Riordan Forging a New Alliance in Washington

Since winning reelection more than a year ago, Mayor Richard Riordan has been nagged by an anxious question: Could he keep the money pipeline open from Washington to Los Angeles during his second term?

Apprehension over that uncertainty is anything but academic. The federal government’s generosity has largely funded the Riordan administration’s major initiatives, fueling the largest Police Department expansion in Los Angeles history and helping rebuild the city after the most costly disaster in American history, the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

But with President Clinton doubly weakened by his lame-duck status and the threat of impeachment, Riordan’s relationship with the White House lately has seemed perilous and potentially irrelevant.

Bracing for the ebb in White House influence, Riordan’s administration has paid special attention to shoring up its relations with the Republican-controlled Congress. Riordan often speaks with House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), while locally Rep. David Dreier, a San Gabriel Valley Republican, is both friend and ally of the mayor.

On Monday, however, Riordan demonstrated that he has made another valuable friend in Washington. Vice President Al Gore joined the mayor at Los Angeles International Airport and bestowed the federal government’s latest dollop of financial aid, in this case the largest policing grant ever given to the city.

“Al Gore has been a good friend of Los Angeles,” Riordan said.

The promise of the federal money, which could reach more than $135 million, was a gesture welcomed by city leaders and one that reflects a host of political realities.

Gore, after all, needs Los Angeles--and, therefore, Riordan--just as much as Clinton ever did, perhaps more. That is particularly true because, while Clinton’s influence is fading, Gore remains embroiled in the long-running controversies over campaign fund-raising. The White House also is pressing to fulfill one of Clinton’s most memorable promises: to put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of the nation, and Los Angeles makes a handy place to boost that tally.

“This administration has consistently gone out of its way to help Los Angeles, and that includes the vice president,” said Bill Wardlaw, a lawyer and Democratic kingmaker who also is Riordan’s best friend. “I think the relationship between the mayor and the White House remains very good.”

A Willingness to Break Party Lines

As before, it is a relationship based more on common interest than deep friendship or political kinship.

Riordan is a Republican, though by no means a hard-liner. He endorsed Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein during her last campaign, and she reciprocated by backing him over Democratic challenger Tom Hayden. The mayor irritated the state Republican leadership by toying with a run for governor up until the day of the filing deadline. His public musing over the idea highlighted doubts about Dan Lungren’s electability, much to the annoyance of the attorney general and his supporters, including Gov. Pete Wilson.

That willingness to break party ranks has made Riordan an attractive ally for the president, who shares many of the mayor’s middle-of-the-road political views and who has long sought to cast himself as a centrist willing to work with Republicans.

The Clinton administration has discovered both obvious and subtle ways to court Riordan’s favor.

Most obvious has been the money: Even before Monday’s announcement, the federal government had spent nearly $200 million on the LAPD and billions more on other programs that have helped the city bounce back from the overlapping problems of the recession, the 1992 riots and the 1994 earthquake.

More subtle has been the Clinton administration’s determination to find ways to give Riordan a share of its limelight. When Hayden objected to the White House’s plans to hold a press conference involving a Cabinet secretary and Riordan during the 1997 mayor’s race, the event was moved to the White House and Clinton hosted, guaranteeing that it would get more attention. More recently, Riordan was invited to join Clinton on a tour of a Washington-area school and was among the national leaders who participated in a special White House conference on education.

Riordan has not been shy about leveraging the White House for assistance. For a mayor who professes suspicion of big government, Riordan has raised fighting for handouts from Washington to an art.

After first losing his quest to have parts of Los Angeles designated an “empowerment zone,” Riordan bargained with the Clinton administration for a community development bank and negotiated substantial federal backing for the institution. Later, the city got the empowerment zone designation as well.

And on policing issues, Riordan has consistently sought more and more money, sometimes securing even more than the City Council has been willing to accept.

Seeking Clues to 2000 Convention

Last October, Riordan capitalized on his personal relationships by landing a limousine ride with Gore, who usually observes the political nicety of calling city chief executives “Mr. Mayor” but who refers to Riordan as “Dick.” As the two rode across Los Angeles, Riordan presented the vice president with a bluntly worded wish list.

One item: more money for police hiring.

The mayor did not get that money on his first try. He and the city’s congressional representatives were angered a few months ago, when the White House announced law enforcement grants for several major cities but did not include Los Angeles. They joined forces in lobbying the White House this time.

The policing money is its own reward, but some insiders also looked at Monday’s announcement for clues about another symbolically and economically important decision: where the 2000 Democratic National Convention will be held. Although the Democratic National Committee will make its recommendations on a site, Gore is expected to have the last word on that decision.

Los Angeles generally is not thought to be the vice president’s first choice; he is said to favor Philadelphia.

While Clinton seems comfortably at home in Los Angeles, Gore has never displayed the same affection for the city and particularly the entertainment industry. In the late 1980s, his wife, Tipper, angered many music company executives when she publicly railed against controversial song lyrics. Although her concerns later attracted a much broader following, the confrontation left bad feelings on both sides.

Also, in contrast to Clinton, the vice president is a second-generation political insider who seems far more comfortable in the East Coast’s power establishment than in the less conventional political environment of the West.

Nevertheless, backers of the convention effort hope to persuade Gore that California’s influence is so vast that he should bury his reservations and choose Los Angeles over its rivals. To those observers, Monday’s grant announcement--and particularly the vice president’s decision to deliver the news personally--suggests that Gore is well aware of the city’s importance to his political future.

“He knows California is the ballgame,” said Eli Broad, a billionaire businessman who is one of those leading the convention effort and who attended a Clinton fund-raiser last weekend. “The vice president knows he can’t win without it. . . . He’s working California hard.”

Riordan demurred from political analysis of Gore’s future but said he could not imagine the Democrats choosing another city for their 2000 convention.

“California has 54 electoral votes,” Riordan said. “That’s 54 very good reasons to bring the convention to Los Angeles.”

* POLICE FUNDS: LAPD is offered $133 million to hire 710 new officers. B1