Riordan Throws His Support Behind Hertzberg

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan threw his support behind mayoral hopeful Bob Hertzberg on Thursday, offering a credibility boost to the little-known Sherman Oaks lawyer who hopes to rebuild Riordan’s political coalition.

The endorsement came a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his support for Hertzberg’s call to break apart the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The two developments buttress efforts by Hertzberg, a Democrat and former Assembly speaker, to capture Republican votes in the March 8 mayoral election. Riordan, now Schwarzenegger’s education secretary, and the governor are Republicans.

Riordan announced his endorsement on “The John and Ken Show” on KFI-AM (640) -- an evening rush-hour radio program geared toward conservative listeners.

“We really desperately need strong leadership,” Riordan said in an interview just before the show.

Riordan’s decision was not entirely a surprise; his wife, Nancy Daly Riordan, is a co-chair of Hertzberg’s campaign. But his move was a public spurning of Antonio Villaraigosa, whom he endorsed in the 2001 runoff with James K. Hahn.

Aides to Mayor Hahn and Villaraigosa, predictably, said the Riordan endorsement hurt the other.

The Riordan announcement -- and Schwarzenegger’s vow of support on the district breakup -- came as Hertzberg tried to win one of two spots in the expected May runoff.

A Times poll published last week had Hertzberg well behind Hahn and Villaraigosa and virtually tied with Councilman Bernard C. Parks.

Hertzberg has modeled his campaign partly on Riordan’s 1993 run for mayor, targeting several of the same core constituencies: whites, Republicans, conservatives, moderates, and residents of the Westside and San Fernando Valley.

Much of Hertzberg’s agenda is aimed at appealing to those groups, most notably his breakup proposal -- which the mayor has no authority to carry out -- and his plan to hire 3,000 police officers without raising taxes.

In a race in which all five of the top candidates are Democrats, Hertzberg’s proposals are aimed partly at establishing him as the one with the most crossover appeal. In the April 2001 mayoral election, Republicans made up 23% of the vote.

But so far, Hertzberg has had no success in gaining traction among another bloc in the Riordan coalition, Latinos, and limited success in building support among another, Jewish voters.

Hertzberg also is running in a markedly different political climate: In a city reeling from riots and recession, Riordan campaigned in 1993 as a man “tough enough to turn L.A. around.” Despite the changed environment, Riordan echoed that theme Thursday.

“We need a strong leader like Bob Hertzberg to bring Los Angeles back to its greatness,” Riordan said in the interview before the radio show. Like Schwarzenegger, Riordan voiced support for Hertzberg’s school district breakup proposal, calling the current system “unmanageable.”

Riordan’s announcement came as the mayoral candidates traded barbs in a growing stack of mailings arriving this week at voters’ homes. Two of the candidates -- Councilman Villaraigosa and Hertzberg -- take shots at Hahn in the mailings, which were designed to reach voters casting early ballots by mail.

“With Los Angeles paralyzed by scandal and ineffective leadership, we need a new mayor with energy, vision and a history of bringing people together to get results,” states a Villaraigosa mailing to Democrats.

In Hertzberg’s latest mailing, he takes on the mayor over Hahn’s opposition to the proposed school district breakup, saying the incumbent “has failed our kids.”

“It doesn’t take a high school diploma to know that Jim Hahn is wrong for our kids,” it states.

In response to Villaraigosa’s mailing, senior Hahn campaign advisor Kam Kuwata said, “So much for his promise to keep this campaign positive.”

As for Hertzberg, Kuwata noted that the former lawmaker opposed a school district breakup when he was in the Legislature. Los Angeles “doesn’t need politicians who say they’re going to do something, and then flip-flop their position for political expediency,” Kuwata said.

Hahn also has begun mailing campaign fliers to voters. One of them is targeted to the Valley, where Hahn’s public support dropped after he led the anti-secession drive in 2002, and the other is aimed at voters across the city.

Neither of the mailers mention Hahn’s rivals. Instead, they trumpet his support by police and firefighter unions, as well as his hiring of William J. Bratton as police chief.

“Mayor Hahn’s Gutsy Decisions Get Results,” one of the mailers states.

In a morning radio interview on Larry Mantle’s “AirTalk” show on KPCC-FM (89.3), Hahn hit the same note in defending his support for denying Parks’ reappointment as police chief, a move that cost Hahn support among African Americans.

“I understand some people were not happy with that decision, but I had to make a decision that was in the best interests of the city, not in the best interests necessarily of me politically,” Hahn said. “And I hope people appreciate that I’m willing to make those kinds of tough decisions.”

Parks, another mayoral candidate, released his plan Thursday to ease traffic congestion. It includes proposals to create reverse-flow lanes, ban road work during rush hour, expand traffic signal synchronization and consolidate various transportation functions in one city agency.