Riordan Prompts Ally to Join City Controller Race

City Councilwoman Laura Chick’s quest to become the first woman to be elected Los Angeles City Controller has roused an old nemesis--Mayor Richard Riordan.

At Riordan’s urging, Van Nuys businesswoman Laurette Healey entered the race Thursday.

“I have the spirit, energy and experience to take on the job,” said Healey, owner and chief financial officer of Entertainment Marketing Associates. “I’m used to dealing with budgets, profit-and-loss statements and efficiencies. I feel highly qualified for the job and clearly the mayor has signaled he shares that opinion.”

Depending on how much he is willing to help, something an aide said hasn’t been settled, Riordan’s fund-raising ability and network of supporters could help Healey catch up quickly with Chick, who has raised nearly $400,000 since she began her candidacy last year.

“I have full confidence Laurette Healey will be a great city controller,” Riordan said in a statement. “She is a very successful businesswoman and an expert in financial matters.”

Riordan had previously talked to Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez and State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) about taking on Chick in the nonpartisan controller’s race, but both decided against running. Healey said she had considered running before she was contacted by Riordan.

Chick and Riordan’s differences go back to shortly after Riordan was elected in 1993 with the pledge to hire 3,000 police officers, a tactic which Chick questioned as moving too quickly.

“We are not concerned,” said Steven Afriat, Chick’s campaign consultant. “Laura Chick has spent eight years in the City Council where she was very vigilant about taxpayer dollars. She is extremely well-known and she has raised nearly $400,000.”

Noting that Healey’s first name is similar to Chick’s, Afriat said that it appears “the mayor is more interested in being an obstructionist in the race than identifying someone with the experience and temperament for the office.”

Healey said she worked on 15 political campaigns for her father, a former New York legislator.

She has lived in Los Angeles for 25 years. Her company develops distribution and marketing programs for brand-name consumer products.

As for entering the race months after Chick, Healey said she believes she can catch up in building support for her candidacy.

“Clearly I will have to work very hard but that’s not new to me,” Healey said.

Afriat, the political consultant, said Riordan has been more willing to forgive challenges from male council members than females.

“I think the mayor has a pattern of being resentful and angry against women elected officials who he thinks are not good girls and don’t do what he says,” Afriat said.

A Riordan spokeswoman called Afriat’s allegations “ridiculous.”

The announcement sets the stage for a tough battle between two prominent San Fernando Valley residents. Chick, a Tarzana resident, has long been seen as the front-runner in a race that also is expected to feature former city treasurer J. Paul Brownridge and relative unknowns Scott William Morris and Khalil Khalil.

The controller job pays $146,356 and the term is four years.