Riordan May Reap Gains by Backing Study

Mayor Richard Riordan’s decision to support city funding for a San Fernando Valley secession study is an astute political move that will help warm voters to his charter reform plan, Valley leaders said Friday.

Leaders of Valley VOTE, the group pushing secession, have tentatively agreed to a request by Riordan to lend their names--but not the organization’s--to the campaign for charter reform on the June 8 ballot.

The permission came at a meeting at which Riordan agreed to help fund the study of the effects of municipal breakup, according to Richard Close, chairman of the secession group. The study was triggered after one-fourth of the registered voters in the Valley signed petitions in favor.

Close discounted the appearance of a deal, saying that most of the Valley VOTE leaders had already publicly supported the charter measure, even signing the ballot argument for it.

But by pledging partial city funding for the secession study, Riordan is smartly disarming a potentially explosive issue for Valley voters considering his charter reform measure, Close said.

“I think he decided to make friends with the Valley on this issue [secession] so people will vote for charter reform on June 8,” Close said. “If he is seen as fighting cityhood, Valley voters might get back at him by voting against charter reform.”

A spokeswoman for Riordan said there was no deal.

“The mayor is not providing funds for the secession study in exchange for anything,” said Jessica Copen, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Encino attorney Rob Glushon, an elected charter commission member who attended Thursday’s meeting as a representative of Valley VOTE, said the mayor had been warned that his hard-line stand on the funding issue could hurt charter reform.

“There are people in the Valley who have a view that the mayor, up to this point, has taken an adversarial approach to the cityhood study,” Glushon said. “There was some concern people might react negatively to that by voting against the new charter the mayor is pushing.”

Glushon said he and other Valley leaders, including Riordan confidant David Fleming, had warned the mayor that the perception that he is fighting the secession study could make it harder to sell charter reform to Valley voters.

Leaders attributed the failure last month of Riordan’s proposed $744-million police and fire bond measure largely to Valley voters. A small number of secessionist leaders publicly opposed the bond measure, arguing that no new debt should be taken with a possible breakup looming.

Valley-based political consultant Larry Levine agreed that the mayor’s decision could help with the large number of voters who are undecided on charter reform but suspicious of City Hall.

“If voters see the mayor being reasonable [on the cityhood study], they themselves are more likely to take a reasonable approach to charter reform and not cast a knee-jerk [no] vote,” Levine said.

Close said he, not the mayor, raised the issue of charter reform during the meeting Thursday at the Regency Club in West Los Angeles. Having signed the ballot argument in favor of the charter proposal, Close asked Riordan for assurances that he would not later use the passage of the reforms in a campaign against secession.

Riordan made no commitment.

“He acknowledged the issue, but I didn’t get a yes or no,” Close said.

Close said Riordan then asked if the campaign for charter reform could use his name in literature supporting the ballot measure.

“I said conceptually yes,” Close said, adding that he would want to see the campaign mailers first and he would not allow his name to be used in association with Valley VOTE.

On the ballot argument for charter reform, Close is listed as president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

The use of Close’s name in campaign mailers could be effective in wooing Valley voters, even if Valley VOTE is not identified, because many may know he heads the secession group.

Valley VOTE is a one-purpose organization formed to support secession, so it will not take a position on charter reform, Close said.

“The new charter is better than what we have,” he said. “If we leave the city, we want to leave a city that is well run. If we don’t leave the city, we need a city that is well run.”

Meanwhile, the City Council voted 9 to 1 on Friday to allocate $50,000 to the elected Charter Reform Commission to pay bills and close out operations.

Council members, many of whom oppose the new charter, had previously objected to the commission’s request for $300,000, which would have also included funds for a public education campaign on charter reform.