LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Rivals Return to Bastions of Support : Campaign: Woo appeals to voters in South-Central Los Angeles. In Westchester, Riordan tries to shift focus from his disclosure of arrests.

By JEFFREY L. RABIN

May 31, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

With little more than a week remaining in their hard-fought battle for mayor of Los Angeles, Michael Woo and Richard Riordan returned to their base constituencies Sunday to plead for votes and for all-important turnout as the campaign counts down to Election Day.

For Woo, it meant a day of visiting black churches across South-Central Los Angeles and going door to door in the Crenshaw district imploring primarily African-American voters to get themselves, their friends, family members and co-workers to the polls June 8.

For Riordan, it meant visits to churches in the San Fernando Valley, and a sidewalk rally and precinct walking in more affluent and conservative Westchester.

Against the roar of jets landing and taking off at nearby Los Angeles International Airport, Riordan tried to shift the campaign’s focus off his character and back to Woo’s record in office.

The businessman and attorney sought to put behind him questions about his three arrests, two for drunk driving and one for interfering with a police officer, saying that there were no other arrests in his background and that he did not care to discuss the matter further.

Riordan conceded that he could have handled the subject better if he had remembered the third arrest when he was asked at a debate last week whether he had ever been arrested.

But with voter turnout considered a key factor in the outcome of the expensive contest, both campaigns took pains to reinforce their appeals to voters in areas that demonstrated their support by casting ballots for them in the April primary.

As Woo crisscrossed the inner city with Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas at his side, Woo implored voters at five churches to play a part in a historic decision a week from Tuesday.

After listening to sermons and singing along with gospel music, Woo’s message at each church was short and pointed. Voters face a critical choice about what kind of city they want to live in, he said. “Who do you trust to make L.A. a city that works for all of us, not just a city that works for a wealthy few?” he asked.

At each stop, he drew applause by reminding audiences that he was the first councilman to call for former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to step aside; by saying that he opposed the breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which he said would ghettoize black and Latino students, and by expressing his opposition to more liquor stores in South-Central Los Angeles.

He has been there for the African-American community, Woo said. “Now, I need you to stand up for me.”

He promised: “I will not forget South Los Angeles.”

Woo branded Riordan “the $6-million man” for his contributions to his own campaign. Voters need to send a message, Woo said. “The mayor’s office is not up for sale to the highest bidder.”

At the Brookings Community African Methodist Episcopal Church, Ridley-Thomas was blunt about the importance of the African-American vote to Woo’s chances. “This part of the city . . . will determine who will and who will not be the next mayor of the city of Los Angeles,” he said. “We have a crucial opportunity to move forward or take several steps backward.”

Later, while walking precincts with Woo on the tree-lined block in the Crenshaw district where Ridley-Thomas lives, Ridley-Thomas asked a neighbor to call 10 friends and get them to vote for Woo. “We need you,” he said. “We can’t do it without you.”

Across town, Riordan implored the sun-splashed faithful in front of his Westchester headquarters that he too needed their help in the closing days.

“This battle’s going to be won on the ground, not in the air,” he said, trying to remind his supporters that TV ads alone will not guarantee victory. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

As supporters waved campaign signs and chanted his name, Riordan sought to shift the campaign’s focus back to his opponent. After saying the race should be decided on issues, not rhetoric, he launched into a broad attack on Woo for running what he called a “morally and politically bankrupt campaign.”

Riordan clearly did not want to continue the discussion of recent days about his arrests in 1971 and 1975 for drunk driving and in 1964 for interfering with a police officer.

Asked by a reporter whether there were any other arrests in his background, Riordan replied: “No, there were not, and end of the subject.”

To the cheers of backers, who wanted an end to the questions from the press, he said: “Let’s talk about safety, jobs and education.”

But moments later, Riordan was asked by another reporter whether he had handled the subject properly when it was raised by a questioner at a broadcast debate last Wednesday.

Initially, Riordan recalled two arrests.

“Obviously, if I remembered the third arrest at the debate I would have mentioned it,” he replied. “What happened is that in the heat of the debate, I failed to mention it. After the debate, something in the back of my mind told me that there was a third arrest. I called up my campaign manager, she researched it and as soon as we got the facts, we revealed it to the public. Obviously if I remembered it, I wish that I had said it that time.”

Woo later repeated his call for Riordan to release all his arrest records.

In back-to-back appearances with Woo on an hourlong radio program on station KGFJ Sunday evening, Riordan complained again about the negative tone of the campaign, then charged that “Woo would be a disaster for this city.”

During his segment of the program, Woo replied that “politics ain’t beanbag” and that it is important to draw a sharp contrast between the candidates in the closing days of the race.

Woo said the race is extremely close and voter turnout will decide the outcome.

After several days on the defensive, Riordan received a boost Sunday when the San Fernando Valley-based Daily News, as it had in April, endorsed him in an editorial that echoed his campaign theme. “Riordan really does seem tough enough, smart enough and respected enough to get the city back on track,” the newspaper said.