Mayoral Foes Take Messages Across L.A.

Reaching out to churches, dropping in on diners and racking up endorsements as they pressed their campaigns through the final weekend, Mayor Richard Riordan and state Sen. Tom Hayden stumped Sunday in the styles that have typified the race for mayor since it began three months ago--Hayden dogged and combative, Riordan confident and understated.

With just two days to go until election day, Hayden continued to stump across town, pushing his last-ditch effort to topple the incumbent mayor. By contrast, Sunday found Riordan shrugging off questions about his lead in the polls and instead musing about the accomplishments of his first term along with his hopes for a second.

Responding to a comment by Hayden in which the state senator promised a strong “ninth inning,” Riordan said: “I’m a great finisher, in football, in baseball--and in government.”

Hayden’s day was a hectic one even by the standards of a relentless campaigner who has energetically pressed his quest despite polls suggesting that he has little chance of winning. He began the morning in one of the city’s most prominent and activist churches, the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, where Police Chief Willie L. Williams is a parishioner and where Hayden has been a frequent guest. By day’s end, Hayden had touched down on the Eastside and was slated to visit the Westside as well.

Receiving warm receptions everywhere he went, Hayden remained realistic about his prospects in Tuesday’s vote, aware that turnout is expected to be low and Riordan has a huge advantage. But he said his campaign has another purpose: to revive a civic culture in communities throughout Los Angeles.

“Over time, turnout starts to decline because people see that money is more important than their vote,” Hayden said. “It allows someone like Riordan to go unchallenged.”

Riordan, meanwhile, held his own more modest Los Angeles tour, concentrating on the Eastside and all but avoiding the mention of his opponent’s name. Despite a nagging cold, Riordan, who can be a wooden campaigner, seemed loose and relaxed as he kicked off his day at a Lincoln Heights church, Our Lady Help of Christians.

Congregants there greeted the devoutly Catholic mayor with enthusiasm. “Are you here to pray with us?” one elderly man asked Riordan.

“I’m here to pray for you,” Riordan answered, laughing and tugging on the man’s hand. “No,” the mayor added more seriously, “I’m here to pray with you, with all of you.”

Inside, Riordan joined hundreds of churchgoers for a Mass delivered by the Rev. Juan Santillan, a dynamic preacher and friend of the mayor.

After the sermon, Riordan accepted the pastor’s invitation to address the congregation.

Speaking to the group of about 200 people, Riordan said he agreed with the message of empowerment in Santillan’s sermon.

“Su voz es su voto, su voto es su voz,” Riordan said, a comment warmly received by the Spanish-speaking congregation. (“Your voice is your vote, your vote is your voice.”)

One member of the congregation, Elena Avelos, snaked her way through the crowd to give Riordan a hug. Asked what she liked about the mayor, she answered: “Everything, everything--his ways, his leadership. Everyone where I work says they’re going to vote for him, so he’s got votes there.”

While Riordan spoke only briefly, Hayden used his shot at the pulpit to deliver a more detailed sermon. Speaking at the City of Angels Church, the former student radical embraced his 1960s activism as the roots of this 1990s campaign.

“The first issue on my agenda as mayor of Los Angeles will be to try to institute a peace process in the city of Los Angeles, to rescue our children from violence,” Hayden told the crowd of about 150 parishioners. “A lot of people say this cannot be done. They said segregation couldn’t be ended. We have to have dreamers in office.”

Hayden--who, like Riordan, was brought up Irish Catholic--said he was suspicious of religion until he went to the South to work in the civil rights movement and found the “embracing arms” and “soaring spirit” of black churches.

“We have to reach out,” Hayden said. “Not to our campaign contributors--no, too much of that. We have to reach out to the people who really need help.”

The congregation erupted in applause a dozen times during the candidate’s 10-minute sermon.

“If he can honor any of that, I will be real satisfied,” said Ray Galloway, 54. “He’s showing a lot of attention to South-Central, which has been abandoned by our present mayor.”

Riordan plans to make a campaign appearance in South-Central today, but did not venture into that area of the city Sunday. Instead, his appearances were concentrated on the Eastside and in downtown.

At stop after stop, Riordan continued his campaign to urge voters to turn out Tuesday in favor of Proposition BB, a school bond measure that enjoys support from liberals as well as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., a conservative anti-tax organization.

The mayor also appeared at a forum for the 52 candidates seeking spots on a charter reform commission, championing the idea of reform and congratulating the candidates for running tough, serious campaigns. Although some of the candidates present Sunday did not have Riordan’s endorsement, his appearance was applauded by all, and they stood for photographs with him at the event’s outset.

But the day was not all smiles for Riordan: He fell quiet and somber as he asked charter commission candidates to join him in a moment of silence for Helen Bernstein, a Riordan advisor and commission candidate who was killed last week in a traffic accident. And he flared when reminded that Hayden has accused him of exacerbating racial tensions.

“That type of rhetoric really outrages me,” Riordan said.

City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who endorsed Riordan on Sunday, was more blunt.

“Dick Riordan is not a person who divides,” Alatorre said. “Tom Hayden is a person who divides.”

Alatorre, a lifelong Democrat, became the latest high-profile political figure to back Riordan, adding to a string of endorsements that have left Hayden increasingly isolated from the city and state political establishment. And unlike some Riordan backers, who have been gentle in their criticism of Hayden, the councilman pulled no punches.

“Come Tuesday, we’re going to put Tom Hayden where he deserves to be,” Alatorre said. “I pity the people of Sacramento, but we want to return him back there to where he belongs.”

Hayden, however, has no intention of going quietly, and Sunday’s appearances demonstrated that although he trails in the polls, he has pockets of strong support.

When he entered Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles restaurant, a spontaneous ovation erupted as diners jumped up to praise him.

“He has the spirit of South L.A. He can speak for me any time. He’s like one of us,” said Barbara Lindsey, a schoolteacher who hugged Hayden and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“You know why I like you?” she asked him. “You aren’t just for the black community right now, you’ve been with us all along.”

Later, as Hayden toured the Imperial Courts housing project, 21-year-old Lafayette Garcia said he and other residents “need a community, a real community. We need jobs, fundamental skills. . . . I’m voting for Tom Hayden. Riordan? He ain’t steady. This man, kind of steady, kind of cool. “

Hayden promised Garcia he would establish a mayor’s office in Watts to help young men find jobs. As he has almost daily since January, he spent much of Sunday promising to return soon for another chat.

“I often get asked, whenever I give a speech, ‘Will you come back?’ ” Hayden said at the church, recounting an oft-told anecdote about a meeting with a woman in Boyle Heights in which he signed a pledge vowing to visit every two months or resign as mayor.

“She didn’t ask for a million jobs. She didn’t ask for a handout. She asked for a signature. She asked for a contract. She asked for a mayor who would care,” Hayden recalled. “If that’s where we’ve come to, I know the way out, because I will come back.”