Riordan Gave $2 Million in Parting Gifts

In his final three days in office, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan went on a $1.7-million spending spree, bestowing large chunks of money from his office account on pet projects such as libraries, the zoo and after-school programs.

An examination of Riordan’s expenditures by The Times also revealed that in his last month, he handed out a flurry of staff bonuses totaling more than $400,000, more than twice as much as the previous year.

Those expenditures all contributed to the depletion of a $3.1-million surplus the mayor’s office had accumulated when Riordan started the last year of his administration. By the time James K. Hahn took office July 1, the surplus had been whittled to $982,500.

A look at how Riordan spent his office savings provides some insight into the priorities of the multimillionaire who ran Los Angeles for eight years and who is now contemplating a run for governor.

Riordan’s former aides called the last-minute spending routine, adding that the savings were a result of his thriftiness.

“We have always tried to be as careful with the city’s money as we are with our own personal finances,” said Kelly Martin, who was Riordan’s chief of staff at the end of his administration. Because of that, she said, Riordan had money left over to spend on his agenda.

“As always in the city, there is a long list of needs that exists,” Martin said. “Dick Riordan’s top priority was kids.”

She said Riordan was confident that spending the surplus would not constrain his successor because there was plenty of money in the city budget for Hahn’s administration.

Aides to Hahn had little to say about his predecessor’s spending.

“It’s the mayor’s prerogative,” said Hahn spokeswoman Julie Wong.

But Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies, said that although Riordan’s spending was legal, the mayor alone should not have the power to spend such a large amount of public money without an open debate.

“It’s an enormous sum of money and, particularly at a time when budgets are tightening, the City Council should be making these decisions along with the mayor,” Stern said. “This process needs to be changed so that one person doesn’t appropriate money to his favorite causes.”

Riordan had some extra funds to spend because of a quirk in the city’s administrative code. While most city departments have to return money they have not spent to the city’s general fund at the end of each year, the mayor and City Council members are allowed to roll unspent money over into their office accounts for the following year.

Because of this, Riordan built up a significant surplus in the mayor’s office during his eight-year tenure, according to documents from the city clerk’s office.

In June 1998, the mayor’s office had $1.75 million left over from the previous year. By his last year in office, Riordan had accumulated $3.08 million--boosting the office’s regular $7.4-million budget by almost half.

Martin said she and Riordan’s budget director met with the mayor in May to ask him how he wanted to spend his office savings. Riordan told them that he wanted to give the funds to city-affiliated programs that assist children, she said. The spending was not recorded until the final days of his administration because the process of soliciting proposals and signing contracts took some time, Martin added.

The money was given away so quickly and with so little fanfare that many staff members involved in the programs that benefited were unaware of the allocations.

Jane Kolb, director of marketing for the city Department of Recreation and Parks, did not know that Riordan transferred $500,000 to the department June 28 to help upgrade the John Ferraro Soccer Fields in Griffith Park--a project she is working on.

Funds Will Help Finish Park Renovation Project

After an inquiry from a reporter about the transfer, Kolb asked Ellen Oppenheim, the department’s general manager, about the money. Oppenheim told her it was “a last-minute thing,” Kolb said.

“It was a surprise to me,” said Kolb, adding that the funds will help complete the $2.7-million park renovation, set to begin in October. “Half a million helps any project.”

According to documents obtained through a Public Records Act request to the city controller’s office, Riordan transferred the money to the department in 10 transactions of $50,000 each--the maximum amount allowed for transfers between departments. All of the transfers were earmarked for improvements such as fencing and landscaping at the soccer fields, which were named after the late councilman.

On the same day, Riordan amended the city’s contract with the LA’s BEST after-school program, granting a one-time bonus of $400,000 from his office account on top of the $1 million the program already gets from the city.

Carla Sanger, president of the program, said she was thrilled to receive the money, which will pay for training high school students to tutor younger children in phonics and the continuing evaluation of LA’s BEST by UCLA, among other projects.

“I was dancing,” Sanger said. “This is profoundly important money.”

Riordan, a book collector, prides himself on being a strong advocate of literacy, and much of his last-minute spending reflects his dedication to that cause.

On June 29, Riordan signed four contracts giving $350,000 to the Library Foundation of Los Angeles to renovate the Central Library’s rotunda gallery, information kiosk, children’s computer center and children’s discovery center.

The money was allocated two months after the commission approved renaming the library after Riordan, a controversial decision that sparked complaints that there had not been sufficient public input on the decision.

Evelyn Hoffman, executive director of the foundation, a nonprofit group that raises money for the library, called the funds “absolutely and totally unexpected.”

“When I heard, I thought, ‘Isn’t that a wonderful thing for him to do?’ ” she said.

Aides Are Rewarded for Staying to End of Term

Also on June 29, Riordan doled out $200,000 to the Los Angeles Zoo to provide scholarships for its overnight camping experience and other programs. And he gave the city attorney’s office $250,000 to support the L.A. Literacy Corps program.

Riordan used up a large share of his office surplus in late May, rewarding the staff members who remained with him through the end of his administration. During the last two weeks of the month, he handed out $419,000 worth of bonuses to 101 aides, more than double the $155,000 he gave the year before. The largest amount, $14,000, went to Martin, and other top aides got $12,500 each. Most of the staff members received several thousand dollars.

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How Riordan Spent His Surplus

By the last year of his administration, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan had accumulated a $3.08-million surplus. In his final three days in office, he went on a spending spree, doling out $1.7 million to some of his favorite causes.

HOW THE SURPLUS GREW

Riordan administration

* June 30, 1998: $1.75 million

* June 30, 1999: $2.15 million

* June 30, 2000: $3.08 million

Hahn administration

* June 30, 2001: $982,500

SPENDING IN RIORDAN’S FINAL DAYS

* June 28:

$400,000 to LA’s BEST after-school program

$500,000 to the John Ferraro Soccer Fields in Griffith Park

* June 29:

$200,000 to the L.A. Zoo

$350,000 to the Central Library

$250,000 to the L.A. Literacy Corps

Total: $1.7 million

Sources: Los Angeles city clerk, Los Angeles city controller