Possible Challenger to Chick Decides to Take on Braude Instead

There is no secret that the relations between Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and City Councilwoman Laura Chick have been cool lately. Actually, they are downright chilly.

Chick, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, has repeatedly irritated Riordan by raising questions about his police expansion plan, prompting several public and private clashes.

Now it looks as though Riordan’s longtime friend and political consultant, William Wardlaw, may have attempted to eliminate the thorn in Riordan’s side.

Chick recently confirmed that Wardlaw asked Georgia Mercer, a former Riordan representative in the west San Fernando Valley, to challenge the councilwoman in her reelection bid in April.

The offer would have likely included plenty of financial help from Riordan--a millionaire businessman--and his friends.

Chick said the proposal seemed pretty desperate, considering that Mercer doesn’t even live in Chick’s northeast Valley district.

But Mercer apparently has declined the offer, opting instead to run against Councilman Marvin Braude, a 30-year veteran of the council.

In interviews, both Mercer and Wardlaw declined to discuss the matter.

Mercer only would say that she has spoken with Wardlaw but would not elaborate.

“A private conversation is a private conversation and I’ll keep it that way,” she said.

Besides, Mercer said she doesn’t want to jeopardize her friendships with Riordan or Chick.

“Getting in the middle of that turf battle. . . . I don’t want to be a part of that,” she said.

A Riordan spokesperson called the plan “nonsense.”

Capitol Spending

In an era when anxiety over federal spending has reached the level of obsession, being a miser has become almost chic.

Or at least the green eyeshade-wearing watchdogs at the National Taxpayers Union think so. They recently released a report documenting how many tax dollars members of the House of Representatives spend to keep their offices running.

“Now, taxpayers can judge how efficiently their local representative manages his or her office,” said David Keating, the group’s president.

Congress appropriates spending limits for each of its members, taking into account the size of each lawmaker’s district, among other factors.

Among the penny-pinchers on the list is Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale), who spent less of his federal allowance in 1995 than 402 of his colleagues. Moorhead, who is retiring at the end of this year, spent $701,760 on staff salaries, rent, postage and other costs. That’s $119,813 less than the average House member.

Moorhead’s imminent retirement at the end of this Congress may make him less concerned about sending out mass mailings to his constituents. But Moorhead spokesman David Joergenson said his boss was frugal when frugal wasn’t cool.

“We’ve been sitting here in the same office for at least 14 years, because he knows it costs money to move,” Joergenson said. “Let’s just say he’s careful with the dollar.”

Other Valley representatives landed somewhere in the middle of the list. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) was the 79th biggest spender, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) came in 262nd. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) was 104th. Rep Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) was 123rd.

Contrary to what one might expect, unspent allowances don’t end up back in the federal treasury, the Taxpayers Union’s Keating said. But he thinks that big office budgets are a sign of a system that lets incumbents run mini-campaigns inside their offices.

“A lot of the staff are busy-beavering away, thinking of ways to reelect the congressman,” Keating said. “There’s a lot of public relations work buried in these budgets.”

But public relations didn’t help the biggest spender of them all--former Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton), who spent $883,931, or slightly more than 100% of his allowance in 1995. Tucker resigned from office after being convicted of embezzling funds and taking bribes while mayor of Compton.

Sweet Talk

Assemblyman James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) didn’t get what he came for from a state Senate committee this week, but losing should always be so warm and fuzzy.

Rogan, a former prosecutor and judge, spoke up for legislation that would have limited trial judges’ discretion in “three-strikes” cases, power the California Supreme Court recently said they had under the Constitution.

And pleading he had a plane to catch, Rogan asked the Criminal Procedure Committee to speak out of turn.

Though the bill ultimately won just one favorable vote from the committee, Rogan garnered accolades from three senators--two Democrats and one Independent.

He even got an endorsement in his upcoming congressional race from Democratic Sen. Daniel E. Boatwright of Concord.

“I have enjoyed working with you,” Boatwright said. “I hope you’re successful this fall.” (Rogan’s opponent in the race to replace Moorhead is Democrat Doug Kahn of Pasadena).

Before Boatwright could get beyond kudos to the nitty-gritty of the bill at hand, Rogan retorted, “Senator, I would like to quit with that comment.”

Given the “love fest I’ve been enjoying from you and Sen. Quentin Kopp, I’m willing to miss my airplane and stay around,” Rogan said.

“I think highly of you too,” chimed in committee chairman Milton Marks (D-San Francisco).

Later that day, the committee that embraced Rogan rejected the bill on a 4-1 vote by refusing to send it to the Senate floor.

College Costs

Rep. McKeon knows a thing or two about college costs. He put four children through college and has two others enrolled.

But McKeon acknowledges that there is far more for him to learn.

As chairman of the subcommittee in charge of higher-education policy, McKeon recently held the first of several planned hearings on the topic. He cited a study showing that the average cost of attending private colleges has increased by 90% in the last 15 years, while the average cost at public institutions has doubled during the same period.

“This is an important issue that is getting bigger rather than smaller,” he said.

But college officials urged McKeon’s subcommittee on post-secondary education, training and lifelong learning to look at the bigger picture.

John B. Childers, vice president at the College Board, said nearly half of college students attend community colleges, which have average costs of $1,200 a year.

And another 30% attend public universities with average tuition and fees of $2,800. Only about half of the private colleges in the country charge more than $10,000 a year, Childers said, with relatively few universities charging the kind of astronomical tuitions that grab the headlines.

Besides the cost of college, McKeon is also concerned about the crime that occurs there.

He introduced a resolution last week calling on the U.S. Department of Education to more vigorously enforce the law requiring colleges and universities to provide their students with information on crime statistics and security policies.

“As students arrive on campuses across the U.S., many for the first time, they will be caught up in the excitement of meeting other students, settling into their classes and the overall enjoyment of college life [and] will give little thought to the possible dangers which exist on college campuses,” McKeon said in a statement.

“That’s why it’s imperative that colleges and universities provide students with accurate and complete [crime] data.”

*

QUOTABLE: “They just said to hell with the citizens of Los Angeles.”

--Gordon Murley, chairman

of the San Fernando Valley Federation, on

the City Council’s approval of a plan to cope with an additional 820,000 people in Los Angeles by 2010

Martin and Hill-Holtzman are Times staff writers. Ferry writes for States News Service in Washington, D.C.