Mary Leslie, Top Riordan Economic Aide, to Leave Post

In yet another change in Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s top staff, Deputy Mayor Mary Leslie said Monday she is leaving at the end of the month to head a nonprofit foundation.

As the mayor’s top economic development aide and Washington liaison, Leslie, 36, presided over the city’s embarrassing failure last year to win a lucrative federal empowerment zone designation. But she also led a successful drive to turn a “consolation prize” into the just-launched Los Angeles Community Development Bank, a pioneering pairing of federal and private funds that some say may ultimately exceed the benefits of an empowerment zone.

Leslie, a Bay Area native, was a fund-raiser for former Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy and worked for the Small Business Administration as a Clinton Administration appointee before joining the mayor’s office in March, 1994, after a scandal cost Riordan his first economic adviser, Deputy Mayor Alfred R. Villalobos.

The mayor’s press office said no decision has been made on replacing Leslie.

Her departure marks yet another shift at the top in the mayor’s office. Riordan is on his third chief of staff and third press secretary. Two other deputy mayors, Jadine Nielsen and Sofia Zuckerman, were forced out, insiders said. Leslie’s predecessor, Villalobos, resigned after stories in The Times detailed episodes from his checkered career as a private financial consultant.