Democratic Sen. Feinstein Backs Republican Riordan

California’s senior senator, a Democrat, on Tuesday endorsed Los Angeles’ Republican mayor, delivering Richard Riordan a political boost as the mayoral campaign entered its home stretch and Riordan launched his first televised attacks on his principal opponent, state Sen. Tom Hayden.

“I’m here because as a United States senator, a person who cares very deeply about California and Los Angeles, I’ve been very privileged to work with Mayor Riordan over the last four years,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein told reporters as Riordan, whose office is nonpartisan, stood beside her and beamed. “I’ve watched this city reverse its trends. I’ve watched additional police officers go on beats. I’ve watched the crime rate drop. . . . I’ve seen the recession end and a vibrant new economy emerge. I think that this is a mayor who is really worthy of reelection.”

Feinstein’s endorsement, delivered after a ceremony in which she and Riordan announced the expansion of a home-buying program, gives Riordan the blessing of a dynamic and well-positioned figure in state politics. Moreover, its impact is magnified by Feinstein’s decision to cross party lines to make it.

Feinstein, who is widely talked about as a potential candidate for governor in the next election, received Riordan’s endorsement in her last Senate campaign--a move that the mayor broke party ranks to make and that delivered Feinstein timely help in a tough contest against former Rep. Mike Huffington. On Tuesday, Feinstein shrugged off suggestions that her backing of Riordan was repayment for his endorsement. Riordan’s success as mayor, she said, has come in part because he courts support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

“One of the things that we have seen in this mayor is the ability to work across the political parties to be able to secure an advantage for Los Angeles,” she said.

Riordan’s aides trumpeted the Feinstein endorsement, touting it as evidence of his appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. That is a potentially important political point, since Democrats outnumber Republicans in Los Angeles by 2 to 1. As a result, Riordan frequently stresses that the mayor’s office is nonpartisan, while Hayden accuses the mayor of masquerading as a Democrat.

On Tuesday, Hayden said the mayor’s endorsement by Feinstein demonstrated that both leaders are out of touch with common people.

“There are two new parties in America: the party of the special interests and the party of the public interest. Dianne Feinstein and Richard Riordan represent the party of the special interests,” Hayden said at a noontime news conference on Olvera Street. “It is the fault line that runs through American politics, from Washington to Los Angeles: Which side are you on, the side of the special interests or the side of the people?”

Hayden, who has the backing of the state Democratic Party as well as the county’s Democratic Central Committee, said Feinstein’s cross-party endorsement does not come as a surprise. He suggested that Feinstein’s motives for backing Riordan are clouded by the financial interests of her husband, Richard C. Blum.

Hayden pointed out that Blum has a large stake in a construction company that has contracts with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and has made campaign contributions to Riordan and his personal causes.

Blum, a multimillionaire, last year invested $30 million in Perini Corp., which has a partnership with Tutor-Saliba, the construction company that has won more than $400 million in public contracts and is among the main builders of the Los Angeles subway. Blum also was an investment advisor to a pension fund chaired by the construction firm’s chief, Ronald N. Tutor.

Tutor-Saliba and its employees have made campaign contributions to both Riordan and Feinstein, and have given about $25,000 to Riordan’s committee on charter reform this spring.

“Dianne Feinstein and Richard Riordan are in bed with the MTA scandal,” Hayden said. “The people who brought you the MTA tunnel, the sinkhole and the death of a worker are the same people who are now trying to buy this election.”

Feinstein’s press secretary, Susan Kennedy, said it is “ridiculous, irresponsible and libelous . . . to suggest that Sen. Feinstein would make decisions based on her husband’s business interests.” Blum called Hayden’s comments “outrageous,” and said he has written a letter to the campaign demanding a retraction.

“We made it very clear . . . that because my wife is a U.S. senator, we may from time to time insist that the company not bid on federal contracts when there is a real or perceived conflict of interest,” Blum said of the Perini deal, which he added was finalized within the past couple months. “Probably the first one that came to mind was the MTA in Los Angeles, and it was agreed that Perini would not bid for any additional contracts there.”

Although Hayden unveiled a list of 50 prominent Latino supporters--including former state Sen. Art Torres, who chairs the state party, former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso and the Mexican American Political Assn.--he also said endorsements generally are overrated.

“It’s a game. It’s a back-scratching game, it’s a special interest game,” he said. “I happen to think the voters are less interested in endorsements than in issues.”

Tuesday’s endorsement flap came two weeks before voters go to the polls to pick Los Angeles’ next mayor. So far, Riordan’s aides believe that the mayor is winning handily--an assessment bolstered by poll numbers suggesting that Riordan enjoys a strong lead. Still, the mayor’s reelection campaign is continuing to keep up the pressure on Hayden, and on Tuesday it unleashed its first ad attacking the state senator.

The 30-second spot, which began running on local television stations Tuesday morning, features a series of black-and-white photographs of Hayden as a narrator accuses him of missing key votes in Sacramento, where he is a longtime member of the Legislature.

“Sen. Hayden missed 1,000 votes just last year,” the ad states. “Hayden skipped crucial votes on tougher sentences for gang criminals, grants to fight crime and violence in our schools, and on domestic violence. But five different times, Sen. Tom Hayden made sure he was present to vote to raise his own pay.”

The ad features only a small picture of Riordan and never shows the mayor talking. It concludes: “Tom Hayden, not there for us, not right for mayor.”

At least for now, the ad replaces the Riordan team’s first television foray, a gentle, positive look at Riordan’s leadership. Riordan’s aides would not discuss any plans for more advertising between now and election day.

Hayden, who launched the first negative ads of the campaign when he released a trio of radio spots accusing Riordan of orchestrating an attempt to reform the City Charter to consolidate his own power, said Tuesday that Riordan’s attacks will end up hurting the mayor’s reelection effort.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” Hayden said. “When he attacks me, I think people will see they’re on my side.”

Hayden also said he welcomes examination of his past.

“I’ve had my past examined all my life,” said Hayden, who first came to national attention as a student activist in the 1960s. “It’s fine with me. Fair enough. In the ‘60s, where was Richard Riordan? The FBI files will show he was not present in the civil rights movement or the peace movement or the women’s movement or the environmental movement or the student movement.”