RIORDAN—Riordan’s Bumpy Ride

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Ex-Mayor Gearing Up To Court GOP Conservatives

Richard Riordan arrives back in Los Angeles this week, fresh from an Italian vacation with fellow mogul Eli Broad and their wives. Next up: a whirlwind courtship of Republican Party conservatives.

The outcome of that courtship which begins next week with the Republican Party convention in Los Angeles, followed by another statewide “exploratory” swing will likely determine whether Riordan runs for governor.

Winning the hearts of Republican conservatives won’t be easy for Riordan, an independent-minded social moderate who is often not attuned to political subtleties. (That includes vacationing with one of the state’s highest-profile Democratic Party activists Broad just before courting Republican conservatives.) But while Riordan may not yet have Republican conservatives’ support, he will at least have their attention.

“The convention is the first real test of how he’s going to do with the rank and file,” said Republican political consultant Allan Hoffenblum. “For the first time, he’s going to have to deal with the conservatives and the hard right, who until now have been the least receptive toward him.”

California’s conservatives, concentrated in the Central Valley and rural areas of Northern California, are a large and powerful force. And their support is crucial for a Riordan gubernatorial bid. “The group of Republicans that is concerned about the Riordan record is large enough to prevent him from being the nominee,” said Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks. “The question is whether Riordan will be able to explain things to their satisfaction.”

He will need supporters among the Republican Party apparatus, especially in the primary. They are the ones who man the phone banks, send out the mailers and walk the precincts on Election Day. They also go to the voting booth in higher percentages than other less committed Republicans.

Riordan hasn’t officially declared his intention. That decision is now expected in early or mid-October, though the consensus is that he is leaning toward running. Besides his political appeal, Riordan is seen as a viable candidate because of his personal wealth, which is estimated at several hundred million dollars.

“He has the ability to write a check for $30 million and equal Gray Davis’ pot,” said Sheldon Sloan, a local attorney who is chairman of the Golden Bears, whose members each contribute $10,000 annually to the Republican Party.

Even so, Riordan didn’t elicit much satisfaction on his first statewide exploratory trip in late July and early August. On that two-week, 10-city tour, Riordan passed up numerous opportunities to meet with Republican Party activists, especially in the Central Valley and rural northern California. That further alienated Republican officials who already were skeptical of the moderate mayor’s record.

“He came through to visit with major donors, but not with the grassroots people,” said Steve Fowler, chairman of the San Joaquin County Republican Party in Stockton, one of the stops on that tour. “I think that was a strategic mistake: the Republican Party establishment up here got jilted and some folks up here, including me, are not pleased about it.”

Fowler and other high-ranking party officials say Riordan must address the doubts that conservative Republican voters have about him. At the top of their list of concerns: his support of Democratic candidates like U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Gov. Davis and, most recently, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, who received the Democratic Party’s support for his mayoral run earlier this year.

“Some people I’ve talked to up here that are strongly opposed to him are very concerned about the amount of money he’s dumped into Democratic campaigns,” said Jalene Forbis, a state Republican Party vice chairman who oversees Northern California. “There is a sense among these folks that they don’t think Riordan is a real Republican.”

Another Republican Party conservative, who asked not to be named, agreed.

“Dick takes a lot of heat for being a RINO Republican in Name Only,” he said. “He has got to tuck his head in and run to the right if he wants to get our nomination.”


Succumbing to pressure?

Another concern among conservative rank-and-file Republicans is that as governor Riordan might be too willing to cut deals with Democrats and labor unions for the sake of expediency.

“One of the things I would ask him is would he use his power of line-item veto on budget bills that the Democrats in the Legislature send to him?” Fowler said. “My fear is that he would succumb to pressure and go along with the flow, instead of standing up for the Republican positions. If he does succumb, then the unions will continue to run things up there in Sacramento.”

Riordan will have plenty of opportunities to convince conservatives that he wouldn’t “succumb.” After the convention, Riordan’s statewide trip will include stops in San Diego, Sacramento, the Central Coast, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the Central Valley.

No matter what Riordan says or does over the next few weeks, it is unlikely that he will succeed in getting conservatives to enthusiastically embrace him. But if he chooses to run, Riordan would likely win the Republican primary on March 7, merely because the Republicans don’t want to lose and Riordan is generally viewed as a more viable candidate that his two opponents, Secretary of State Bill Jones and Los Angeles financier William Simon Jr.

“Unfortunately, we can not hope to win (the governor’s race) with a Republican candidate in the current political environment in California,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach. “The best we can do is get someone who is bipartisan or nonpartisan. And with Riordan, at least he’s with us some of the time.”

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