woo will appear at a 9 a.m. news conference at the Mar Vista Gardens housing project with U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros.

* Riordan will hold a news conference with former City Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson, 10 a.m., at Hollywood campaign headquarters.