LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Clinton Endorses Woo but Doesn’t Bash Riordan

Praising him for his ideas and his loyalty, President Clinton cautiously endorsed Michael Woo for mayor of Los Angeles Tuesday, urging people not to expect too much from the gesture and insisting that he did not mean to disparage Woo’s opponent, Richard Riordan.

“I endorsed Mike Woo, not because I have something against his opponent. I don’t,” Clinton said at a news conference at Los Angeles Valley College with City Councilman Woo and his wife, Susan Fong, standing beside the President.

“I just like him, and I like him for some very good, substantive reasons. I feel a personal affinity for him because he supported me early in the race for President before the New Hampshire primary, and that’s a part of it,” Clinton said at the Van Nuys campus. “But I have also been terribly impressed by what he said to me privately, about this city, about the need to bring people together across racial and ethnic lines, about the need to try some new ideas to get the economy going again.”

But Clinton said people should not put too much stock in endorsements, and he questioned whether his backing will make any difference.

“Frankly I don’t know if they ever do. If I have any coattails, it is only because of the ideas I share in common with Mike and the things I hope we can do together,” he said.

“In the end, the people of Los Angeles will vote the way people do everywhere. They will vote on the merits of the issues before them.”

Clinton added that he has no idea what additional help his Administration is prepared to bring to the Woo cause. “I’m embarrassed to tell you I don’t know. I never even discussed that.”

Nevertheless, Woo campaign workers clearly regarded such a rare show of support of a President as a major coup. They hope it will help them raise money, as well as raising the level of enthusiasm for a candidate who is second in fund raising and second in the polls with just three weeks to go in the race.

It was a hard-won endorsement, which Riordan battled to prevent. And, in the end, it could matter in a city where the majority of voters are Democrats who flocked to Clinton in last year’s presidential election. Although Riordan is a Republican who supported George Bush, the wealthy lawyer-businessman has contributed generously to Democrats. In addition, many of Riordan’s advisers are Democrats who were loyal to Clinton, a point made by the President in one of several respectful references to Riordan during his remarks.

“I know quite a bit about him. I’ve met him, and I know a lot of people who are working in his campaign. And my wife has spent some good time with him. I have nothing against him. I’m for Woo. There’s nothing negative about my feelings toward Dick Riordan.”

Clinton noted that it is out of the ordinary for nationally prominent politicians to get involved in a mayor’s race that is officially nonpartisan. He attributed his interest and that of other officials to the importance of Los Angeles. (U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman have endorsed Woo; the Riordan campaign lists Gov. Pete Wilson and former President Ronald Reagan).

“I know it is somewhat unusual for all these national figures to be involved in a mayor’s race in Los Angeles,” Clinton said. “But that’s because what happens in Los Angeles matters to America and because we cannot really turn America around until we can lift the economy of Los Angeles up.”

The President said his commitment to helping the city would be the same regardless of who wins the June 8 election.

“We’re here for the duration. (Commerce Secretary) Ron Brown is going to be here supervising the economic program and out coordinating efforts. But I think it will work better if there’s a mayor who has a lot of good ideas about how to start a business, how to rebuild communities.”

Clinton said he came to appreciate Woo’s ideas about making the city better while the two toured Los Angeles last spring.

“After the riots last year, I came here and walked the streets of Los Angeles with Mike Woo, and we talked about the kinds of things it would take to start businesses, to attract investment, to change the framework of people’s lives.”

Although Clinton stressed his gratitude for Woo’s support last year, he made a point of saying there was more to his endorsement than a simple pay-back.

“Do I feel a personal sense of loyalty to him? You bet I do. And I’m not ashamed of that. But would I do it if I didn’t think he would make a good mayor? Never in a thousand years. I believe he would be a very good mayor.”

He went on to cast his alliance with Woo in terms of a working partnership.

The value of the presidential endorsement was immediately called into question by some members of the crowd of several hundred on hand for the Clinton visit. One carried a placard reading “Bill and Mike’s Bogus Endorsement,” and when Clinton first introduced Woo, cries of “Woo” mingled with cries of “boo.” That prompted a quip as Clinton tried to put the best face on things: “Woo is interesting, isn’t it? Makes a good cheer.”

Later, Woo joined Clinton at a stop in South-Central Los Angeles. He stood on the sidelines as the President stumped for his economic program and played basketball with young people at the Playground, a community center and retail store about a mile west of a flash point for last year’s rioting.

While Clinton was endorsing Woo, Riordan on Tuesday went to the San Fernando Valley home of lifelong Democrats who are supporting his candidacy for mayor.

“Doesn’t it seem strange that somebody who lives in a big, white, guarded house in Washington, D.C., and sends their child to a private school would come to Los Angeles and try to tell us how to run our city?” Riordan asked Frank and Nancy Schultz.

“Oh, yes,” responded Nancy Schultz.

Riordan sought to downplay the significance of the Clinton endorsement. “I think it very well could backfire. Saturday, I was with a group that was about 90% Democrat, and the feeling unanimously there was that it would have no effect or that it would backfire.”

Frank Schultz, a 39-year-old building contractor, said he and his wife, a nurse who is also 39, are “Clinton Democrats looking for change.” Frank Schultz supported Assemblyman Richard Katz in last month’s mayoral primary, and Nancy backed former Deputy Mayor Linda Griego.

The Schultzes said they had not met Riordan before Tuesday. Impressed by a mailer about ordinary people supporting Riordan, “we contacted the Riordan headquarters and said we are Democrats for Riordan,” he said.

Riordan said he learned of the endorsement Friday from White House chief of staff Thomas (Mac) McLarty. He quoted McLarty as saying, “Bill and Hillary had high respect for me (but) hoped I realized they had a political debt to pay.”

Riordan did not come away empty-handed Tuesday. Entertainer Bob Hope will hold a star-studded fund-raiser at his Toluca Lake home on June 1, Riordan campaign officials said.

Times staff writer Richard Simon contributed to this story.

* KEY CAMPAIGN STOP: The Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda, with 800 voters, is a popular campaign stop. B4