Riordan Scores Coup With Endorsement by Sanders : Campaign: Support of top-finishing black in mayoral primary is a blow to Woo’s bid for a broad coalition.

Richard Riordan, portrayed by his opponent in the Los Angeles mayor’s race as the candidate of white conservatives, received an important campaign boost Tuesday with the endorsement of lawyer Stan Sanders, a former Rhodes scholar who was the top-finishing black candidate in the primary.

While the effect may be mostly symbolic--Sanders received only 4% of the total votes cast in the April primary--the endorsement was widely seen as a blow to City Councilman Michael Woo’s carefully cultivated campaign image as the candidate best qualified to represent multiracial Los Angeles.

Sanders’ endorsement may not make Riordan a serious challenger for the black vote. Sanders received 17% of the votes cast in the three City Council districts with the most African-American voters.

But the 51-year-old Sanders, who had never previously run for office, made an impressive political debut. A well-spoken and attractive candidate in the tradition of retiring Mayor Tom Bradley, Sanders drew votes and money from white Democrats. And it is among those voters that his endorsement could have the greatest benefit for Riordan, whom Woo has tried to depict as a throwback to Reaganomics.

“I think there is no question Stan Sanders legitimizes Dick Riordan in the minds of white moderate Democrats who might be uncomfortable with Dick Riordan,” said independent political consultant Rick Taylor.

Cynthia McClain-Hill, a lawyer and black political activist, said the endorsement helps Riordan among both black and white voters.

“It frees up people who might otherwise have been sensitive to appearances to look at candidate Riordan once again and look beyond the Republican label.

“It penetrates the politically correct stigma that might otherwise attach to supporting Dick Riordan.”

Buoyed by Sanders’ announcement, made in front of an elementary school in South-Central Los Angeles, Riordan walked confidently across the schoolyard arm in arm with his new supporter, giving high fives to children. Earlier, he had embraced Sanders, told him how honored he was to receive the endorsement and told reporters: “This is a defining moment in my campaign.”

The news conference was held outside the South Park Elementary School, one of many schools throughout south and east Los Angeles where Riordan has paid for computer-equipped learning labs in which children learn to read and write.

Sanders cited a 25-year friendship with Riordan, during which they have served together on two city commissions. He lauded Riordan for “working to assure civil rights for every citizen of Los Angeles, building innovative coalitions to improve our public school system, working tirelessly to support an extraordinary number and variety of community and charitable projects.”

In the end, Sanders said, “I had two questions I had to decide: Who will make the best mayor and who will win? Riordan came out on top on both.”

At the news conference, Sanders was quick to pick up on the message of the day.

“I know there is the political rhetoric that says Richard Riordan is a Reagan Republican,” Sanders said. “Well, let me say this: I know Richard Riordan. Richard Riordan is a friend of mine, and Richard Riordan is no Reagan Republican.”

Although Woo personally courted Sanders, his campaign staff on Tuesday was playing down the significance of the endorsement.

“This is hardly a big deal,” said Garry South, Woo’s press spokesman.

But that was clearly not a unanimous opinion.

“This is a big lift for Dick Riordan. This takes place in the heart and soul of Mike Woo’s base,” said Kerman Maddox, a black political activist and a Woo supporter.

“I think it’s very significant,” said State Assemblyman Richard Katz, one of the candidates for mayor who lost in the primary and has yet to endorse either of the finalists in the race. “It shows that Riordan cuts into an area that is supposed to be Mike Woo’s back yard, a community that Woo needs to depend upon very heavily.”

In his only public campaign event of the day Tuesday, Woo was back to a familiar theme, portraying Riordan as a Reagan-era capitalist cavalierly throwing people out of work to save the jobs of big executives.

“Dick Riordan, I wish you would have helped us keep our jobs,” said Kathy Blakemore, a laid-off Mattel worker who appeared with Woo at a press conference. Next to her was a Barbie doll wearing a sombrero, holding a poncho and sitting in a pink Corvette with a Riordan bumper sticker on the back.

Riordan, a major investor in Mattel, has acknowledged that he participated in a corporate retooling that resulted in closure of a Los Angeles-area factory that sent 250 jobs to Mexico, but said the move was necessary to save 1,500 jobs.

For the past week, Woo has been touting his strength with Democrats, publicly accepting endorsements from Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman.

But last week Bradley said he would not be endorsing either candidate in the race. Although Bradley’s image is not what it once was, his decision meant that Woo’s all-important campaign in the black community would lack the imprimatur of the city’s best known black public official.

And by the beginning of this week, Woo was fighting a brush fire in another ethnic community after Latino activists took issue with his statement that illegal aliens charged with serious crimes ought to be deported.

Gloria Romero, professor of psychology at Cal State Los Angeles and chair of the Hispanic Advisory Council of the Los Angeles Police Commission, characterized his statements as “a play to win Valley conservative white voters.”

Meanwhile, Woo’s staff was saying that Woo could have had Sanders’ endorsement if Woo had been willing to meet his price.

South, Woo’s press aide, said that any chance of a Woo-Sanders alliance broke down when Sanders demanded a quid pro quo.

“He wanted a price for his endorsement,” South said. He said Sanders wanted Woo to feature him in a TV ad. “We had to commit to put him in a TV spot because he wants to run for Nate Holden’s City Council seat.” But Woo refused, according to South.

Sanders called South’s statement a lie.

“That is an absolute, total prevarication. I never demanded anything of Michael,” he said.

Sanders said that he planned to be a presence in the Riordan campaign and added that he would be willing to play a part in televised campaign commercials and lend his name to mail promoting Riordan’s candidacy.

But in endorsing Riordan, Sanders has invited some skepticism about his motives.

Maddox spoke of the attractions of being a member of Riordan’s inner circle.

“Everybody likes to rub shoulders with the powerful. . . . Whether Dick Riordan wins or not, he’s still going to be a major force in this city” with access to large sums of money. “If you look at it in a purely political context, this is a shrewd move for Stan Sanders.”

From the moment Riordan won the primary with a campaign heavy on law-and-order rhetoric and aimed largely at suburban, conservative voters, his challenge has been to broaden his appeal in a city dominated by Democrats.

And he acknowledged that as he reaches out to new supporters, he is softening his message. His latest campaign brochure drops the words “Tough Enough” from his original campaign slogan, “Tough Enough to Turn L.A. Around.”

“Some people see tough as being rough or violent,” Riordan explained. “Actually, tough means being decisive, someone who is willing to to take risks to make good things happen. “And certainly, to show the human side that Stan Sanders is showing is something we have to show.”

Times staff writer Marc Lacey contributed to this story.