Riordan Supports Villaraigosa for Mayor

State Education Secretary and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan endorsed Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor Friday, saying the city councilman will bring a new level of energy and vision to fixing the city school system and expanding after-school opportunities for children.

On a day when Mayor James K. Hahn focused on initiatives to give neighborhoods more say at City Hall, Riordan appeared at a Van Nuys school and said he is impressed by Villaraigosa’s commitment to creating “community schools.”

“What we need is somebody who is electric, somebody who is a leader, somebody who will bring hope to the people of Los Angeles,” Riordan said. “And I don’t know anybody better than Antonio Villaraigosa.”

Villaraigosa, who appeared with Riordan, charged that Hahn has not been an activist mayor on education.

“There is no record on the part of this administration to actively involve themselves in these issues,” Villaraigosa said. “We all know the status quo is not acceptable. What we need is a mayor who will do more than stand on the sidelines.”

Hahn defended his record on education after a meeting with residents in Granada Hills, citing his expansion of the LA’s BEST after-school program. The mayor has taken the program to 52 more elementary schools, although he has fallen well short of his 2001 campaign promise to put LA’s BEST in every elementary school.

Hahn also emphasized his administration’s cooperation with the Los Angeles Unified School District as it builds scores of schools around the city. But until recently, Hahn has said the mayor has only a limited role in improving public education.

He brushed off the effect of Riordan’s endorsement of his challenger. “Four years ago, the same thing happened. I was elected mayor,” Hahn said. “At the end of the day, the people decide elections, not the politicians.”

Riordan backed Villaraigosa in the June 2001 runoff campaign against Hahn after supporting the unsuccessful candidacy of Steve Soboroff in April. This year, Riordan endorsed former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg for mayor in the March 8 election, but Hertzberg did not make the runoff.

“The capacity of Dick Riordan for delivering votes is not very high,” said Bill Carrick, a Hahn campaign advisor who worked on Riordan’s 1997 reelection campaign.

Others said Riordan remains an influential Republican and could help Villaraigosa attract support from constituencies that backed Riordan during his two successful campaigns for mayor and were a key part of Hahn’s support in 2001.

“Antonio needs help in trying to reach Republicans and moderate Democrats and Valley voters, and Dick Riordan is helpful in that respect,” said Arnold Steinberg, a San Fernando Valley-based political consultant who was a strategist in Riordan’s first campaign for mayor.

Riordan sided with Villaraigosa even though two of his top political advisors when he was mayor -- Carrick and Bill Wardlaw -- are now key Hahn advisors.

Villaraigosa is supported by United Teachers Los Angeles, which once employed him. And Riordan battled the union five years ago for control of the school district.

But Riordan said he is confident Villaraigosa will be independent. “He puts children ahead of special interest groups, whether it’s the teachers union, booksellers or anybody else,” he said.

Another difference: Riordan supports a breakup of the Los Angeles school district, while Villaraigosa opposes it. “As far as breaking up the schools, I don’t back off on that, but I think it’s something that can’t happen in the near future,” Riordan said after he and Villaraigosa toured the Kindergarten Learning Academy in Van Nuys.

Riordan and Hahn have a tense relationship dating to when Riordan was mayor and disagreed with Hahn, who was then city attorney, on issues including whether the Police Department should be subject to a federal consent decree in the aftermath of the Rampart scandal.

“There is a history of personal animosity there,” said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A.

Carrick acknowledged the two had “significant differences.”

All the talk about education Friday comes even though the City Charter does not provide the mayor with any direct power over city schools.

Villaraigosa previewed a broad plan for getting involved in the schools, saying that he would use the influence of the mayor’s office to get state and federal legislators to provide more money for the city’s schools and to persuade the school district to work with him on fixing the school system’s many problems.

He proposed a reduction in class sizes, and creating higher expectations and more challenging curricula for students. He also said every Los Angeles child should be provided an opportunity to attend preschool and to participate in the state’s Healthy Family program.

On Friday, Hahn remained focused on neighborhoods, touting his efforts to empower residents, particularly in the Valley. Angelenos “want to feel like City Hall is listening,” Hahn said, seated before about 35 people in the living room of Kim Thompson, vice chairwoman of the Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council. “And that’s what I’ve been all about.”

Hahn noted that under his watch, the number of neighborhood councils has grown to more than 80, many of which are taking a role in influencing City Hall decisions.

Hahn reiterated Friday that he wants to put a neighborhood council member on every city board and commission.

Riordan was in obvious pain at Friday’s news conference, which came a day after he cracked his collarbone in a bicycling accident on Pacific Coast Highway. He was joined in endorsing Villaraigosa by his wife, education activist Nancy Daly Riordan, who had previously been a campaign co-chairwoman for Hertzberg.

Later in the day, Villaraigosa appeared in Little Tokyo to receive endorsements from some members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The night before, he won the endorsement of the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats.