Riordan Against Initiative to Ban Preferences

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, bucking the Republican establishment, on Friday became the state’s most prominent GOP member to oppose a measure that would ban affirmative action in state and local government.

Riordan, who had been repeatedly criticized by opponents of the measure for refusing to take a stand on what will be Proposition 209 on the Nov. 5 ballot, used a morning meeting of minority business men and women to oppose the measure that supporters call the “California civil rights initiative.”

“I am opposed to preferences, quotas and set-asides.” Riordan said, reiterating his long-standing position against many affirmative action policies. “However, I am against the CCRI, because it is divisive.”

Reaction was swift and divided. The crowd of 300 erupted in applause, and people who had criticized Riordan for putting off a decision praised him Friday. But the measure’s supporters, including Gov. Pete Wilson, denounced the mayor.

“To say that you are opposed to preferences, quotas and set-asides--all the tools of reverse discrimination--but oppose the ‘California civil rights initiative,’ which would prohibit them, is double talk,” Wilson said. “It’s like saying that you oppose racial discrimination but are against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination.”

But state Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) said he was not surprised by Riordan’s stance. “The initiative is based upon an idea or a principle,” he said. “This is not a partisan issue.”

City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who frequently has butted heads with the mayor over issues involving minority communities, praised Riordan’s announcement. The next step, he said, is for the mayor to take a high-profile role in leading the statewide campaign against the initiative.

“We now call on him to put his money where his mouth is,” said Ridley-Thomas, who is black.

State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), another prominent black politician who had made Riordan the target of stinging public barbs for his refusal to take sides on the initiative, said she was “absolutely thrilled” by the news. “You cannot be an effective mayor of Los Angeles without coming out against an initiative that will destroy inclusiveness,” she said.

Riordan’s announcement was seen by both sides as a strategic move in his reelection campaign.

“It’s a very smart political move for him,” said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the Claremont Graduate School’s Center for Politics and Economics. She said the mayor already has strong support among white residents of the city, but needs to gain ground with minority groups, especially the African American community. “The man is a pragmatist who happens to be registered as a Republican.”

Ward Connerly, a University of California regent and director of the initiative campaign, disagreed, saying Riordan’s stance could cost him come next spring’s election.

“The mayor is taking a position that is contrary to an overwhelming majority of the people in his city and to about 80% of members of his own party,” Connerly said.

Polls have consistently shown high support for the measure, both in Los Angeles and statewide.

A Times poll asked 942 Los Angeles residents in June whether the mayor should take a stance on the initiative, and if so, whether he should support or oppose it. Twenty-three percent said he should take no position. Of those who said he should announce his views, 52% said he should support the measure, 11% said he should oppose it. The rest were not sure or declined to answer.

Riordan, who never aired his views on 1994’s Proposition 187, which sought to deny illegal immigrants many public services, has for months been under intense pressure to choose sides on Proposition 209.

In February, the City Council voted 12 to 0 to oppose the initiative and strongly urged the mayor to do the same.

Councilman Hal Bernson, an initiative supporter who abstained from that vote, expressed disappointment with the mayor’s decision.

“Discrimination is discrimination, whether it’s reverse or otherwise,” Bernson said Friday. “I believe in outreach, but when it comes to actual discrimination against someone because they’re Caucasian, that’s discrimination.”

Riordan for a long time refused to be pressed into a position, saying he wanted to be a “leader of all the people in this city” and that taking a stance would further fractionalize race relations.

But after airing his oft-repeated concerns that affirmative action programs don’t address key minority issues such as education and health care, Riordan said Friday that he had decided the proposition would divide the city.

And, he added, city attorneys had told him it could possibly prohibit “empowerment” programs such as the Minority Business Opportunity Committee, which he started to help minority business owners link up with corporations. It was at a gathering of business people involved with the committee that Riordan made his announcement Friday.

It is unclear, however, how active a role Riordan will take in opposing the initiative. As one source close to the mayor put it: “He’s not going to be a poster child for this position.”

As news of the announcement spread Friday, political pundits as well as leaders on both sides of the issue disagreed about what impact Riordan’s decision might have--both in terms of the initiative’s chances for passage and the mayor’s chances for reelection.

“I think it’s going to be a big boost for the campaign against the CCRI,” said Lou Negrete of the United Neighborhoods Organization, an Eastside church-based group.

On Sunday, Negrete pressed the mayor for a commitment of opposition in front of 6,000 attendees at the group’s convention, but the mayor refused to budge.

Rebecca Barrantes of the Latin Business Assn. called Riordan’s decision “tremendously important” to the opposition campaign. “I think it will encourage others who are undecided” to vote against the measure, she said.

Others, however, predicted that Riordan’s announcement would be all but forgotten by the time voters get to the polls 3 1/2 months from now.

Marty Wilson, a senior advisor for Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in California and a longtime advisor to Gov. Wilson, said political endorsements tend to affect the voting only on obscure ballot measures.

Like other political observers, Wilson said Riordan’s decision probably was influenced by his bid for reelection and by a history of tense relations with the African American community in Los Angeles.

“For him to do anything other than come out against the CCRI would be political suicide,” Wilson said.

Times staff writers Jodi Wilgoren and Carla Rivera contributed to this story.